Rating: 
Summary: Homer's enchanting tale
Review: Homer's enchanting tale is brought to life in "The Odyssey."
I, a student, first saw this movie while studying Ancient Greece with my class. On the first day of Ancient Greece, my teacher popped the video in the VCR and made us take catagorized notes.
Since it was our first day we had no idea about Greece's history, gods and goddesses, heroes or political science.
However, the Odyssey told my class and I a great deal about Greece.
One of the reasons why I reccommend this movie, is your (or your child, for that matter) don't know too much on Ancient Greece, you put the movie in the VCR, and 2 hours done with the credits rolling, you will know so much about Ancient Greece.
It occured to me that in this movie The Odyssey about Odysseus leaving Ithaca for the Trojan war and fight the curse of Poseidon, underneath it all there is the political science and the goddesses and gods history and way of life and the scenery.
Over all this is an amazing movie.
Rating: 
Summary: A well done movie
Review: The movie "The Odyssey" was well done. It was much better
than the movie Ulysses. The movie Ulysses didn't really tell EXACTLY what happened. But, However as a result The Odyssesy was FOUR to FIVE HOURS! It may be long but the actors did well memorizing their lines. So I recommend that you shoud start this movie somwhere between Daylight and the afternoon.
Rating: 
Summary: ya!
Review: Good job brandon
Andy, your not doing so well, we need to have a talk
Rating:
Summary: The Odyssey
Review: As a teacher I find this movie to be a great way to introduce students to Greek mythology and Homer's great epic. Very long but full of action with some gore just what most middle school kids love! I enjoyed the movie.
Rating:
Summary: What was that teacher's name again??
Review: "Mr. Noteboom"?? Are we supposed to take that name seriously? Anyway, please disregard the negative reviews you may have seen elsewhere at Amazon. This movie really is one of the top two or three mini-series/TV movies I've ever seen, the others being "Gulliver's Travels", "Merlin" and, while I couldn't follow the plot to save me, the art direction for "The Magic Legend of the Leprechauns" was unlike ANYTHING you've ever seen! I hate to admit it. but NBC was really on a roll back then! However, they were overreaching by the time "The 10th Kingdom" came out.This is the classic story of Odysseus/Ulysses and his trip back from the Trojan War that is delayed for 20 years by his own hubris and the incompetency and mischief of his sailing crew. Armand Assante parlays this role well, and as far as I'm concerned, is the most "Italian" Italian-American actor I've seen in my years of watching TV and movies. His way works for ancient Greeks too, as the accent he uses, borrowed from his own background, makes you feel as if you are indeed watching the adventures of an ancient Mediterranean soldier and his men returning to their home in Ithaca. The producers of this well-directed and produced gem help also, by assembling some of the best art directors, actors and locales for this gift from Newton Minnow-land that they could get. One of the great little cameos in this movie is the one made by Michael J. Pollard as Aeolus, God of the Wind. He plays the part like an impish leprechaun who wants to teach his bullying brother Poseidon a lesson by helping Odysseus, who is in the mess he's in because he initially OFFENDED Poseidon with his boast that he didn't need the gods to do what he did in winning the battle in Ilium. The upshot of Aeolus' help?: Aeolus gives Odysseus a bag filled with a powerful wind and is told not to open it unless absolutely necessary. His foolish crew, and they are generally portrayed AS buffoons, opens the bag just as they approach Ithaca, and are blown way off course as the tornado within Aeolus' gift bag is released! Other good performances in this movie, (besides the myriad of excellent bit parts by various character actors,) are: Greta Sacchi as Penelope, Odysseus' "wife"; Isabella Rosellini as Athena, his guardian angel; Irene Papas as his mother and Bernadette Peters as Circes, the sorceress who "bewitches" his crew by turning them into animals. And yet again, her nibs, Geraldine Chaplin, a woman whose taste in movies to play minor roles in is impeccable, is also in here as one of Penelope's most trusted servants. You'll love the guy playing the musician in Odysseus' crew! Make no mistake, there is a warmth, a definite "sangre", to this production, that is wholly missing from just about any other TV movie I can remember. There is definite humor...feelings of love and loyalty and all around good acting are involved here. Most of the scenes from the original Homerian epic are in here, but a notable absence is that of the ship encountering the Sirens and Odysseus being tied to the ship's mast so he won't fall prey to their lure, perhaps the most famous scene FROM the poem. What was the director thinking when he left this out? The scenes in Hades are also excellent, as you really are put in a gloomy, somewhat eerie mood by the effects, and the long-awaited tableau of the return of the warrior to his beloved Ithaca and the dispatching of his rivals for Penelope's affections are also done well. Who is this Professor "Noteboom", anyway....is he any relation to Corrie Ten-Boom??
