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The 10th Kingdom

The 10th Kingdom

List Price: $14.98
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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Gotta love this movie!
Review: I absolutely fell in love with this show and bought it the first chance I got. I loved how Scott Cohen brought out his character as Wolf and how all of the fairy tales intertwine and make sense with each other. It was very well done and I'd love to see a sequel. *hint hint to those at the NBC studio*

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: I want to go, too!
Review: This was an amazing story. I tried to watch it when it was on TV but was unable to catch it all. BUT having it to own as my very own made the whole difference. It is now one of my favorite movies. Everybody always wondered what happened the day after Snow White and Cinderella married their princes. This tells you. Kimberly Williams portrays a wonderful Virginia and stands up to everything tossed her way and triumphs over all. John Larroquette plays her father, Tony, and does a wonderful job at playing the confused Father. Scott Cohen as Wolf is definately my favorite character. You can't help but adore him. Rutger Hauer plays a magnificent hunter. The whole cast is incredible. Watch it, then watch it again. It is wonderful.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: What a wonderful movie!
Review: I am a huge fan of this movie! It blends fantasy, humor and abit of the darkside of fairytales together to entertain the view socompletely. Scott is a perfect compliment to the other zany characters, and he plays his role so well that several yahoo clubs have popped up to celebrate it! From rpging clubs, to discussion-type clubs, this movie's made an impression on many folks, but as for me, well, I bought the book, the CD and the VHS tapes! I want (and will buy soon) the DVD for the behind the scenes parts.

It is a long sitting, but after all it's five nights worth of mini-series, so what else would one expect? I bought the Cd just for the theme song, and (disappointingly) Protocol Harum, which wasn't on there: Whiter Shade of Pale, the backdrop to a rather humorous section of the show. Thank goodness the Gibb brothers wasn't on there, tho! Buy this and see what trolls can do to the brothers' Gibb's music! Diane is a perfect evil queen, and the actor behind Al Bundy is a terrific troll king. At least 75% of the movie has you laughing, and the rest has you thinking deeply.

It's really worth the money! Dee

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: incredible...but why does it have to be so short?
Review: i absolutely loved this movie...i mean I can talk about it forever there is so much to say....and to think I had doubts about buying this DVD...I had seen the first part on nbc and I liked it alot, but cmon, a 7 and a half hour movie? when was i gonna find the time to watch that? but I let my judgement guide...I could get 7 and a half hours of entertainment for only 25 dollars,...less than some DVD's and I had enough taste of it to know that it would be enjoyable...so I figured I could watch an hour every night....well, all i can say is that this movie wasnt long enough...i finished it in one day! i couldnt take my eyes away from the screen, it was amazing...i could not believe the twist at the end of the second disk...the final disk was an absolute thrill ride...the whole movie was one fantastic journey....never a dull moment....please be warned this is not for children...the intense violence, scariness, ans sexual themes and some harsh language and humor calls for a PG-13 rating...trust me this is not even a PG, but teens and adults, over the ages of 12 will enjoy it very much...but if u dont have 7 and a half hours to finish it or if u have work in the morning, do not start it....u will not be able to take ur eyes away...this was an amazing film and the perfect DVD with many extras...one problem...make that 2...no subtitles and I couldnt figure out how to access the hidden tenth kingdom game if someone can help please do....a must buy, espeially at such a great price....

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Fractured Fairy Tales
Review: This is a great movie. We watched all 417 minutes in a setting and then watched it again. Everyone we recommend it to love it also. We refer to it as a fractured fairy tale because it includes almost every popular fairy tale you've read but they aren't quite what you remember them to be and "happily ever after" is a little off center. The humor is delightful and the trolls are gruesome. It's great entertainment and leaves you wishing for a sequel but that is another story.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Shudder
Review: I didn't see the whole thing, but I disliked what I saw. It was pure idiocy. It looked amazingly fake, the acting was not exactly stellar, and it was tedious. Honestly, when will a mini-series turn out decent?

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Once More Into the Woods
Review: I would characterize the 10th Kingdom as a plot-driven epic, not a character-driven story. Plot-driven stories depend on the twists and turns of the story's sequences to keep one's attention. Character-driven stories depend on the development of the characters in response to the plot to keep one's attention. Although the 10th Kingdom has all sorts of possibilities for character development, none of it really pans out. That weakness will be discussed a little later.

The overall strengths and weaknesses of this story are centered in its plot. The length of this film should be the first clue that the story is epic in nature. Although the plot initially suggests a restoration theme, it soons switches to a search (initially for the means to return to their own world), and finally becomes (to rephrase the theme in PC terms) a parent quest. Cambell's studies on Mythology, reintroduced to the modern world the epic concept of a son searching for his father and thus coming to understand his identity. The 10th Kingdom is really about Virginia searching for her mother and coming to understand her identity.

But this is not a nice fairy tale. Unlike STAR WARS, which had the same theme, the 10th Kingdom does not concern itself with redemption. Rather the child becomes directly responsible for the parent's unredemptive death. This should have been a tragedy, but everything is neatly swept under the rug with the excuse that the mother was insane (in other words beyond redemption), hence the strange Happily Ever After Ending.

