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List Price: $9.98 | | Label: 20th Century Fox
Salesrank: 2188
Released: April 15, 2003 |
| Our Price: $4.29 |
| Used Price: $1.39 |
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MPAA Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
A stellar cast, headed by Michelle Pfeiffer and Kevin Kline, bring Shakespeare's romantic comedy to life. When two pairs of star-crossed lovers, a feuding pair of supernatural sprites and a love potion gone awry all come together in an enchanted moonlit forest, the result is a delightful mix of merriment and magic. Also starring Calista Flockhart, Stanley Tucci and Rupert Everett.
Description of A Midsummer Night's Dream:
Imagine a work by Shakespeare reduced to one of those pretty, glossy coffee-table picture books that have only a dollop of text alongside its sumptuous photographs, and you might have Michael Hoffman's adaptation of A Midsummer Night's Dream. This all-star version of Shakespeare's comedy is gorgeously shot in Tuscany, complete with a magical forest, breathtaking landscapes, beautiful villas, picturesque villages, stunning period costumes--oh wait, there's supposed to be a story here, too! Hoffman hijacks Shakespeare's basic premise but doesn't instill it with much more than surface shine and transplants it to turn-of-the-century Italy. Ergo, it's left up to the actors to find the heart and soul of this classic play, in which the fairies of the forest play mix and match with four young lovers, courtesy of a magical love potion. Hoffman couldn't ask for better (or better looking) actors to play Shakespeare's dreamlike love games--Michelle Pfeiffer, Rupert Everett, Calista Flockhart, Christian Bale, Stanley Tucci, Kevin Kline, Anna Friel, Dominic West, the list goes on and on--but he sure as heck doesn't know what to do with them, aside from putting them in various states of undress. Only Flockhart (as the lovestruck Helena), Tucci (a sprightly Puck), Pfeiffer (dazzling and funny as the queen of the fairies), and especially the sublime Kline (as weaver-turned-donkey Bottom) seem to connect with their characters in ways that make this adaptation occasionally soar; the rest are inexplicably left to flounder. Hoffman does seem to set himself right with the film's climax, when Bottom's amateur acting troupe hilariously enacts the tale of Pyramus and Thisbe (it helps that the troupe includes Roger Rees, Sam Rockwell, and Bill Irwin). Those searching for a more in-depth exploration of Shakespeare's farce might do better to look elsewhere, but if it's gorgeous actors and scenery you're in the mood for (along with an evocative opera soundtrack), and an all's-well-that-ends-well ending, this Midsummer Night will give you pleasant if weightless dreams. --Mark Englehart
A Midsummer Night's Dream Reviews:
Not what I expected. 
2009-10-29 - When I ordered this, I expected a DVD not a book. Although it was not what my Granddaughter needed, she did manage to use it in her studies. So all went well anyway. She did get a good grade too.
Made a lot of changes, but it works 
2009-08-06 - I personally feel that you should keep all of the dialogue from a Shakespeare play when you do a version of it. However, that would create a huge problem. It would last for a while. I usually compare this version with the version done in the late sixties by the Royal Shakespeare Company, with Ian Holm as Puck. While that version mainly tries to have as much of the dialogue as possible, this version puts in more visuals. This also includes more incidental music, and moments where they set the scene up.
This movie has mainly taken dialogue out, but of what little dialogue they've added, they've only added one-word lines, and lines in italian with subtitles. Like usual, they brought it to a more modern time, which gives them different things that they can do. I feel that the acting and costuming is wonderful, and some of the scenes are done very well. I have never seen such a great version of the play at the end. I feel that having scenes without dialogue, just showing the settings of the scenes are done very beautifully.
I'm unsure what Shakespeare would think of this. However, he would probably appreciate how his work is still being done today. If you are willing to see Shakespeare being reinterpreted, get this, if you think that everything must be done exactly like the original, you won't like this.
It's like watching magic
2009-07-14 - This is my favorite Shakespeare story. It is like watching magic. There is comedy, a love story and a story about a group of performers trying to put on the best show for a wedding celebration. It makes love so much fun to watch!
Good movie
2009-05-22 - I enjoyed it. Bought it for an English 102 assignment, but enjoyed it nonetheless. Made the Mrs. watch it too.
A Romantic Comedy sans the Comedy...and Romance
2009-05-21 - A Midsummer Night's Dream is one of Shakespeare's funnier plays.
Yet, even with a fantastic cast, the director seems to be completely oblivious to that fact. This production seems to have been directed by a man that, not only has never seen a production of the play before, was completely oblivious to the fact it was a comedy.
The cast is completely wasted on this laughless mistake. Rupert Everett mumbles through Oberon's lines, rendering them devoid of emotion. Michelle Pfiefer has one fleeting moment, but vanishes into the production values for the rest of the time. Sophie Marceau is wasted as Hipplolyta. Calista Flockhart, fully capable of slapstick hilarity as any fan of Ally McBeal will recall, is reduced to screeching and tears. Christian Bale is miscast as a young lover. And last but not least, the wonderful Stanley Tucci, is reduced to playing a world weary Puck, until he inexplicably rides around on a bicycle giggling like a little girl.
The final major scene features a group of incompetent actors performing a butchered scene to an incredulous audience of royals. I have seen this done by first year college students with side-splitting hilarity the result, but here, a comic master, Kevin Kline, is forced to pitch a dog into the audience to try and get a laugh.
One of the saddest things I have seen on film.
As a last note, why has it become neccessary to throw some random boob shots into a movie just to get a PG-13 rating? Just a split second of some random nymphs in a pond, topless, for no discernable reason.
Avoid at all costs.
