A Midsummer Night's Dream

I love this version of Midsummer Night's Dream...I previewed every version I could find on Netflix, Amazon, and YouTube and this is by far the best. First of all, Hermia and Helena have to be young and beautiful and Lysander and Demitrius have to be young and handsome...so how can you have a version when the lead actresses appear to be in their 30s or older...women got married young back then so it is ridiculous to even cast such actresses in the lead roles. In this version Hermia and Helena are indeed young and beautiful and Lysander and Demetrius are young and exceedingly handsome. The acting is very believable and unaffected...unlike acting done in movies by actors who are used to being on a stage and projecting their lines. The sets are amazing, the scenery breathtaking, the music moving and beautiful, and all the filming and lighting is gorgeous. It's a gorgeous movie overall and I really don't understand those who take issue with the points where it deviates from the original script...I felt it stayed extremely true to the spirit of the original play and included all the best lines from it...in no case was there modern language...it is Shakespearian language throughout, simplified a little bit at times when the meaning would have been obscured to most viewers. Michelle Phieffer is stunning as usual but absolutely radiant as the fairy queen Titania and the Puck in this version is amazing...just the right balance between mischievousness and good cheer. And Kevin Kline is absolutely brilliant as Bottom and his donkey get-up was the most believable and organic of all the other attempts to turn a man into a donkey. In short: bravo!!!

Fun to watch version of Midsummer Nights Dream. Good quality.

Kevin Kline's performance truly makes the movie amongst an all-star cast.

The setting change to the Gay Nineties on a beautiful Greek (actually Italian, I think) estate is appealing and does no particular harm to Shakespeare's work. The whole thing is visually beautiful. Michele Pfeiffer is a complete surprise as she does a masterful job of Titania's long speeches and looks truly lovely. Oberon is also very good, healthy-looking with a velvety speaking voice, but no depth. I assume those in authority wanted to give Kevin Kline a wider range to act, so Bottom is given a sad clown back story and an angry wife chasing him through the town. Stuff that is supposed to be funny is poignant instead. The lovers are pretty good. Calista Flockhart does her best in spite of being miscast. One scene pivots on the fact that she is a tall blond which, of course, she is not. The pace and acting are very good and it is very enjoyable. Purists will dislike the wide variation in accents from Sophie Marceau's French to Anna Friel's almost Cockney overtones and American here and there. In spite of all that it is a very good movie with some interesting effects, and great musical and visual beauty.

Surprised by this movie! It's so charming and nostalgic. And the practical effects scratch my brain in the best way

I love this movie.

First, the stars. No, not the astrologer's stars, the movie stars, goofy! Some of those high priced people can act! Of course, I'm in luck in that I see so few Hollywood movies that I don't recognize them, so it's easy to suspend disbelief. The one I did recognize was Stanley Tucci, the star of Big Night. Tucci was spectacular in the role of Puck; he stole every scene he appeared in. That guy Kevin Kline did a similar heist on all his scenes; he made Bottom the prime character of the story, with a little help from the editors and cinematographers, who played on his face - his foolish integrity, his dreams - almost any time when the script allowed. Whichever leading lady it was who played Helena was also "picture" perfect, and her scenes of squalling with Hermia were side-splitting funny. The only flop, as an actress, was Michelle Pfeiffer as the Queen of the fairies; luscious looking, yes, but she delivered her lines more stiffly than a seventh-grade cheerleader in English class.The setting in Italy was completely convincing; after all, most of the Eizabethan comedies were based on Italian models, with commedia dell'arte roots, and Elizabethans knew rather little about settings in Athens. The little touches of Italian opera - both visual and in the soundtrack - were deft and charming. The whole air of opulence suited the magic of the midsummer night like the smile on a pretty child's face.Oh yeah, and then there was the script. That Shakespeare guy has a future. [Yes, there were cuts, but the shortening of the play served one very useful purpose. It allowed the actors to defy the current notion that every line of Shakespeare has to be spoken so fast that no one can understand it well enough to be bored. Honestly, it was delightful to be able to follow every word for a change. True, the accents were a hodge-podge of Brit and American, but I for one didn't much mind.]A film of a play by Shakespeare should be at least as enjoyable for a modern audience as we all assume the Globe Theater production was for the flesh-and-blood Elizabethans.Bottom's bottom line: What fools these purists be!