Love's Labours Lost [VHS]
![Love's Labours Lost [VHS]](/images/Love-Labours-Lost-VHS-B00005BCP9-L.jpg)
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VHS Movie Reviews of Love's Labours Lost [VHS]
Movie Review: Reconciling the Poles of Opinion: An Honest "C"
Summary: 3 Stars
Give Kenneth Branagh credit for his gallant inventiveness and his desire to broaden the contemporary audience for Shakespeare. (He deserves someone's lifetime achievement award for his filmed Shakespeare oeuvre.) Sometimes this Love's Labour's Lost clicks beautifully, other times it misses woefully. In spirit, however, it is wholly consonant with the Bard's light, light-speed, merry-mocking, yet ultimately serious intentions. Serious, yes, because love always has a serious subtext, but Shakespeare also knows better than any who has ever lived how ridiculous love may make both lover and beloved. The broad, broad style of this production perfectly suits the material.Moreover, Branagh + Shakespeare is always worth it. Absolutely no one has so effortlessly natural a way with any line in Shakespeare than Branagh. Ian McKellan is his match in the tragedies or the history plays, but McKellan is difficult to imagine as Benedick or Biron or Petruccio or any of Shakespeare's wiseguy comic heroes. If this were opera, Branagh would be the greatest bel canto tenor of all time. His masterful voice is on good display here, and particularly so with Biron's great speech on "love, first learn?d in a lady's eyes" from act 4.
I am troubled hardly at all by the singing and dancing inadequacies of the cast: the ensemble numbers reminded me of high school plays - utterly amateurish but overflowing with enthusiasm. And not all lovers are singers and dancers of professional caliber. Although the cast members here are all accomplished actors, when they sing and dance, they're just you, or me, in love, hoofing for their lives and trilling their hearts out - which I count as one of the charms of the picture.
And I am also untroubled by the performances of the crowd-pleasing kids, in particular Alicia Silverstone and Matthew Illiard. Again, their broad comic approach is fine, they did what Branagh directed them to do, and they intoned the lines clearly, and in plain American (part of Branagh's charm as a director is his recognition that Shakespeare doesn't have to be declaimed by figures of marble all draped in togas: the words accept a full range of accents). Even so, not all the cast makes the cut: I thought Timothy Spall's Armado, for example, was close to grotesque - not quite appalling but, perhaps worse, unintelligible: an amusing part utterly wasted. Nathan Lane's Costard, however, amply made up for this - plus he's perfectly at home on the musical (sound)stage.
For all its splendors and creative flights, this production has difficulties that begin with Branagh's savage cut of a play that is undeservedly treated by most critics as "minor": it is early Shakespeare, but in its poetic abundance it is dazzlingly beautiful, filled with verbal delights and the poet's own romantic exuberance. For some odd reason, Branagh has chosen to preserve less of this than the play warrants. He could have given us a great deal more by adding a mere 15 minutes to a very brief (90 minute) film. And whither the rhetorical fencing between Biron and Rosaline? She is the great proto-Rosalind/Beatrice, and here she simply disappears along with much of Shakespeare's words.
And I also have a problem with the almost total breakdown of Branagh's original concept: the timeless examples of the Great American Songbook deployed throughout the film are simply not very well integrated into the narrative flow: they do little to advance the tale, they pop up, they recede, they're gone, they leave no trace. They could have been neatly excised, unlike the poetry and songs they replace, which I missed.
So: on balance, an honestly earned three stars for being game and entertaining, however uneven - and, frankly, for being Shakespeare on film, for which we must all be grateful. (And I must add that, over the past two months at Washington D.C.'s Folger Theater, we've had Aaron Posner's absolutely stunning production of Twelfth Night, which with vastly greater success melds a rock score to a production that uses almost all the words - and makes me think Posner got the idea from Branagh. If that's the case, those who were fortunate to experience the Folger production have additional reason to be grateful to the Great Irishman.)
Movie Review: not worth the rental.
Summary: 1 Stars
I worked at a video store the summer this came out. I took home the screener, expecting to fall in love with it; I'd heard about the premiere in Entertainment Weekly and was a big fan of Silverstone, in addition to being a Shakespeare fanatic. However, after watching the screener, I found myself questioning the sanity of the director. I thought everything in the movie was perfect, except for the fact that he had hired big names who COULD NOT SING AND DANCE TO SAVE THEIR LIVES. Silverstone is an amazing actress and extremely talented, but the girl just can't sing. The same goes for most of the other big name stars. The director clearly hired big names to draw in the crowds and lure people to theatres, but ruined his movie in the process. Also, it was doubtful as to whether anyone in the film (besides Kenneth B.) knew what he or she was saying (i.e. understood Shakespeare's text). Other than that, the costumes, set and script were amazing; the director simply botched the whole thing by hiring the wrong actors and actresses to sing and dance (Matthew Illiard as a singer? c'mon now). But, as always, K.B. was a treat to watch perform, although I wouldn't reccomend him for any future dancing roles.Movie Review: Delightful!
Summary: 5 Stars
This movie was a wonderful surprise. This pleasant blending of showtunes and Shakespere is a keeper, guaranteed to lift spirits.Movie Review: This is a unknown gem......Alicia Sliverstone radiants....
Summary: 5 Stars
Unless you are a fan of musicals...and a love story..than this movie is for you...I saw this movie when starz had a free preview and let me tell you i love this movie....
this is a beautifuly done movie..kenneth brannah did a wonderful directorial job in this movie.
Alicia Sliverstone radiants and shines in this movie. This movie is a must....i give it 5 stars....
Movie Review: Branagh has many better Shakespeare plays on DVD
Summary: 2 Stars
Okay, go ahead and click "NO" if this makes you angry, but I wish somebody had written a review like this to keep ME from buying this DVD, so I'll risk mentioning an insufficiency of imperial raiment. I have written enthusiastic reviews, but not this time. I couldn't stand to watch all of this mess and would donate it to the Public Library if I weren't worried about ruining somebody's first Shakespeare experience. For one thing, although Branagh handled his lines as well as usual, some of the cast's wooden delivery sounded like high school kids. For another, the Broadway song & dance numbers were often just plain silly and not meshed well with the script and action.
"Much Ado About Nothing" and "Henry V" clearly prove that with the right cast, direction, and production, Branagh can handle both lighter and heavier Shakespeare. "Love's Labours Lost," though, just doesn't work well. The only reason to buy this DVD is to have lots of DVD versions of lots of Shakespeare, but otherwise, many better DVD's are available.