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Rating:  - A movie that proves "all the world's a stage"
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This movie is based on William Shakespeare's romantic comedy play "As You Like It" (circa 1600), one of his greatest comedies.
I feel that this movie catches the essence of the play with director Kenneth Branagh (who also adapted the play to the screen and co-produced) focusing on the main love plot with the other love plots being given some attention. (Branagh had to do this or the movie would be far too long.)
What is the essence of the play and the movie? The essence is to create a situation where everything is real and unreal, false and genuine at the same time. This all occurs in the Forest of Arden where time moves slowly and where the main action of the play and movie takes place.
Who are the main characters in the play and movie? They are as follows:
(1) Duke Senior (Brian Blessed), living in exile in the Forest of Arden.
(2) Frederick (again, Brian Blessed), the duke's younger brother and usurper of the duke's dominions, "of rough and envious disposition."
(3) Orlando (played by black actor David Oyelowo), youngest son of Sir Rowland de Boys, "never school'd, and yet learn'd; full of noble device; of all sorts enchantingly beloved."
(4) Oliver (played by black actor Adrian Lester), Orlando's wicked elder brother.
(5) Rosalind (Bryce Dallas Howard), the beautiful witty daughter of the banished Duke. "There is a pretty redness in [her] lip, a little riper and more lusty red than that mix'd in her cheek."
(6) Celia (Romola Garai), daughter of Frederick, but the devoted friend of Rosalind.
(7) Touchstone (Alfred Molina), a "motley-minded," "roynish." court jester or fool, who directs his realistic professional wit against courtiers' oaths, the pastoral life, sentimental love, and the etiquette of duelling and who "sometimes speaks wiser than he is ware of."
(8) Jaques (pronounced "Jayqueeze") (Kevin Kline), a cynical, sentimental malcontent, who "can suck melancholy out of a song as a weasel sucks eggs," and who "most invectively...pierced through the body of the country, city, court, yea, and this our life." Though attached to the banished Duke's court, he is no more at home in Arden than is Touchstone.
When the end credits appear, this signifies the end of this movie. Well, not quite. After a few end credits, Rosalind appears and delivers a speech (called the epilogue) where she talks (while walking) directly to the audience. What Branagh does here is quite interesting.
He has Rosalind step from the Forest of Arden into an area that has the motor homes, equipment, etc. of the cast and crew of this movie. Why does Branagh have her do this? Because she is addressing a modern audience and so she is put into a modern, contemporary atmosphere. (She is even given a cup of coffee by one of the crew at one point.) I was quite impressed by this entire epilogue.
I should also mention what happens right at the beginning of the movie. The movie is set in Japan and there are ninjas (who are working for Frederick) that overthrow Duke Senior's kingdom. This all lasts a few minutes. (Once the action moves to the Forest of Arden, the viewer becomes unaware that this movie is set in Japan.)
Many critics thought this opening was bad (and even, unbelievably, panned the entire movie because of it). I, however, thought this was a stroke of genius. It creates tension and at the same time, there are hilarious moments created. For example, the play has a wrestling match. In this movie there is, instead, a Sumo wrestling match. (To see why this is so comical, you're going to have to watch this movie.)
All actors in this movie deliver their lines surprisingly well. I mention this because I thought we might have another "Love's Labours Lost" where the actors (except Branagh) seemed to have trouble delivering the Elizabethan language. I also found that the background music throughout this movie aided each scene and that the cinematography was well-done.
In fact, Kevin Kline received a Screen Actors Guild award for his performance of Jaques. Bryce Dallas Howard received a Golden Globe nomination (in my opinion, deservedly so) for her performance of Rosalind.
Finally, the DVD itself (the one released in 2007) is perfect in picture and sound quality. It has one extra, a behind-the-scenes featurette.
BOTTOM LINE:
This movie is a worthy addition to the Bard's cinematic canon.
