Rating: 
Summary: Marion Zimmer Bradley would've been proud
Review: I have to say that this movie was so amazing. I saw it when it was on television, and was just mesmorized by its intregue. Anjelica Houston was amazing as the lady of the lake, Viviane. Joan Allen was perfect as Morgause, but nothing can compare to Julianna Margulese's performance as Morgaine. Other great credits go to Samantha Mathis as Gwenavere.
Over all this movie was a great insight to the fall of Paganism in the middle ages, and shows a great deal of importance as one of the only films to portray witchcraft, paganism, and spellcraft as something that is not evil. Many people have said that the movie the Craft is a fine insight to show what Paganism is, but it is not nearly as accurate in explaining it as this movie and its book series are. I strongly reccomend this movie, along with its book counterpart, not to mention its prequels Forrest House, and Lady of Avalon. Also its sequel, Priestess of Avalon is another great book....
Rating: 
Summary: Think of it as an intro to the book
Review: Most tellings of the King Arthur story focus on Arthur and Merlin, and perhaps mention Gueneviere as the unfaithful wench that broke up the great friendship of Arthur and Lancelot. Marion Zimmer Bradley took a twist on the story, telling it from the point of view of the 'dark witch' instead of the 'golden haired beauty'.It's a tale full of the raw power of medieval England, where a belief in nature and natural spirits was vying with the approach of Christianity. It tells not only of women and men's different views of the world, but of love triangles, Christianity ousting the 'old ways', and a changing of culture. The TNT miniseries version stars Anjelica Huston, Julianna Margulies, and Joan Allen in the girl-power production. Huston is the magestic matriarch of Viviane, the Lady of the Lake, who in most stories is just the giver-of-the-sword to Arthur. Here she's the protector of Avalon, the center of the old power, one that is being replaced slowly by the bells of Christianity. They in fact share the same physical space, but only those with the power to believe can cross into Avalon. Margulies is Morgaine, Arthur's half-sister. They share a mother, but Arthur is born when Uther Pendragon lusts after Morgaine's mother Igraine and through deception beds her. Igraine and Viviane are sisters, but while Viviane defends the old ways, Igraine turns to the new (Christianity). The third sister, Morgause, is jealous of the other two and causes quite a bit of trouble. This was always a favorite book of mine, so I was very curious how they would bring it on screen. The locations were gorgeous - it was shot in Czechoslovakia and has the primitive wildness that medieval England would have had. The costumes were also gorgeous, and the actors and actresses were top notch. I really enjoyed the relationship Morgaine has later in her life. I do understand that certain of the themes are sensitive to a TV viewing audience. After all, Arthur and his half-sister Morgaine sleep together (not realizing they're related) when they're teenagers, and she bears a son from this union. Also, Arthur and Lancelot were attracted to each other in the book. These layers of sexuality added another dimension to the story, but they were a bit too risque for many viewers. The story was altered to change the way a lot of this was presented. Also, the scene where Morgaine and Gueneviere first meet was supposed to contrast the beautiful-blonde-Christian vs the small-dark-pagan - at least that's how Morgaine saw it. Because the book is told from Morgaine's point of view, it's not always the reality, of course, but her impression of it. But in the miniseries they stripped away a lot of the dialogue so you loose some of that sense. And then, near the end, it slips completely away, and where at the end of the book I'm thrilled to have gone on the journey, with the miniseries I wonder just exactly was the spot where they went wrong. I think the key is to watch it and think of it as a way to get people to read the book. It's really enjoyable as a good movie to watch, and if it gets more people to read the book, that's fine by me!
Rating:
Summary: Could Have Been Better
Review: I rented The Mists of Avalon on DVD and I must say, it had a wonderful cast, beautiful imagery, and vivacious costumes, but the overall storyline lacked any charisma. I was very disappointed on how Mordred was protrayed as a purely evil human, bent out on the destruction of his own father. Surely, he must of had some conflict arising in him about his father becoming his enemy. Any thoughts or actions of human compassion coming from him, at least once, would have bettered the movie for myself. Also, I wasn't very pleased with the overall "Happy Ending" that took place towards the end which didn't lay true to the actual story. Don't butcher a good story, it doesn't do any justice to the author. All in all, it was a somewhat decent film but nothing spectacular.
Rating: 
Summary: For what it was...
Review: First I had to take into consideration that this was a tv movie. I truly wish it had been adapted for a real film and think that would have made a positive difference, but you get what you get.... That said, I liked it. No, it was no where as great as the book, but any screen adaptation rarely is. The acting was very good and the casting was acceptable, especially Morgaine and Angelica Houston who was amazing in the part... The story jumped a bit too much and lost a lot from that, but I enjoyed it very much, and in the end that is the most important thing.
