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A Midsummer Night's Dream |
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A Midsummer Night's Dream
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by 20th Century Fox
Sales Rank: 4761
Price: $7.99
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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.
Viewer Reviews
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!
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