The ending of this story could lead to an interesting discussion of the nature of Fairy Tales in our lives (Happly Ever After, Inspite of insurmountable barriers), and other dramas, such as INTO THE WOODS, have discussed the same issues. I understand that the primary purpose of the original Brothers Grimm was to try to understand the German national character by examining its Folk Tales. These were indeed dark stories: recall that Hansel and Gretel were not sent into the woods by their Step-mother. No, their mother was responsible for trying to leave them in the woods to die.

The Fairy World of the 10th Kingdom is full of (as Tony puts it) homicidal maniacs. There is a great suggestion of insanity everywhere. Even Snow White (in the history of this world) is responsible for torturing her step-mother at her wedding. A huntsman is tricked into killing his son, yet serves the person who tricked him instead of seeking revenge. Bo Peep is a little creep and is killed by her Grandfather. The reason that this horror doesn't become overbearing is that most everything is played for laughs.

The plot becomes the first major weakness of this epic. We see all sorts of dark (and also amusing) versions of our fairy tales, but few of them really lend themselves to any of the quests, rather they seems like unnecessary side trips. And there are so many of these side trips that don't seem to add anything to the story progression, that one begins to wonder if the trips are simply an excuse for the writer to poke fun at another tale. Well, if that is what you like, OK, but one of my children got bored to tears about half way through the film and gave up. She didn't even care to know how it turned out in the end.

Then there is the problem with the characters. In this entire cast, there are only two characters who show any level of multi-dimension. Let me take a moment and explain what I mean by multi-dimension. It is a character, whose decisions can surprise you because there are many dimensions to their motives. If the character's behavior is predictable, then they are one-dimensional. This film is unfortunately chock-full of single dimensional characters. That is unfortunate because the potential for better characters is clearly there.

For example, Virginia is described as having changed by being more self reliant, but anyone who has seen the film knows that isn't true. Virginia is just as self reliant at the first of the story as at the end. The only thing is that she may have realized it more, but that doesn't lend itself to character development. Tony is suppose to have become more brave. Does anyone really belive that?

Is it any surprise that it is the Wicked Stepmother and Wolf who show any level of multi-dimension, although even they become predictable near the end of the story.

Do I recommend this film? Yes, but it is not a five star movie. My daughters and I ended up watching this film in 1 1/2 hour sessions.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Excellent! (and what a bargain!)
Review: I didn't get to see any of this on TV. The trailers looked interesting, but I thought it would probably be a bit cheesy. But I bought a new DVD player, and I thought, "Hey, 7+ hours of entertainment for the price of 2. That's a bargain for me!"

I was wrong about it, though. It was perfect! The acting was all excellent. (The big bad wolf in particular was amazing--I've never seen anyone look so flamboyant while still coming across as very hetero, and the wicked witch was really evil without being a flat character.) The story, although of course very long, was improved by having sort-of intermediate endings, and the script was clever and involving. The special effects were good without being obtrusive, and the scenery was just right.

I think it would have been a lot worse on TV, because there were obviously commercial breaks very frequently, and it loses the mood of the fairy tale to have it interrupted every five minues by a Sentra ad (or whatever). If you saw some of this on TV and "just couldn't get into it", give it another try.

The "Making of..." was included on the DVD. It was pretty bad. It appeared to be something that might have been shown separately on TV. If you just saw the "Making of" thing, don't let that bias you against the real thing.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: For God Sake Man, Don't Buy This Movie!
Review: Where do I begin? My boyfriend and I are fans of fantasy movies and I've seen some bad ones, but this one takes the cake. The casting is all wrong. Al Bundy as a troll? The costuming is taken from every trendy store in NY and altered for the movie. The sets are awful. The story line is that NYC is the 10th kingdom and somehow is linked to the world of Fairy tales. The only hope to save the world of fairy tales is the Prince who was made into a dog by an evil queen. If you're going to make a fantasy movie, do it right. I would suggest buying Merlin. That was much better, as low budget fantasy movies go.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: The Best Mini - series I Have Ever Seen
Review: when I first saw the previews for "The 10th Kingdom" I knew I wanted to see it. Since I am terrible with the different time zones, I needed to look at the TV guide to find when it was on. Since I couldn't find my TV guide, I couldn't program my VCR to recourd it. Luckly, I did know the time for the last part (part 5) and taped that. When I was finished wathing that, I knew I had to watch the whole thing. When I found it at my Blockbuster, I rented it, even if it was the "edited version." After I saw the "Edited version" I knew I had to own the entire movie. So I went to nbc.com and ordered the "10th ertainmentpackage" which has the book, soundtrack CD, and the 3 TAPE set of "The 10th Kingdom. Since this version has more tapes then the version at amazon.com, I'm guessing this has the complete 10 hours of the movie minus the commercials!!!!! (the package hasn't came in yet, but I know it will soon). This is the best mini - series I saw on NBC. It probably will be the best mini - series on NBC, unless they do a sequel. P.S. I rated this 4 stars because this is the edited version. If it was the full version I would have rated it with the fullest 5 star rating.


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