Rating: 
Summary: Amateur
Review: Gaiman's novel "Neverwhere" posits "London Below", a land of anachronism, literal intereptations of place names (such as "Knightsbridge" and "Angel Station"), poverty, magic, and adventure. The result is a madcap mix of a modern city with miedival fairy tales. Gaiman's evocative writing strongly evokes the small realities of modern life, and constrasts them with a boldly colored fairy tale world. The result is humor, beautiful visuals, and a greater appreciation of both the fantastic and the mundane. The novel could be made into an awesome movie or TV series.
Unforunately, this isn't it. The script is humorless, the costuming is bad, the lighting is worse, and the whole thing just shows a conspicous lack of either money or serious talent. I could go into details, but there isn't much point. Basically, this is very good work of amateur theatre. It doesn't rise to the level of a professional production. Imagine a local theatre group and you'll be pretty close.
If you liked the novel enough to want to see an amateur production, then you might enjoy this. Otherwise, I'd look elsewhere.
The novel is awesome, though.
Rating:
Summary: Read the Book Instead
Review: I absolutely loved this book. So I was very eager to watch the mini-series. I started it up and was disappointed immediately. I let it play for about 1/2 an hour before I had to make it go away. My imagination did a much better job at depicting this story than this mess. It was so horrible I nearly cried. My view may not be a popular one, but I think for this story to translate well to the "big screen", it would need to be done by someone like Tim Burton and have wonderful character actors like Johhny Depp as the Marquis, Ewan McGregor as Richard Mayhew and Vincent D'Onofrio with possibly Steve Buscemi as Mr. Vandemar and Mr. Croup respectively. This story deserves to be shown as magically as it is depicted on paper, and this mini-series just doesn't cut it.
Rating: 
Summary: Definitely NOT the Sandman
Review: I am absolutely sure that the book is better. The plot dragged and was rushed in the end. The feeling I got was that it was a book with many chapters cut for the purpose of adaptation. Neil Gaiman wrote the TV script first, THEN made the book. Also, it didn't help that the great "Beast" was just a cow. Low budget TV at it's best. At least it has Neil's creative vision and talent.
Rating: 
Summary: Very interesting - well worth watching
Review: I bought the entire DVD set w/o having read the book, but I've always been a big fan of Gaiman's. The story is very intriguing, and the acting is top notch - Mr. Croup, Mr. Vandemar and the Marquis are exceptional. The only reason I didn't give it 5 stars is that they used one sequence over and over again in the series, everytime they needed some imagery to show a dream, a resurrection, or even just crossing the bridge. That was annoying. Overall, a good watch.
Rating: 
Summary: Urban Fantasy at its best
Review: I bought the original book version of Neverwhere some years ago and was intrigued by the characters, setting and story. When I found out they had created a BBC mini-series of the book, I immediately went out and bought it. Suffice to say I was not dissapointed. The cast, though mostly made up of unknown actors (perhaps more so to American audiences), is supurbly done, each person fitting their role just as you might imagine if you had read the book. This series is also a testiment to the fact that not everything good has a million dollar budget and high tech special effects. The effects that do appear, though low in quality are so uniquely done that you never laugh because they blend in. The costumes are subtle but still unusual and surprisingly the script follows the original story very well. The opening and ending credits, done by Gaiman's long time collaberator, Dave McKean are simply beautifuly when accompanied by the music talents of Brian Eno. The closest series I could recommend that has a similar feeling would be Lexx (though where Neverwhere is an urban fantasy, Lexx is a science fiction fantasy). If you like odd plots, interesting but quirky characters and dark visuals, or even if your a fan of The Sandman comics or Neil Gaiman's books, then you'll like this series.
Rating: 
Summary: "Neverwhere" is "Nowhere"
Review: I bought this DVD set hoping for the best, unfortunately, I was disappointed. If you like blood, gore, senseless violence, and a lot of dirty people in rags running around in sewers and subways, then this might be your cup of tea.
