Rating: 
Summary: The Odyssey
Review: I love this movie and might I say that Telemachus (alan Stenson) is incredibly gooooooooooooooood looking :-* gawd I love him.....even though that this is just about his only movie (or atleast the only one I have read about) I love him.
Rating: 
Summary: Overall, pretty well done
Review: This film can be broken up into 3 parts. The first 2 parts detail scenes from Homer's ILIAD and Virgil's AENEID. The 3rd part, as is likely surmised, covers stories taken from Homer's ODYSSEY. The latter comprises 90% of the film.The weakest part of the film is early section of ILIAD material. For one, the actor who plays Achilles is simply not big enough or brawny enough to be believable as what was supposed to be the greatest warrior who ever lived. Even worse, his showdown with the Trojan champion Hector (one of the climactic scenes from the ILIAD) is sadly disappointing. It would have been better to omit this episode altogether rather than water it down as much as they did. As a minor criticism, it is unfortunate that the audience of the film is never told WHY all of Greece went to war with Troy. No mention is made of Paris' abduction of Helen of Laconia. The movie makes it seem like the Greeks one day just got up and arbitrarily decided to invade Troy. The Trojan's violation of Xenia is not divulged as a just reason for the actions of the Greeks. Those criticisms aside, the rest of the movie is splendid, for the most part. The episode of the Trojan horse (from the AENEID) is well done and follows Virgil fairly closely. The TELEMACHIA is touched on with brevity, but it is included. And, of course, Odysseus' famous adventures in "la la land" are there for all to see. Armand Assante is a good pick as the clever and sagacious king of Ithica. He is a great warrior, but not the best. He's a man who tends to rely much more on insidious cunning than brute strength. His feud with Poseidon is brought out nicely, and the depiction of Poseidon is very impressive. This film is highly recommended for those who have read Homer, those who have not read Homer & those who've not yet read the Greek bard, but someday want. The special effects on the DVD are dazzling & bring Greek mythology to life (particularly the Underworld sequence). The epic poem is recommended to all as well. However, if you don't ever get around to reading it, this film does do a credible job of capturing some of the flavor and magic of a classic work that is over 2,500 years old.
Rating: 
Summary: Dear Lord, Homer must be turning in his grave...
Review: This movie was so bad that it was good. Almost everything seemed unrealistic, down to the sock puppet "Scylla" and the blatantly fake backgrounds. The music was redundant and annoying and the actors couldn't act worth [anything]. It also completely messed up the actual poem, which is scary because more people will see this movie than will read the book. Here are some things to look for the next time you see this movie:
1. Scylla looks like a sock puppet Venus fly trap
2. Telemachos sounds like a whiny English schoolboy
3. They skipped the entire cow seen
4. All of the shades in Hades are transparent except for Odysseus' mother and Teiresias.
5. Odysseus's beard keeps changing color
6. The Cyclops' eye blinks so much that it looked like it was talking.
7. All of the actors have different accents
8. Athena had blue eyes and Menelaus had black hair.
9. Aiolos, the wind god, appears as a face in a waterfall and sounds like Face from Nick Jr.
10. Penelope looks like she is...ahem...pleasuring herself on the shores of Ithaca in the middle of the night
11. The entire movie felt like an expedient of random scenes put together with glue with no clear transitions between any of the scenes.
Okay I am done now...
Rating:
Summary: An enjoyable movie
Review: First, this is an adaptation on The Odyssey. As the director said in the featurette, he omitted a lot of the direct philosophical discussion that is in the poem itself and focused more on the action and story line. Personally, I'm glad he did. This is a very enjoyable movie and throughout the movie you're just waiting to see Odysseus return home. And with every setback he faces, you keep thinking he'll get it the next time. Only to see it happen again! The acting is pretty good overall. There are some notable lapses of skill by a few cameo people like Bernadette Peters, though. But thankfully it is a very small segment. This DVD isn't really for young children. Too much violence. Especially at the end. Not many extras on the DVD, but the story's the real thing, eh?
Rating: 
Summary: The Women of the Odyssey
Review: The Odyssey tells the story of Odysseus, the King of Ithaca who, on the very day of his son's birth is called away to the Trojan War. Forced to leave his son, his kingdom and his beloved wife Penelope behind, Odysseus fights the ten year siege of Troy, which finally ends when he comes up with the idea of the Trojan Horse, which gets him and his men inside the citadel.
