Kate Leopold | | Cast : | Meg Ryan, Hugh Jackman | | Director : | James Mangold | | Studio : | Miramax | | Format : | Color, Closed-captioned, Widescreen, Dolby | | Released Date : | December 25, 2001 | | DVD Released Date : | May 03, 2005 | | Language : | English (Dubbed), French (Dubbed), English (Original Language), French (Original Language) | | Audience Rating : | PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | June 23, 2005 | | Summary | " . . . maybe your hips'll shrink and he'll come to your door." | Content
 | Or maybe not.
At first, the romantic comedy Kate & Leopold seems like an odd film for James Mangold to direct in between the teenager-in-an-asylum movie Girl, Interrupted and the slasher-horror film Identity. Mangold's other movies (like Cop Land) are more noirish than cute, too.
But Kate & Leopold does have one thing in common with Girl, Interrupted and Identity - - one of the main characters is in a mental institution. Stuart, an inventor and Kate's old boyfriend, is locked up when he says he's discovered a crack in time that permits travel to 1876. Stuart also says the man staying in his apartment is an English duke who came back with him from 1876. Of course Kate and Leopold fall in love.
It's too bad Leopold couldn't have found a way to stay with Kate in the twenty-first century. Kate and Leopold both make a physical leap (off the Brooklyn Bridge, which is just over the time portal Stuart discovered), but Leopold jumps back to a familiar world. Kate gives up her family and her career. Leopold is also an inventor and an educated aristocrat and would have more opportunities in Kate's time than Kate would as a woman in his. ("Research is a fine profession for a woman. Suitable to the feminine mind.")
Many reviewers of this movie have noticed that Kate chooses the traditional role, picking a man over a life. But Leopold is more afraid of the new than Kate, and by going back to 1876 Leopold takes the easy way out. Just like Kate, Leopold's choice limits his possibilities (but not to the same extent as Kate's).
Leopold has already invented the elevator in his own time, inspired by the "erections" (I hope Mangold is ashamed of the childish jokes in the first scene) being built in 1876. During his time in the twenty-first century he even invents an improved toaster. For Leopold to go back and miss out on what the new age has to offer is just as cowardly as Kate trying to be the heroine in one of her assistant's romance novels instead of living in the real world.
We don't see much of 1876 society except for a grand ball at Leopold's uncle's mansion, which is good, because the poverty and racism in the time Leopold came from might spoil our fantasy. When a black female New York cop tells Leopold to pick up dog poop, his reaction is respectful, admirable, and completely unbelievable. Leopold accepts the social differences between his time and ours too easily.
The DVD has the original theatrical release and the director's cut. The director's cut makes a few of the time-travel twists more understandable. The director's cut tells us that Leopold is Stuart's ancestor, which is why Leopold has to get back to 1876, otherwise Stuart won't be born. That also makes Stuart, who has just broken up with Kate, someone who (assuming Kate and Leopold live happily ever after) has been sleeping with his great-great-something grandmother. The producers might have thought that was a little too Sophoclean for the theatrical release.
If you want to see a dumb romantic comedy that doesn't leave a taste in your mouth like Farmer's Bounty (the "raw suet" margarine Leopold winds up being TV spokesman for), check out Wimbledon or One Fine Day.
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| Rating | | | Date | June 13, 2005 | | Summary | Charming, But Don't Analyze It | Content
| There are many errors with this film. The time travel concept is not very well explained. One reviewer pointed out the La Boheme error, there are several others (including the whole elevator bit). But why nit-pick this movie, which is touching and cute? It is a thoroughly enjoyable romantic comedy that touches the heart without going for the tears. I do agree with those about Meg Ryan being past the cute ingenue stage, but I am glad they didn't cast some young, sexy bombshell for what was supposed to be a woman who has already established herself in an executive role. Maybe Kate Hudson was busy. |
| Rating | | | Date | April 13, 2005 | | Summary | A testament to Roebling's magnificent erection | Content
| "Kate and Leopold" is everything it tries to be: that is, a romantic comedy cum fantasy rolled into one. Anyone expecting deep exploration of the time-space continuum or an extended "fish out of water" story may be disappointed. As other reviewers have noted, this film is a vehicle for Hugh Jackman to shine. Meg Ryan, I hate to say it, is the movie's only weak link. Yes, Ryan's character, i.e., a straight-talking 21st century woman in trousers, is much preferred to the dull society ladies in Leopold's 1876, but that is still no reason for him to fall for her. In fact, there is so little chemistry between them that its painful to watch them kiss on screen (the few kisses we do see look like two actors kissing in a movie).
And who cares that Leopold is an expert on opera that had yet to debut ("Penzance") or even be written ("La Bohème")? And who cares that the mode of time travel, i.e., jumping through a rift in the fabric of time that exists somewhere between the girders of the Brooklyn Bridge and the East River below, is laughable? I don't. This movie is as charming as Hugh Jackman's character and the story that writer/director James Mangold deftly weaves together. Liev Schreiber and Breckin Meyer are great in this film as well.
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| Rating | | | Date | February 22, 2005 | | Summary | It's a Hugh Jackman vehicle - SO cute! | Content
| If you're a Hugh Jackman fan you'll love this movie (I did!). He's so appealing and truly does a fine job of acting. As the Duke of Albany, he's unwittingly brought into modern times by a time travel concept -- so you must also be open to the time travel idea to best enjoy the film. Meg Ryan is stuck in "Meg Ryan" mode - if you saw her in "You've Got Mail" and several films, you know what she's like here. Kind of cute but not really that different than ever before. All together, though, it's a cute romantic film if you just let yourself go with it. |
| Rating | | | Date | January 06, 2005 | | Summary | Leopold's La Boheme | Content
| How did Leopold come to know so much about Puccini's La Boheme which was finished in 1896 and premiered in 1900 when he time-traveled straight from 1876 to the present? This nagging question ruined my enjoyment of the chick flick. |
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