The hero is an incredibly clean-looking guy who looks and sounds like a young Paul McCartney. So Neverwhere ends up being "The Beatles Meet Dr. Who On A Bad Acid Trip."
The storyline is only mildly entertaining and the ending is predictable. I'm really surprised that A&E would dredge up this BBC relic and try to pawn it off as "cult art" of the airwaves.
Save your shillings and buy something worthwhile from the usually wonderful vaults of the BBC.
Rating:
Summary: The best.
Review: I caught Neverwhere in England and was utterly entranced with it to the point of getting it taped and transferred so I could watch it here. To berate it because of these 'English shortcomings' is ridiculous. What would you prefer...a low budget English affair with amazing and intricate story, full of mystery, confusion, and overflowing with cutting originality? Or would you like a high budget piece of US trash with uber T&A, gunshots, explosions, slang, car chases, overt brand name sponsoring crammed down your throat, and that is a complete story and new idea free zone presented by talentless bimbos and muscle boys? Pretty much what happened to Doctor Who in the movie.
Personally, the choice is very, very easy.
The Marquis, Door, Kruppe and Vandermarr (we'll be hurting you badly, before killing you even badly-er), Hunter, Old Bailey, the Black Friars, Angel Islington, all of it creates a wonderful and enticing story amidst some of the most classic locations of London. The whole story leaves you spellbound and completely oblivious to these supposed 'shortcomings.'
I'm not a huge Gaiman fan, but this is truly a masterpiece. It's amazing it has taken so long to come out over here.
A must see, a must buy, I'll get my US copy as soon as it comes out and bin my UK tape.
Rating:
Summary: I loved it despite the flaws
Review: I don't know what the heck is up with the Beeb's cheesy-ass production budgeting, but this thing survives it with panache. That, in itself, is amazing. It's a charming production, so give it a shot.
Rating:
Summary: Neverwhere is a must
Review: I first saw clips Neverwhere when Neil came to Dragon Con in 1996. I went with a friend who was an ardent Sandman fan. I had no idea until then who Neil Gaiman was. Neverwhere was enough to hook and land me as a fan. Since then, I've read everything Neil I could get my hands on. He heartlessly showed those clips to us, then told us that Neverwhere might not ever come to the US. A few years later, I managed to catch the last four episodes on my PBS station. I have been hunting the DVD ever since. (Unfortunately, the DVD did not even exist until last year. The grainy pirated copies that you see at conventions are not worthwhile.) I'm going to say something now that will make everyone throw rocks at me. The production values were not that bad. In spite of some mistaken comments, Neverwhere was done on location in various parts of the London Underground, not a set. They used miles of tunnel to keep it from having that repeating effect that you get in a lot of productions. Camera angles in that situation are undoubtedly difficult. Perhaps if it had been a set, camera angles would have been stunning and the shots would have appeared more authentic to some. Stunts were not amateurish. They were actually done by actors/stunt men. One of the actors even broke his leg during filming. We've gotten so used to seeing stunts done with all the camera tricks that we don't recognize when they aren't. In the end, even the Great Cow of London was not as bad as everyone says. They did, at least, use a Highland Bull and they did a number of special effects which help mask his obvious Bullishness--not enough to make him look like a boar, I grant you, but at least he wasn't your average black and white dairy variety. The acting...Well, the Marquis de Carabas was great, no matter how you look at it. I thought the other characters came off well and honestly. The Marquis definately stole the show, however. All-in-all, I love this series. I wish there were more seasons. I want to find out what happened to Door's sister, what happened to Richard...
Rating:
Summary: Hear me out...
Review: I loved the novel, sure. I give the novel five stars. But this is a movie we're reviewing here. So many people say you have to "look past" the acting, direction, production values, etc. But when you do that, all you're left with is a script. A book. Read the novel. The story is, in fact, amazing with great dialogue and characters. But as a movie, the production is quite poor. As for the great soundtrack, put in Brian Eno's album "The Drop" while you read the book and you will get the same effect. Enjoy!
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