A Midsummer Night's Dream
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Movie Reviews of A Midsummer Night's Dream
Movie Review: What a waste of great acting
Summary: 2 Stars
Why is it that every director seems to need to make their Midsummer Night's Dream production more bizarre than the last? What's wrong with a good, well-acted, well directed production that is true to what Shakespeare wrote?The good thing about this production is the acting. Excellent acting, excellent deliveries. Close your eyes and you'll find this a delight. But open your eyes, and be prepared for bicycles, suspenders, paned windows, dollhouses, and a young boy who pops up here and there -- why?
The sets are, uh, well, interesting. Some set designer was given lots of latitude for their imagination. Maybe they think they produced a dream; others will call it a nightmare. If you would like to see what would happen if you stuck Andy Warhol, Jackson Pollock, and Georgia O'Keefe in an art blender and pushed the mix button, you'll like the sets.
The costumes are, uh, eclectic. People wearing modern dress mix with those wearing Edwardian, Renaissance, and unidentified era clothing. I suppose this was supposed to be creative. To me, it was just confusing without any benefit.
And why did the director invent a prompter for the play-within-a-play? This prompter simply pops in every now and then to correct the actors' lines. And the point of this was, what? Shakespeare didn't think this role was needed, and frankly, neither do I.
If you decide to watch this, watch it for the acting and try to pretend that all the other stuff is just a bad dream. More to the point, close your eyes, listen to it, and enjoy it thoroughly. Just don't open your eyes until it's over.
Movie Review: Tedious brief Mess
Summary: 2 Stars
This is a way too precious and over directed mess of a production. The play has had over half an hour slashed from the script, and what they do bother to perform has been over designed and over directed. Alex Jennings and Lindsay Duncan are the only at all known performers in it and I predict the rest will remain obscure. What was Adrian Noble (Normally an excellent director) and the RSC thinking hiring these ...? It features the most unattractive Bottom I've seen since Dennis Franz's nude scene on "NYPD Blue"! The addition of a child "Dreaming" the play is ghastly and intrusive. In the "Pyramus & Thisbe" scene, which SHOULD be the comic highlight, they play Pyamus's death for pathos and it's beyond embarrassing. Skip this turkey and see the Kevin Kline film instead, which is gorgeous, well acted and sexy, although they play Thisbe's death for pathos. MISTAKE!!!!! I've seen amateur productions that were better than this RSC-produced wreck.Movie Review: Terrible
Summary: 1 Stars
I have seen many different versions of A Midsummer Night's Dream and this is by far the worst! It is not only absolutely ridiculous, but poorly acted and badly misinterpreted. The only interesting interpretation that I took from it was the idea of Titania and Oberon being played by the same actor/actress as Theseus and Hippolyta. That is the only good thing that I can say about it. That idea brought in a new interpretation of the play and a different twist to it in the end, which was interesting.
Otherwise, the film was more like a creepy nightmare than a funny dream. It is odd to me that so many of the film versions tend to forget that Midsummer was a comedy. Shakespeare included so many funny lines in this play that often get overlooked and butchered....Unlike others, I did not find the sex scene between Bottom and Titania offensive--just stupid (and I mean that). Also, as others mentioned, the story is told from the perspective of a boy, which some have suggested is supposed to be the Indian boy that Oberon and Titania are fighting over, but that seemed unlikely to me (and if it was the case, it was not clear--especially since the boy was blond and Caucasian); instead the boy just seemed random. I do not think that this is a child's play; therefore, I found it troublesome that this film was presented as one. Lastly, the stage, which was painted odd colors and had random doors, made the scenes feel bland and cold to me.
As far as interpretations and acting go, I felt that many of the lines were poorly delivered and interpreted. There seemed to be many instances where I wondered whether the actors/actresses knew what their lines meant. Their faces did not communicate the emotion that their words needed. The actress who played Titania/Hippolyta I felt was the worst (though maybe it was the interpretation that the director gave her). Hippolyta is a strong warrior, queen of the amazons, and she has been kidnapped and forced to marry Theseus, now there is no saying exactly how she would represent herself in this situation, but my guess is that she would not be smitten with Theseus. Also, she slaps him, which is supposedly the rebel in her coming out, but if she is a strong woman than a force stronger than her must be keeping her with Theseus; thus, why would she slap him? It just doesn't make any sense to me. I had similar issues with her interpretation of Titania.
After all the film versions that I have seen (2003, BBC--1981, 1968, 1935, this one), I hold that the 1935 version is still the best (there are flaws, but at least it's funny--I wish someone would do a better job). I was hoping for a new, innovative and creative adaptation in this film and, unfortunately, I was incredibly disappointed. Don't waste your time or money on this; you're better off acting it out yourself.
Movie Review: Not happy with this version
Summary: 1 Stars
I had a couple of major problems with this version of "A Midsummer Night's Dream."
The little boy -- Titania's changeling? -- who kept cropping up was just one of those conceits that directors and screenplay writers feel that they have to slip in there to keep the story interesting. As if the story needs to be made more interesting. *sigh*
I don't mind the representational forest and the umbrellas and all that, but PLEASE don't write parts for characters that aren't even part of the original play.
The other thing that sent me over the edge was the extremely graphic sex scene between Bottom and Titania. They weren't naked, but the sex was VERY VISUAL accompanied by moans and sighs. It was completely gratuitous and it offended the hell out of me since I was sitting there watching it with my two young daughters. What is the deal with this? It was far, far more than the bawdy talk and suggested action in the play that would go straight over their heads anyway. No, the director and screenwriter felt that we needed to see Bottom thrusting energetically between Titania's splayed legs.
That ruined it for me. Adding the role of the boy in was bad enough, but adding in the frank sex scene was just obnoxious.
DO NOT buy this movie if you intend to watch it with your children.
Movie Review: Very dissappointed
Summary: 1 Stars
The DVD was advertised as new but when it arrived I found the protective plastic covering torn and the binding on the DVD torn. I rarely have any issue with new items ordered from Amazon but this one took the cake! I did not return it since I was interested in watching the movie and it was too much hassle to go through the return process.