Rating:
Summary: Great Film
Review: The first time I saw this movie I had rented it from the video store. After I saw it the first time, i immediately bought it. I had always wanted to read the book, so I figured the next best thing would be to get the movie. The first 10 minutes of the movie were terrible, it seamed so cheap and it looked like this movie/mini-series had a 30 dollar budget. But i kept watching and it kept getting better and better by the minute. It was an incredible film, the overall acting wasn't so good but Armand Assante was great as Oddyseus (to me he is up there with alot of "name" actors, but he seems to stick solely to TV movies like Gotti, with the exception of Hoffa) the story was done perfectly, it was dramatic and well put together. I guess the Oddysey is a story that's hard to screw up because of it's timelessness and it's nobility, but even then I think this film was put together well. Buy this movie, but dont let the first 10 minutes fool you, it really is worth it, just dont be picky about little thing's.
Rating: 
Summary: black holes in the dryer, space time continuems in kitchen
Review: Intoxicated, I had just finished The Iliad and The Odyssey. I came to the conclusion that I still hold, that Homer is one of the greatest poets of all time, (and to his merit, I deduce this from a translation, and even very good translation saps a massive percentage of goodness from almost any poetry).
Then, a few days later, upon entrance into the incandescent crucible of Freshman English class, we started "studying" the Odyssey, and to the stupid pleasure of my classmates, our teacher in her benevolence announced that we would be watching this piece of worthless crap supplementing our piecemeal "study" of the Odyssey. I was skeptical, but I could not have been prepared for the ensuing blasphemy. I am not inclined to waste my time recalling every freakish perversion of plot, travesty of drama as an art form, embarrassment to the special effects crew, and overall mockery of Homer that this film contained, but let it suffice to say that there was not one well done instant in the whole film, not one moment that gave me anything akin the orgasmic mythopoeic thrill I encountered in the poem itself.
This is not to say that I did not enjoy the film- far from it. During the few minutes when my head was not hooded and submerged under my desk, during the hilarious moments when my ears were not frantically plugged, I had about as much comic relief to the perdition of high school as a boy can ask for. After hearing Aelous, I relished thoughts of mutilating the "brains" behind this catastrophe. And I suppose I have a soft spot for patently fake gore and cheesy pseudo-Gothic atmospheres of "terror", and the Scylla scene pandered to that. I pretended I was watching Monty Python and the Holy Grail, and enjoyed myself. I LOVE crappy special effects!!
I was shocked to learn that this was made in 1997. I truly believed this was made in the 60's.
Homer, I praise thee, and maybe I shall avenge thy memory.
Rating:
Summary: Ancient Adventure
Review: After watching this movie, I realized how tedious it would have been if the director had filmed feast after feast or all the details of the original story. He focused more on the adventures. Listening to 11 compact discs to hear the entire story is quite an odyssey itself, so if you don't have a lot of time, the movie will save you a few hours. The recording is about 12.5 hours in comparison with 165 minutes for the movie. There are many differences between the movie and the recorded book version. For one, Odysseus' son leaves to look for his father early in the original story and in the movie, he seems to leave much later. The movie focuses more on the suitors and sailors. The adventures of Odysseus are dramatic, exciting and interesting even to a contemporary audience. It is a story of a great warrior who is cursed by the gods and must wander the seas for years after the Trojan War. It is also a story of how a man wishes to return home to his faithful wife all while he is "forced" to enjoy the pleasures of the islands. Although goddesses of great beauty take care of him in the islands, he does not seem to really enjoy being away from home. Odysseus seems to have a girlfriend on every island and yet we forgive him and admire his wife. While he is enjoying the pleasures of the islands, his wife sits at home defending her very existence from a group of suitors bent on pursuing her to the end of time. When considering a critical analysis of this movie, I had to look at the "acting" and "special effects." There is beautiful scenery in Turkey and of course you have ships at sea and goddesses and gods causing havoc with the humans. Some of the more complex scenes were filmed in Malta. This was where they had a huge tank set up for the sea adventures. What they did with the special effects is pretty impressive. The acting gets better as the story progresses. What you will