Rating: 
Summary: Outstanding period piece
Review: Best attempt yet at capturing not only the spirit of a great novel but also staying true to 12th Century arms & armor, clothing, and attitudes. Blood-stirring adventure from start to finish.
Rating: 
Summary: The mini-series that somehow managed to get it ALL wrong.
Review: First of all, I read (several times) the unabridged book and enjoyed it greatly. This "movie" is a hatchet job on perhaps the most brilliant tale of chivalry of all time. The book "Ivanhoe" was an extremely romanticized portrayal of the 12th century, doing so for literary effect. The movie takes great pains to make you hate the era as brutal and sadistic. Graphic scenes of torture are added; gross historical inaccuracies abound. Any good actors in this film are wasted by an inept adaptation and childish direction.
Rating: 
Summary: Glory must mean Gory!
Review: I bought this DVD in an A&E Romance collection. It would have been better packaged with the "Guts and Gore" collection, because there is plenty of gore to be had in it, I assure you. I don't even want to keep the DVD set because I was just so grossed out from all the battle wounds, the head in a bloody sack tossed to the victim's friends and all the full sound effect stabbings and swordfights. I can handle a bit of gore, but this was so graphic and so constant throughout the 300 minute epic that I don't ever want to watch it again.
Rating: 
Summary: Good, Almost in Spite of Itself
Review: I can't say how faithful to the novel this version of Ivanhoe is, but I can say that the screenplay and, particularly, the direction are both a bit on the clumsy side. Still, the superb cast makes up for those weaknesses with style and grace: they make the heroes believably fallible (yet still admirably noble), the loves between the major characters subtle and sophisticated, and the villains more complex than the sort of cardboard cutouts you'd expect in a tale of medieval derring-do and intrigue. In fact, the fine acting alone makes this film worth watching, with Ciaran Hinds as de Bois-Guilbert and Christopher Lee in a disturbing yet charismatic turn as the Grand Master of the Knights Templar giving particuarly memorable performances. Outside of that, the director makes the most of a limited budget. The fight scenes sure won't make you forget Braveheart, but they're plenty graphic--surprisingly so at the end of the film--and about as exciting as you can expect from a TV movie with limited extras. It's not really the battles and jousts and duels, though, that keep Ivanhoe exciting outside of the fascinating personal relationships. Rather, it's all the political intrigues that hold your attention. Here there are factions within factions, and almost everyone is jockeying for power and paying the price of that power: loneliness, betrayal, assassinations, and the like. One of the more interesting political aspects of the movie is its big theme of anti-Semitism. The film reminds historically unaware viewers that hatred of Jews didn't just magically spring up in Nazi Germany in the 30's, but had been deeply seated in Europe for centuries. Overall, despite more than a few rough patches, this is a fun, exciting movie. It has the romance and chivalry you'd expect, plus some depth and complexity that you probably wouldn't expect.
Rating:
Summary: Great Adaptation
Review: I greatly enjoyed this rendition of Sir Walter Scott's famous novel. Although there are some plot deviations, the series is well acted with fantastic sets.
Steven Waddington plays a very strong role as Ivanhoe; champion of the absent Richard The Lion Hearted and fiancee of Rowena (Victoria Smurfit.) Ciarán Hinds gives probably the best performance as Monsieur De Bois-Guilbert, the evil Templar knight who's hatred for Ivanhoe is as great as his passion for Rebecca (Susan Lynch.) Lynch herself delivers one of the best performances as Rebecca, the Jewish healer who's passion for Ivanhoe saves the kingdom from the Templars and Prince John. There's even a brief appearance by Sian Philips (I, Claudius) as Elenore D'Aquitaine, the queen mother who comes to arbitrate between her feuding sons John and Richard.
The costumes and armor properly depict the armaments and fashion of the 12th century. The series is filmed on location in Wales showing a few of the many medieval churches, abbeys, manors, and castles that dot its landscape. The film is perhaps graphic in violence but this captures the brutality of medieval warfare quite well.
Alltogether a great mini-series that has more positive qualities than shortcomings. The story is fluid and the acting is excellent. Definitely worth owning.
Rating:
Summary: Great Adaptation
Review: I greatly enjoyed this rendition of Sir Walter Scott's famous novel. Although there are some plot deviations, the series is well acted with fantastic sets. Steven Waddington plays a very strong role as Ivanhoe; champion of the absent Richard The Lion Hearted and fiancee of Rowena (Victoria Smurfit.) Ciarán Hinds gives probably the best performance as Monsieur De Bois-Guilbert, the evil Templar knight who's hatred for Ivanhoe is as great as his passion for Rebecca (Susan Lynch.) Lynch herself delivers one of the best performances as Rebecca, the Jewish healer who's passion for Ivanhoe saves the kingdom from the Templars and Prince John. There's even a brief appearance by Sian Philips (I, Claudius) as Elenore D'Aquitaine, the queen mother who comes to arbitrate between her feuding sons John and Richard. The costumes and armor properly depict the armaments and fashion of the 12th century. The series is filmed on location in Wales showing a few of the many medieval churches, abbeys, manors, and castles that dot its landscape. The film is perhaps graphic in violence but this captures the brutality of medieval warfare quite well. Alltogether a great mini-series that has more positive qualities than shortcomings. The story is fluid and the acting is excellent. Definitely worth owning.
Rating:
Summary: I thought the mini-series an amazing success!
Review: I had no idea such a mini-series even existed before I saw it in my public library...needless to say, I was quite excited. As a girl intrigued and amazed by former times, I fell in love with the '82 Ivanhoe TV version starring Anthony Andrews and Sam Neill. This version, however, is simply amazing in its realistic protrayal of middle aged life. The scenery and dipictions are right on. I watched the series straight through...and still couldn't get enough. It's a must for those of us who adore history.... And I also agree that Ciaran Hinds as Sir Brian made the show...who is he? and what else is he in? I'm a fan...
Rating:
Summary: better than the book
Review: I read the book as a result of watching and loving this series, and was amazed to find that, for once, the video was better than the book. The characterizations of both the historical and fictional people were so well done that I have watched it several times without tiring of it, the same way I would reread a great novel. The action scenes are very exciting, and the relationships that develop between the characters are fascinating to watch.
Rating:
Summary: ICKY!
Review: I really really really really hate this movie. The acting is overdone and the plot stinks. What were they thinking?
Rating:
Summary: A rather unintentionally stupid film
Review: I tried to watch this film but could not finish it. Afterward I set to reading the unabridged book "Ivanhoe". I found the book to be infinitely superior. There were many gross (and I do mean gross)innacuracies and deviations from the origional book. For one, the melee combat. In the movie the fim makers claimed the Normans cheated by using daggers during the melee which never happened in the book. The Normans were actually noble opponents. And then there was Font de Beof's burning death scene. It is shown in beyond graphic detail. Sir Walter Scott (I'm going from memory here so excuse the paraphrasing) said of that scene: To describe the scene would be unchristian. A character is added for the sole purpose of being beheaded just to show how mean and nasty the villains are. We already knew that considering they kidnapped, murdered and stole. I could go on longer about this but to sum it all up, a very poor adaptaion of the wonderful book Ivanhoe
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