Rating: 
Summary: A movie you don't forget
Review: Catherine the Great was a movie that I saw when I was very very young ( and I mean with that, that I was too young to watch the movie), but somehow it stock, there was somthing about this movie, that made me remember it.....
I don't remember it being bad. I liked it then.
Rating: 
Summary: It...doesn't make her seem that great...
Review: Catherine the Great was known as Catherine the Great for a reason. She helped raise the standards of living in Russia, attempted to modernize it, and it was during her reign that the long dream of Russia was realized: they ruled all sides of the Caspian Sea.They tell you this in the movie...but only in the last five seconds of the film. Most of the movie is spent concerning Catherine the Great's supposedly promiscuous sex life (although many historians think that is just anti-Catherine - and antique - propoganda). Oh sure they give you five seconds of a peasant rebellion, five seconds of some guys that strangle jailors, and five seconds of a Turkish battle...but the rest is pretty much Catherine Zeta-Jones stripping down in corsets. I mean don't get me wrong, she's cute and all...but I saw the film to see her attempt acting, not cleavage. I would have liked to have known what made Catherine so "the Great." This accompanied with "The Scarlet Pimpernel" really made me lower my standards for A&E's productions. I really expected better.
Rating:
Summary: Don't expect the splendour of "Peter the Great"
Review: Do you ever remember seeing a 6 part series about Peter the Great about 10 years ago - you know, the one with an aged Laurence Olivier playing the King of England? Well I thoughtthat was great. I think this is trying to be the same but failing miserably! I feel that this film was once a mini series that has been whittled down to be made into a film - er sorry "movie" for the non-Brits reading this review. It shows. The beginning is not so good. There is a tarty performance by Zeta Jones who just wants "the love of a real man". Oh please! I'm going to throw up! But to give the movie its due, it does pick up and get more interesting as political inytrigue ensues. Ian Richardson is playing his usual role as a shady poilitician, Omar Sherrif is there as an ageing sex symbol, Brian Blessed is playing a fat bloke with a beard - nothing original there either but what the hell Henry out of nieghbours is in it for I don't know. He is the worst actor in this movie! Zeta Jones is definitely very sexy, though. But that has nothing to do withthe merits of the movie. Conclusion. I wouldn't bother!
Rating:
Summary: Catherine the Not-So-Great: Wooden, dull, and confusing
Review: I had high expectations for this film before release, but now I expect to sell my copy and return to the far superior 1991 film "Young Catherine" starring Julia Ormond (particularly the unedited 180+ minute version). THAT film was well acted, well cast, well scripted, and convincing in the details. This piece of hackneyed, romance novel-level schlock isn't worth the time it takes to watch. If it was any more cardboard, it would be on the grocery shelves holding cornflakes. Zeta-Jones can't do anything with the lines she's given, and I expect the chief reason guys might enjoy this is to watch Catherine happily hop from bed to bed with a succession of hard-to-distinguish lovers (generally in pursuit of some political gain). But even this grows joyless very quickly. CZJ's boy toys are so drab, listless, and ugly that one wonders what the producers were thinking. Even the bodice-buster elements in "Young Catherine" at least featured a more attractive male lead. The so-called battle scenes are pathetic: a tiny handful of extras milling about in confusion. The Turks are beaten several times in inexplicable affairs (all fought in the woods, no less) that last about thirty seconds each. A subplot involving a rebellious Cossack chieftain (capably played by John Rys-Davies -- the Welsh are taking over Mother Russia!) should have added drama but instead only adds to the confusion regarding Catherine's true motivations. Earlier in the movie, when she's casually seizing power (coups were never so clean and easy as presented here), she announces her desire to free Russia's serfs; by movie's end, she is blithely executing her enemies in defence of the status quo. No explanations for this apparent sea-change are given. And we're supposed to find this character sympathetic? It's typical of this film's confused treatment of real history and people. There's no depth of characterization or feel for the intrigues and struggles of the times. And several scenes have been shamelessly stolen from other movies such as "Young Catherine" and "Waterloo". It's alazy,... , unengaging movie that offers little. Seek out the witty, intelligent, and lavish "Young Catherine" (which was actually filmed IN Russia) instead if you want to see a genuinely entertaining historical drama.
Rating:
Summary: Yet Another Plea Against Editing!
Review: I thought that the storyline was interesting but very accurate. They made a very good casting and Zeta Jones looks like a queen herself which made it better!
Rating: 
Summary: well done!
Review: I thought that the storyline was interesting but very accurate. They made a very good casting and Zeta Jones looks like a queen herself which made it better!
Rating: 
Summary: Should have been a lot better
Review: I usually like period pieces, especially A&E ones like Pride and Prejudice and Emma but I really thought that this movie should have been a lot better. This movie is more historically accurate than Young Catherine but the acting in this movie is so wooden and the guys in the movie are not as attractive in Young Catherine. I am giving this movie away and keeping my edition of Young Catherine because it is better acted, better everything.....
Rating:
Summary: Great acting...but lacking in the edit department.
Review: I was lost througout the entire movie, and it felt completely imcomplete. Not knowing much about her, I thought this video might help me learn more on Catherine the Great, but it left me dazed and confused. I recently watched the Hallmark channel's "Young Catherine" and was amazed. Look for this miniseries and compare. "Young Catherine" was definately much better than A&E's version, and I learned so much more, and understood what really happened clearly.
Rating:
Summary: Where are we?
Review: I was lost througout the entire movie, and it felt completely imcomplete. Not knowing much about her, I thought this video might help me learn more on Catherine the Great, but it left me dazed and confused. I recently watched the Hallmark channel's "Young Catherine" and was amazed. Look for this miniseries and compare. "Young Catherine" was definately much better than A&E's version, and I learned so much more, and understood what really happened clearly.
Rating:
Summary: A great disappointment
Review: If what you're in the market for is a collage of pretty scenes, then this is a movie for you. However, if you have any interest whatsoever in a movie with a decent plot or actors with at least a modicum of ability, your best bet is to pass on this one. This movie is simply ridiculous. What little plot there is virtually incomprehensible, the "acting" is an embarrassment to those doing it, and all in all it's a waste of money.
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