Merlin

Rating:
Summary: Great Movie!
Review: This movie was great! Wonderful special effects. Its truely one of the best made-for-TV movies that I have ever seen!

Rating:
Summary: Cool
Review: This is not a disney version. But it is still a good tale with very good acting. It's also funny and good for kids about 10 and older. It's also a good party movie, watch it with friends.

Rating:
Summary: Good entertainment
Review: All of you need to read the book The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley. Characters in this movie are named in this book that may not be familiar to those who think in strict male dominated "Arthurian legend" terms.

Rating:
Summary: Pap, but has at least minimum chortle factor.
Review: I think they were trying to go for a cross between Excalibur and Legend, but it ended up like the Weather (ITV) and Changing Rooms, with excessive access to Miranda Richardson's mouth. The best bit in the entire film is when Rutger Hauer as Vautigan is about to attack Uther Pendragon's army, and says "Charge" like the end was inevitable (his career that is). Brilliant Rutger! I laughed my head off. I was looking for anything by Monty Python when I got this, and I must say, I wasn't entirely disappointed.
Maybe they were aiming this film at a younger audience, but wanted it to appeal to older viewers too, it just comes across as schizophrenic. The script is rubbish, nine year old children could write with more feeling, I think the 'legend advisor' may have had a hand in the writing as it sounds like a researcher's list of facts than realistic dialogue. But I did laugh, so it gets 2 stars. (Assuming that 1 star equals zero, as you're not allowed to rate that low).

Rating:
Summary: Jeez
Review: This is a Fantasy story people, not a historical account! As a fantasy story it is chock full of fantasy elements, and as a story, the writer took liberties with the historical events. I think it is a good fantasy story and is worth watching/ reading

Rating:
Summary: "Another wasted effort" doesn't know their Merlin mythos!
Review: A review complains about the extra characters in Merlin and complains that they do not exist in Arthurian Mythos well frankly there are dozens and dozens of Arthurian myths, legends and even myself who has been reading Arhtur myths for over 20 years has not read them all so I doubt they can have as well.
And interestingly enough they are actualy completely wrong about one of those characters. Nimue was most certainly a major portion of Merlin's life she is the woman who trapped Merlin in a spell of sleep and prevented him from helping Arthur before he dies. She was Merlin's lover in some tales and his nemesis too in others so obviously that other reviewer really doesn't know their Arthur mythos.
And here is the thing, folks should not compare this to the film Excalibur...Excalibur was about ARTHUR this film is called MERLIN people!!!
This is a wonderful film using element of Merlin's legends and making up a few new ones. This is a piece of fiction just like every thing else written about the wizard so how can it possibly be wrong when there is no Merlin nor is there one true text about his life. TH White wrote about Merlin differently than the old myths and legends as did John Steinbeck and Sir Thomas Mallory are their books then not worth reading? OF course not.
THERE IS NO ONE TRUE ARTHURIAN TEXT! It is myth and legend and the story can be told anyway a film maker or writter wishes. That is what creativity is all about not to copy someone elses story but to create your own vision.
This is a fabulous film well acted, directed and told and I've enjoyed it for years. Sam Neil is definitly an interesting version of Merlin..while I have a stronger liking for Nicol Williamson's Excalibur Merlin I still very much enjoy this one. And using Queen Mab from celtic myths and legends which some of the older Arthur tales sources are from was very creative.

Rating:
Summary: THE MAN WHO WOULD BE WIZARD
Review: I found this Hallmark TV version of the King Arthur legend quite enjoyable and extremely well done. So many original "tics" were added to give the characters their own weird personalities. For instance, Miranda Richardson's gravelly voice; Helena Bonham Carter's unique speech impediment; Martin Short's chameleonic changes; and a vast array of fairies, wood sprites and unusual effects. The dragon even looked like a pencil drawing from medieval times. Overall, though, MERLIN is magically presented, with a wonderful score, some beautiful cinematography and a droll sense of humor..and if the happy ending veers away from the legend, so be it. Who says you have to do everything the same way to make it work. Sam Neill is a fit and convincing Merlin; Short and Richardson are simply outstanding, Richardson's Mab a venomous portrait of evil; Bonham Carter is piggishly seductive; Isabella Rossellini doesn't have a lot to do, but her vanity and love for Merlin seal her doom; Paul Curran is a gentle manboy as Arthur; Jason Done seethes arrogance and impotence as Mordred; and Rutger Hauer has his first "legitimate" non b-movie role in some time and does well.
The movie is a fantasy, reminiscent of the old Ray Harryhausen Sinbad and Jason movies; I really found myself liking it a lot.

Rating:
Summary: My 14 Year Old Daughter Said:
Review: "That was SOOO STUPID!" after this ended, and I have to pretty much agree with her. Granted, there are those who will enjoy Merlin, particularly those who can take it without regard to the legend of Arthur as it's been recorded and told so often before, and those who enjoy a certain campy silliness in their mythology. I prefer mine straight up--it's not a question of the "facts", but of the tone. For me, the legend of King Arthur is a serious tale, rich with meaning for us even today--the sealing of Arthur's fate when he unknowingly sleeps with his sister, the love triangle, the quest for the Holy Grail, the conflict between paganism and Christianity, Mordred's fratricide--these are not trivial things, and for me, the movie Merlin trivialises most of them, along with the personal conflicts between the characters. I simply couldn't take Queen Mab's demise seriously at all--it was laughable, and surely not intentionally so. For me, Excalibur is the best filmed version of Arthur; The Mists of Avalon was a terrific book but not a good film--there's an example of an author doing a wonderful version of altering the tale to make something new but respectfully retaining the character of the original. Even the musical Camelot retained the tragic nobility of the tale.

This film does not treat the legend so respectfully. The outline of the story is retained, true, and the focus is shifted in a way that might well have worked, much like it is in The Mists of Avalon; but campy elements are added--a talking horse, a gentleman's valet of a demon, and the atrocious overacting of Helena Bonham Carter and Miranda Richardson, to say nothing of Sam Neill himself. Add in some wacky camera work, and weird, weird voices for the women, and the slope to failure becomes steeper and ever slipperier. The 'special effects' are none too special--lots of disappearing in a puff of smoke with an obvious camera edit--and this adds to the campiness. But the final ignominity is that Merlin himself gets a happy ending completely uncharacteristic of the Wagnerian tragedy--it's as if none of his efforts to unite England really mattered after all. It seems so very casual, as does his vanquishing of his nemesis Queen Mab, by--get this--forgetting her. Unless you like this sort of quasi-comic treatment of the classics, you're best advised to do as Merlin did Mab, and simply forget this one.


Rating:
Summary: magical
Review: A fun magical mystical movie. If you are looking for realism, you won't find it here. Lots of interesting visual effects. Lots of magical spells. Fairies, griffins, a talking horse, a gnome, a wicked sorceress, an ethical wizard. Lots of FUN! Well done!

Rating:
Summary: Only the best movie ever!
Review: I own this film and I'm glad to!! Such an excellent film. My favorite actress/character was Miranda Richardson playing Mab. The graphics were absolutely excellent. The story was amazingly compelling. I just thought this movie was positively wonderful. I have nothing but great things to say. Only that I wish I had bought the DVD so I could see the deleted scenes. Sooo good!!!!!