(2006; 2 hr (excluding end credits); wide screen; 12 scenes)
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Rating:  - Take some getting-used-to, but enjoyable in the end.
Usually, I prefer my opera or play set in traditional production, with the time frame, costumes and cast as plausible and realistic as possible. This movie is therefore a disappointment to me at the very beginning, with the background set to 19 century Japan and the de Boys brothers played by black actors. Director Kenneth Branagh's leisurely pacing does not help.
Strangely, as the story goes on and the action moves away from the Japanese "court" to the forest, I find myself gradually swayed by the excellent performance of every actor in the movie and begin to truly enjoy some of the best dialogues from Shakespeare.
Branagh really does a good job bringing the best out of his talented cast. It is obvious that they are all having a fun time. But the most attention getting has to be the two leading ladies. Bryce Dallas Howard's lips and Romola Garai's eyes are so lively and exuberant, one wonders how anyone can top their performance. Amazingly, the answer to that question is also right there on the screen. Kevin Kline's Jaques is subtle, true and touching at the same time. Just seeing him read "All the world's a stage..." is worth the price of the DVD already.
Rating: - Pure joy
This is my first review at Amazon.com despite being a customer for countless years, but I felt compelled to add my praise to what is undoubtedly a very polarizing version of "As You Like It". Like other reviewers, this is one of my favorite Shakespeare plays, for reasons that were not clear even to me until today. And like others, I was initially taken aback by the Japanese setting and conglomeration of styles and cast (I watched this on an airplane and initially thought I had chosen the wrong movie!). But as it went on, I fell in love with the diversity and power of the production. I had just come back from one of the most difficult trips and days of my life, and the theme that shone through most clearly to me in the movie--finding joy even in adversity--was just what I needed. The thought that this modern production of words penned by someone dead for 400 years uplifted me in a way I can hardly describe. It showed that some things--love, poetry, kindness, humor--can transcend all time and space. By the end I felt held in a place of pure joy, which I think is what has always drawn me to the Forest of Arden. If you are a purist, I can't promise you will love this, but if you want to be truly enraptured by the passion and wit of Shakespeare's words I cannot recommend it more highly.
Rating:  - Why Can't a Woman Be More Like a Man?
Can a Shakespeare gender-bending comedy ever work on film? Onstage one buys the convention that a gorgeous woman can convince everyone that she is really a he, but I've yet to see it work on film. Bryce Dallas Howard is talented and gorgeous, but it takes another kind of sex appeal to play Rosalind. It takes a woman who isn't afraid to convincingly play a man! Kate Hepburn could have pulled it off, or a young Emma Thompson, but Ms. Howard never even attempts to walk in a man's shoes. That spoils the fun, the dramatic (and sexual) tension, and the plausibility.
As with every Branagh film, there's much to like: A brilliant opening that sets the stakes high, clear and specific actors' choices, gorgeous art design, yadda yadda, but frankly, I think Branagh was in love with his leading lady.
Rating:  - East is West
One may have little regard for As You Like It and still feel that chopping it to pieces and scattering the bits over the vernal salad of Arden is not a recipe for success. Cut two-thirds of the play as Branagh does and what remains? A string of sketchy vignettes without the time or the text to breathe, develop and resolve. At best the results can be likened to a volume of illustrations: easy, superficial, providing discrete visualizations of key moments, but aliterate and threadbare in itself.
And yet. While this movie is filled with things that I have little use for--colorblind casting, thematically pointless multiculturalism, Kevin Kline--I found it surprisingly watchable. The Japanese setting does not distract overmuch, and it largely vanishes once we reach Arden: a forest is a forest. Most of the performers are capable, and a few--Adrian Lester, David Oyelowo, even Brian Blessed--are better than that. Some of the scenes are played with conviction and warmth, and prove unexpectedly touching. This isn't a good As You Like It, or a good film, but it's the first piece of Branaghian Shakespeare since Henry V that isn't a complete waste of time.
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