notice is some "overacting" when the characters emphasis their emotions so strongly that the effect only causes you to laugh. Imagine a bunch of wrestlers hugging and crying. Yes, that funny. You should not be laughing when characters are crying, however, that is the effect because the overplaying of emotions becomes almost comical. Andrei Konchalovsky's obviously had a vision for how he wanted the emotions to be played out onscreen although I think he dipped too far into extravagance and the viewer might consider it more insincere than tragic. However, if you consider how the individuals really might have acted, this is perhaps more true to ancient life. It is true that in the original Odyssey, men cry pitifully (passionate sobbing) and show their feminine side freely. I especially loved seeing all the gods and goddesses in the movie. I loved Isabella Rossellini as the "clear eyed" goddess Athena. She was definitely a highlight in this movie. It seems she is rather fond of Odysseus, the king of Ithaca (Armand Assante) and with a twinkle in her eye, she sends him off to be brave. Her eyes are just amazingly beautiful in this movie. Some of the goddesses in this movie had dark hair and in the original they were "fair-haired" goddesses. There is a creative use of waves to display the anger of Poseidon when Odysseus doesn't give the gods credit for his successes. He is cursed and must wander on the ocean until the end of time. Another highlight is the horse and ships. The Trojan Horse makes its appearance and is very well made, as are all the ships which were built in England. You will also be amazed by the special effects in Hades. As Odysseus descends into "hell/Hades" he is almost overwhelmed with the heat. Some of the most bloody scenes I've ever seen occur in this movie, although they are not quite "horror." Imagine bodies being gobbled up by hungry sea creature and blood splattering on a wooden deck or a Cyclops tearing a body apart to devour it. Because it happens during the daytime, the effect is not as intense. The scenes in Troy are also fairly violent. There is also a fairly long scene at the end where men are locked up in a room and systematically slaughtered. This is for revenge so seems to have a point. What I kept waiting for was a scene where Odysseus is bound to the ship's mast as the sirens call to him and his men. This is a very short section in the original story, so they must have felt it was not as significant. However, it would have been spectacular on film. Recommended to those who love Greek Mythology or who want to have a visual reference in your mind when ready or listening to the translation of The Odyssey by Homer. If you are trying to decide if you like the Odyssey or the Iliad: The ending of the Odyssey is much more romantic and there is far more romance and beauty in the Odyssey. The Iliad ending will appeal more to men and the story seems to contain more "war" violence and has a much more definite focus on war. Main message of this movie seems to be: "Man is nothing without the gods" or "never give up on your dream no matter if the gods try to stop you, you are captain of your fate in the end." The movie is more entertaining than listening to 12.5 hours of an Audio Book, yet if you watch the movie and then listen to the Audio Book, it takes on a new meaning. You then have a visual reference for all the adventure sections. I can recommend the movie for that aspect alone.
Rating:
Summary: A worthy remake
Review: Well firstly, ignore all the reviews of one star that are a few pages down, they all appear to be of arrogant students (I'm a student myself)! Anyway, after reading the poem by Homer, I found the film to be a pretty damn good translation. Sure, there are some bits missed out (like the Cannibals, drug addicts, Ajax and others in the underworld), but it does manage to squeeze in a helluva lot. The effects are pretty good considering this is a TV movie. And people who complain about the inclusion of the Trojan war? Well how else would you explain the reason for Odyssus sailing home. It did add a new ... scene ... where he curses the gods, which is innaccurate, as in the book he angers Posiedon by bliding Polyphemus, then taunting him. And I would have preffered a bit more focus on his meeting with the Phoenecians, as that is practically half the book! (so are Telemachus' wanderings) But overall, a fantastic translation. Shame it couldnt make the big screen, with a huge budget. It would have been a box office smash
Rating:
Summary: Awesome
Review: This movie was great! It combioned old Greek and Roman tales in today's special effects and Vwala! AWESOME! This tale is a romance about a man who leaves on a journey right after a new born son to go through the God of Athena right down to the underworld only to go back to his wife and live happily ever after, A WONDERFUL MOVIE! I recommend it to anyone who likes olden tales.
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