Rating:
Summary: Could have been better...
Review: Could have been much better though some of the scenes in this film are worth watching...if you've read the book. Throughout the scenes depicting Morgaine's training...well, lets say those are the most worthwhile ones. Juliana Margulies was perfectly cast in this role. Joan Allen and Anjelica Houston also give great performances. However, if I were to have had my hand in the making of this movie, I would have added at least an extra two hours to it so that it didn't seem to be moving so fast. I also would have (and pardon my saying so) recast Mordred, Arthur, Lancelot, and Uther. The women did fine...the men...well, lets say they need dialect training and some acting lessons.
Oh, and as a side note, the music (especially Loreena McKennitt's Mystic's Dream) is fantastic. Go get the soundtrack.
Rating:
Summary: Read the book first!
Review: Despite the great disappointment obviously felt by one of the reviewers, reading the book before the movie made watching the movie much more enjoyable. My expectations for the movie weren't so high. Despite the formidable talent of the cast, I didn't think there could be any way that a 4 hour TV movie could do the book justice. There simply wasn't enough time. MZB's creative and complex retelling of the Arthurian legend might possibly be better done in an 8 hour movie -- at least. My problem with the movie was the same one I had with the book -- I found both to be a little too melodramatic. Don't get me wrong. I liked them both very much. My apologies if I offend any hard core fans. I also thought the best scenes were when Arthur & Morgaine were separated as children (the boy who played Arthur displayed the most compelling and believable grief that I've ever seen in a child actor); and when Mordred confronted Morgause about the truth of his parentage and his destiny. If you like Arthurian legend, this movie is worth the watching.
Rating:
Summary: Better than most Hollywood Medieval movies
Review: I have read the three books in which Marion Zimmer Bradley presents her version of the History of the confrontations between the various cultures that existed in Great Britain (The Forest House, Lady of Avalon and The Mists of Avalon). I found them to be pleasant,certainly based on a variety of literary, mythological and historical resources, and written in an easy flowing style, but certainly not masterpieces of literature. For this reason, I was not disappointed by the movie "The Mists of Avalon", which I thought is quite faithful to the spirit of the book, despite the obligation to cut through many episodes and to shorten those that were presented in the movie. Actually, I feel that this movie shows much less historical, chronological and psychological flaws than most Hollywood so-called historical productions, although it is not devoid of many either. Of course, the movie remains superficial on all the issues treated in the book that it chose to reproduce, but you cann't really expect any better from a production that is aimed to a wide public, whose tastes, educations and cultures are, unfortunately, often underestimated by the producers. But I was still happy not to see Arthur defend such 20th century ideas as freedom, democracy, social equality and other values that would have seemed senseless to any Medieval self-respecting feudal lord, like it often happens in other Hollywood movies, in which simplistic derivations of our modern interpretation of Judeo-Christian moral is projected on caracters that often lived before Christ. Not that I am against these values, but one has to choose whether one makes historical movies or moral movies with famous caracters drawn from popular culture, as Hollywood does all the time! With regards to the plot, the movie has the advantage that you don't need to read the book to understand it. Of course, reading the work from which a movie is drawn is always a plus, but here, this is not absolutely necessary. Actually, I think that the movie and the book complete each others quite well. These are two different media that can highlight different aspects of a story and in the case of "The Mists of Avalon", I think the combination works well. Least but not last, I enjoyed the possibility to see some of the scenes that were shot but not included in the final cut of the movie. These are a good indicator of what was important for the movie-makers. And finally, I was happy to be able to switch from English to French when I started to get tired...after all, this is a 3-hours long movie and for non-English speakers, this is a really nice option!
Rating: 
Summary: Well...
Review: On it's own, I think it would be a decent movie. However, for people like myself who have read and adored the book, it was a horrible disappointment. It skipped almost everything that is wonderful about the book. At times I found myself wondering if the filmmakers had even read the book. =/
Rating:
Summary: Enjoyable
Review: Having loved the book I was excited to see this. I was disappointed a little, but I still enjoyed the film. Realizing that books and movies are two different mediums is the key to enjoying this film. Book adaptaions rarely follow the original source mainly because it's a difficult task to do. Still, it's rather fun to watch and a great thing to view before reading the book.
Rating:
Summary: Great Movie
Review: Though radically different from the book, this movie was a joy to watch. I enjoyed a movie that though fiction was Goddess-honoring. Great movie!
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