A Midsummer Night's Dream | | Cast : | Kevin Kline, Michelle Pfeiffer, Rupert Everett | | Director : | Michael Hoffman | | Studio : | Twentieth Century Fox | | Format : | Color, Closed-captioned, Widescreen | | Released Date : | May 14, 1999 | | DVD Released Date : | April 15, 2003 | | Language : | English (Subtitled), English (Dubbed), English (Original Language), Spanish (Subtitled) | | Audience Rating : | PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | August 08, 2005 | | Summary | A midsummer nights restless sleep | Content
 | A MIDUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM is a star-studded thumbnail adaption of Shakespeares fantastical love story. unfortunately, it would probably have benefited from less star studding and more direction. KEVIN KLINE and STANLEY TUCCI are both excellent as the more extreme characters (Kline as a hammy actor turned Donkey and Tucci as the supernatural "Puck"). Even Ally McBeal's Calista Flockhart does a nice job but more often than not... the more known entities that fill the screen, the less capable the film is at getting Bill Shakespeare's magical tale properly executed. Its a nice diversion and if no stage versions are around for a few years, check it out. |
| Rating | | | Date | July 17, 2005 | | Summary | Competent but not outstanding | Content
| The plot, as most know, centers on the mishaps of four young lovers: Helena (Calista Flockhart), Lysander (Dominic West), Demetrius (Christian Bale), and Hermia (Anna Friel). Helena is a frazzled but not unattractive young lady desperately in love with the rich and handsome Demetrius. Alas, he does not love her, and tells her so plainly. This does not have the desired effect; Helena admires him even more for his honesty and pursues him harder. Demetrius, however, has his sights set on the lovely young heiress Hermia. Hermia's father approves the match, but she does not; she is in love with the much poorer Lysander and makes plans to elope with him.
As if this were not all complicated enough, all four youth manage to all end up in the forest outside town, where - thanks to several cases of mistaken identity and misapplied Fairie magic - things go even more awry. Both Lysander and Demetrius mysteriously become strongly attracted to Helena, who thinks it is all a very cruel joke and decides she loves neither one. Hermia, meanwhile, is convinced that her erstwhile friend Helena has intentionally stolen her lover away, and swears enmity. A long and complicated fight ensues, which is eventually put right by the Fairie king, Oberon and his perhaps-trusty servant, Puck.
Meanwhile, a subplot is also at work involving Bottom, the members of his merchant class in town, a play, and (once again) the Fairies. The details of this are even more complicated than the other plot; suffice it to say Bottom ends up with the famous donkey's ears and the Fairie queen Titania falls in love with him thanks to a trick of Oberon's.
Eventually, as in all Shakespearean comedies, everything is put right again: the four young lovers wake up in their proper loved one's arms, the tradesmen's play is well-received, and the Fairies reunite and cohabit harmoniously. It is not the end, but how we get there, that provides the entertainment.
As with most Shakespeare adaptations, this one is done in by poor performances. It takes a particular brand of acting to get Shakespeare right, and some of the cast just simply do not have it. Michelle Pfeiffer and Calista Flockhart are particularly bad, respectively cringe-inducing and manically perplexed whenever they are onscreen. Pfeiffer is perhaps the weakest link in the cast; her Titania is grossly overacted, and her glittery eyeshadow does as much for her character as her delivery, which is stilted at the best of times and usually far better when watched with the "mute" button on. Surprisingly, Rupert Everett is also unimpressive as her Fairie husband, King Oberon; he usually acquits himself quite well in movies but here is so moody and overbearing that it is nearly impossible to watch him.
Stanley Tucci as Puck is a strange, but surprisingly effective choice. Sophie Marceau is elegant and restrained as the queen Hippolyta, who provides the voice of reason in all the love affair nonsense. Kevin Kline acquits himself very well as Bottom, going for a blend of subtlety and camp that works well, proving himself a capable Shakespearean actor. The four lovers are probably the best-performed in the movie; I expected a typically good performance from Christian Bale, but was pleasantly surprised by Dominic West as well. They both give admirable performances, as does Anna Friel. The only real problem I have with Calista Flockhart is that she looks quite unhealthy in the scene where the four lovers are discovered asleep quite nude in the woods after having, presumably, made up...she is wince-inducingly skinny. Apart from this she isn't terrible, and though she does give the most one-note performance of the four youth, by this time we have seen so much of Pfeiffer's horrendous Titania that she really looks rather splendid in comparison.
The visual design of the picture leaves a lot to be desired. Setting the film in Italy allows for sumptious landscapes and the requisite Tuscan-style golden piazzas, but it also jars rather badly with the audience's ability to accept the extremely dated notions of the play, like Hermia's father's threat to execute her if she doesn't marry Demetrius. In charming 19th century Italy, we wonder, would such things really happen? Bicycles and phonographs and fox-hunts are pretty to look at and used cleverly enough, but even these touches of whimsy are not enough to redeem the conception of the Fairie realm. The Fairies are frequently fat or ugly, and they wear body glitter and strange strap-on wings vaguely representing their names. They are, indeed, far more mundane and less interesting than their human counterparts; sad indeed in this most whimsical of Shakespeare's comedies.
All in all, it is not a terrible adaptation, and it is far better than some Shakespeare re-workings for the screen (Ethan Hawke's "Hamlet comes to mind). It is not terribly engaging, but it is entertaining enough, particularly if one fast-forwards through the Fairie scenes and concentrates one those between the four lovers and the tradesmen's play. |
| Rating | | | Date | July 11, 2005 | | Summary | Why all the hate? | Content
| I'm surprised at all the negative reviews for this film. So the location is moved to Italy, the time period moved to the turn of the century, and the bicycle is essentially its own character. So what? These changes are not blasphemous but rather entirely charming. Shakespeare's language may be abbreviated, but it's still there and that alone makes it superior to 99.9% of most films. The cast is fantastic, with the exception of Michelle Pfieffer, who may have looked the part but had no grasp of the language.
If you are looking for the true experience of this work, see a stage production or read it yourself. If you are looking for a perfectly entertaining and lovely screen adaptation, this one fits the bill splendidly. |
| Rating | | | Date | July 06, 2005 | | Summary | Eh... | Content
| Can anyone enlighten me as to why it's set in Italy? And while we're questioning things, what is with the bicycles? They have no relevance to the plot... Some of the charcters are portrayed differently than was Shakespeare's design. I will say, however, it was a fun movie, and Puck was an especially believable character, and well done. It's worth watching if it's at a friend's house, or some other time when you get to watch free movies, but I wouldn't buy it if I were you. |
| Rating | | | Date | June 02, 2005 | | Summary | strange | Content
| i never actually saw this movie, but i hear from my friends at the big WJ(willis jepson) that this movie is exremely queer and has some (.) (.) touching in it. read oh mama review, he saw it and he's who i heard from. |
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