With Troy finally defeated, Odysseus is free to sail home, but mistakenly insults the god of the sea - Poseidon, who vows he'll never return home. For the next ten years, Odysseus and his men voyage home, but come face to face with many dangers on the way. As you may have guessed - it's a very long movie, and since it drags a bit through some parts, it may be best not to try and watch it in one big go.
However, it does have it's merits - good scenery, costumes, special effects and acting, but standing out for me are the preformances of all the women, and their individual relationships with Odysseus (adequately played by Armand Assante) There is the goddess of wisdom Athene (Isabella Rossellini) who appoints herself as Odysseus's protecter, Anticlea (Irene Papas) Odysseus's fierce mother, Eurycleia (Geraldine Chaplin) Odyssues's nurse who cares for his son and is loyal to both of them, the witch Circe (Bernadette Peters) who uses potions, charms and magic to bend Odysseus to her will, and Calypso (Vannessa Williams) the nymph who claims Odysseus for her own when he lands on her island. But standing out even more is Penelope (Greta Scacchi) Odysseus's devoted wife who manages the kingdom, raises their son and keeps the many suitors who come seeking her hand at bay in her husband's absence. She is an inspiring woman, who maintains her dignity and strength throughout, and trying never to give up hope that her husband maay still be alive. The most powerful scenes of the entire show do not centre around Odysseus at all, but Penelope, helplessly trapped in her own home as the suitors take over. Watch out especially for the scene in which she tries to stop her mother-in-law from committing suicide, and when the leader of the suitors Eurymachus (Eric Robert) attempts to seduce her. "They will have none of Odysseus's things," she says. "Not his kingdom and *not* his wife."
I watch this movie, not as much for Odysseus's adventures, but for the strength of the female characters around him.
Rating:
Summary: Superb!!!
Review: I've seen alooooooooooooot of movies set in ancient times but the only i thought was better than this was Gladiator,and that was mostly for the acting.While most of the performances in this film where miscast the major roles where certainly well done, the fighting scenes displayed some of the best directing I've seen since LOTR, and the special effects did full justice to the original poem.The single most obvious problem in this film is the length, you simply cannot fit a plot that complex into two and a half hours.The only Armand Assante movie I've seen better than this was the Hunley.
Rating:
Summary: Yeah, watching it felt like 10 years, too.
Review: NBC miniseries tells the tale of the Greek hero Odysseus, played flatly by Armand Assante. Boring adventure film features unlikeable characters, routine action scenes, and a lack of spirit and passion. This all builds up to a surprisingly very bloody conclusion (Given its TV roots).
* 1/2 out of *****
Rating:
Summary: Superb Version of a Classic Story
Review: I must admit that I don't care for most TV "Event" miniseries of the classics, since most stray from the story and pad out the running time(especially in the second half), but THE ODYSSEY happily is an exception. Beautiful location photography and a cast of exceptional actors led by the ever capable Armand Assante, tell the tale as it should be told with just the right amount of drama and spectacle.Fans of adventure and the classics will enjoy this and young children especially should watch and be encouraged to read more.
Rating:
Summary: As an instructional resource . . .
Review: I viewed this video and while I thought most of it was true to the original poem, I was disturbed that the creators chose to place the death of Heracles (known commonly to us with the Roman name of Hercules) at the Trojan War, when it did not occur at that actual place. The acting was decent; the best use of it is to depict the monsters of Greek mythology in an exciting format.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Cast, Bizarre Direction, Cheap Special FX
Review: I can't imagine a more perfectly cast movie than this. It should have been the best thing we have seen for about the last ten years, but the direction, editing and special effects competely sidetrack the performances. The actors are up to presenting Homer's epic - poetry is language elevated to it's highest standard - but the script was really bad, reducing character portrayals to cartoon level or worse, music videos. To give the screeplay a bit of credit, however, it's not easy to paraphrase a classic. Armand Assante sails through anyway, portraying the King of Ithaca with grand restraint. He never once lets 'what am I DOING in this thing?' slip through his characterization. One wonders if he is not imagining the Director in front of him as he swings his broadsword violently in one scene. The monsters were created by Jim Henson's Creature Shop, but these particular choices show how much we really miss his design genius. Lots of neoprene there, and it showed. The story is told reasonably faithfully (similar to Odysseus' marriage..) and you do get the Cliff Notes version of it from this. I'd buy it just for Assante's performance.
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