Rating: 
Summary: One of the best t.v. movies of all time
Review: When I first heard about in 1998 I thought it would be a stinker but I loved it.
Rating:
Summary: a great movie for fantasy lovers
Review: first of all, just because this and excalibur were both based on arthurian legend, doesn't mean this was based on or inspired by excalibur. basically every interpretation of this stuff is different, so it really all needs to be looked at independently. this movie had a great storyline, a lot of complex/interesting characters who were in turn well played by the actors chosen for the roles. helena bonham carter and martin short were amazing, and miranda richardson just works so well in the role of an insane queen (queen mab-'merlin', queen of hearts-'alice in wonderland', queenie-'blackadder' second series). for readers of fantasy, i have to recommend the 'dark is rising' sequence by susan cooper, which a highly steeped in the myths of arthur, but far from the typical sword in the stone story that you're used to hearing. and for those that are sick of magic dying at the end of every fantasy story they read or watch, 'the chronicles of the shadow wars' ('shadow moon', 'shadow dawn', and 'shadow star') by chris claremont/george lucas...a continuation of the story of willow
Rating: 
Summary: Falls Flat.
Review: I was so excited about this movie. I watched it when it was on TV and was so disappointed. Totally unmemorable.
Rating:
Summary: Best Movie Version of King Arthur Ever
Review: Forget all of those who panned this movie unless you want a lot of meaningless action scenes and special effects. This movie had more substance than any other version I have ever seen. There is no one version of the King Arthur mythos. Those who talk about revision are way off track, this is NOT the history channel. Essentially all of the King Arthur versions are fantasy. And it is sterile IM-Not So Very-HO to argue over which is more accurate when we are dealing with a fantasy. I have over the years been very disappointed with what Hollywood had dished up. I found Excalibur to be very unpalatable with a lot of gratuitous sex and violence a waste of time that left a bad taste in my mouth. This version however I found to be quite satisfying and enobling - it appealed to the heart and the hunger for justice rather than to bloodlust and the hunger for dominion. I can imagine fans of TV wrestling being very disappointed with this movie, whereas they might indeed like Excalibur which to me seemed aimed at that mentality. This is a movie I would love to watch with my children.
Rating:
Summary: It Rocks
Review: I wish people would not compare this to excaliber. The film is not trying to be excaliber it is trying to be itself. if you want my opinion i tought the film was worth every penny i paid for it and the actors did a excelent job. I also thought the effects were good and had a good theme tune. This film got me interested in Merlin and Aurthur a lot more and enchanted me in a way a film has never done. If you have a DVD player then get the DVD has it has a lot more footage.
Rating:
Summary: The movie was great!
Review: I thought that the movie was realy interesting and i could watch it over and over again. The actors did a great job in playing their charectors and kept me attatched to the movie through the whole 3 hours.
Rating: 
Summary: not worth the price of a rental
Review: I rented the DVD with a girlfriend last week and boy was I sorry, as nothing happens and it goes on forever. Almost everyone looks at least 15 years too old for their characters and Sam Neill (usually respectable) sleepwalks thru his part along with everyone else.I'm a Christian myself, but the story's "Hallmark Channel Christian conversion agenda" was unnecessary and very transparent. There are also a few racial stereotype jokes in bad taste, the special FX are below average, and the sets look like all the other "magical miniseries" sets. Weirdest of all was the way they chose to present Merlin as a weak uninteresting man who can't do much but evidently has great PR. Even King Arthur was a whiny weak drip. The one plus is that the music score is surprisingly nice on the ears, but that still doesn't make Merlin worth a rental.
Rating:
Summary: Disappointing, dumbed-down, actionless, and cheesy
Review: I was really looking forward to this, as I'm a big fan of the actors, and enjoy fresh perspectives on the Arthurian legend. But I was hugely disappointed. The dialogue was awful, the plot hackneyed and (worse yet) BORING, and the "magical!" special effects some of the worst ever. My biggest complaint about "Merlin" is that the writers seem paralyzed by a fear of any conflict at all. Nothing in the story is remotely complex or interesting. Merlin is a "famous powerful wizard" who is the most passive 'hero' imaginable -- he doesn't DO a darned thing. He's famous basically just for existing -- he just kind of stands around through the hours and hours of the story, while Miranda Richardson (who seems to have a new career in overacting these days) throws hissy fits and the badly miscast guy who plays King Arthur leads his knights in neverending prayers thanking God for being on their side (which by the end gets tiresome and a little disturbing). The much more controversial "Mists of Avalon" at least had the bravery to give its characters, good and bad, reasons for who they were. The romance is sadly flat and uninteresting too -- Isabella Rossellini's role as Nimue is so sanitized that there is nothing for her to do. She is also badly miscast, and while she's gorgeous as always, she's just not "girlish." The lesser villains played by Martin Short and Bonham Carter are ironically the most human, poignant and interesting in the bunch -- too bad their storyline is maybe 15 minutes long. Short in particular is wonderful, arresting, and surprisingly romantic in his role -- it's almost worth all the dreck just to see such a change of pace for this versatile actor. (If they were going to make a miniseries of Merlin's adventures, too bad they couldn't have done it right, and chosen Mary Stewart's incredible Merlin books such as The Crystal Cave or The Hollow Hills for inspiration...) The actors deserved better here -- and so does the audience. Director Steve Barron did a far better job at "magical" entertainment with the wonderful "Arabian Nights" miniseries a few years later (it's is as exciting and well-written as this is not). If you want to watch 'magic,' rent that instead, and skip this trash.
Rating:
Summary: NO LETS NOT GO TO CAMELOT.
Review: I thought this was a dull movie. atipical of tv moives. littel charture and meandering plot. Sam neil is an allright actor but he does not make that much of an impresion as merlin. nicol williamson was much better. we have a lot of big time hollywood actors in here but they also dont make much of an impression. we also have an evil fairy queen not in the original leagend. most of the arthurian figures are in the back ground not really convicingly portrayed. lancelot, guinever, morgan le fay, uther, and arthur himself had very littel charture. they had no pesonality. they were just their. they are like cardboard figures of the arthurian chartures. MISTS OF AVLION and EXCALIBURE are much better versions of the story. this movie is not very good.
Rating:
Summary: Teribbly inaccurate!
Review: I rented this video a few months ago and it was quite annoying and inaccurate. Merlin never converted to Christianity, and "The Old ways are dying" part was dreadful.The old celtic religions like wicca have always been very much alive, and it was not until the thirteenth century, which takes place long after Merlin, that witchcraft and everything that went with it in any way disrespected.Morgan LeFay was never ugly, something this film ceases to realize!!!!! (The 'Fay' was gaelic for "Faery", and Merlin never gave a damn that King Arthur slept with her.).And nobody even MENTIONS that Morgan LeFay was the protectress of the realm of wales, or that she is synonymous with Nimue and the Lady in the Lake. Like many other false retellings, they do not realize that Lancelot was not one of King arthur's knights, and never even SAW the round table! The bad gal, Queen Mab, was an IRISH goddess of WAR and REVENGE, not an English goddess of witchcraft and magic!
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