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Summary: This is a wonderful movie, even if you don't like Shakespear
Review: Branagh directs and stars in this one, and it's great! I didn't like SHakespeare until I saw this. It's funny, and romantic at the same time! Michael Keaton, Keanu Reeves are also good. Kenneth Branagh and Emma Thompson have great chemistry, too. Very believable. END
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Summary: This story is Shakespeares greatest.
Review: This a romantic comedy that is full of life. I loved it and I think that it is Shakespeare's greatest. I guarantee that you will enjoy it.
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Summary: Story of a love yet to be realized.
Review: Loved MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING very much. It was much easier to read than ROMEO AND JULIET, which I love, too. I laughed at every "quips and sentences and...paper bullets of the brain" between Benedick and Beatrice. They were lovers meant to be together.
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Summary: One of the greatest stories ever overlooked
Review: Much Ado About Nothing will entice even the most stubborn high school junior into reading Shakespeare. Forget about Romeo and Juliet's tragic love, don't even think about turning to Othello and Desdemona for entertainment. Instead, see what happens when Claudio plays out the classic role of never going to the source to find out the truth when he hears of his future wife's unfaithfullness. (He really missed the boat when he believed his jealous half brother over his bride-to-be's indignant insistance of innocence.)Then there is the other pair of equally 'star crossed', ah, enemies, Beatrice and Benedick who spend the majority of their time cat-fighting and spitting hateful nasties at each other; as everyone around them, Prince and Uncle included, know that they are truly, if hopelessly, meant to be together. This is Shakespeare's best comedy, and it deserves more recognitio
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Summary: Excellent, romantic,exciting and a play of compelling wit.
Review: Much Ado about Nothing is a wonderful romantic comedy.Shakespeare does an excellent job of focusing on the everyday antic's of love. His two main characters Beatrice and Benedick are delightfully funny.They are two people who as they throw witty insults at each other fall in love.The other characters add life and merriment to this wonderful play.You will truly feel uplifted and happy after reading it
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Summary: A sparkling and beautiful rendition
Review: Kenneth Branagh's treatment of "Much Ado About Nothing" is crisp, clear, witty, and beautiful throughout. Branagh mixes the classicly trained actors of England with new American talent (Denzel Washington, Keanu Reeves) with surprisingly little difficulty. Though Washington is at times too smoothly American to pull off the role, the ensemble is cohesive and believable in most instances. Reeves' woodenness serves him well in his role; he plays the scowling villian fairly well, displaying effort much less often than Jack Lemmon in Branagh's Hamlet. Michael Keaton takes us back to his Beetlejuice days in his cameo appearance, but it fits well and adds humor to an already humorous performance. The sparks between Branagh and Emma Thompson are obvious and enjoyable, expanding on the connection they had developed during the making of Henry V. Overall, this is an immensely enjoyable movie for Shakespeare aficionados and novices alike; understandable without being heavily obvious, this movie should stand the test of time as one of Branagh's best treatments of the master playwright.
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Summary: Best Movie Ever!! by melmcc13
Review: This movie is one of my favorite movies of all time!! I am a huge fan of of Keneth Branagh and Emma Thompson and think they are both wonderful! I absolutely loved this movie and thought that all the actors did a very good job. There were absolutely no confusing parts, and everything from drama to comedy in this film was perfectly displayed. The directing was excellent, and Kneth Branagh makes the movie seem very real. This movie does an excellent job at making Shakespeare fun and exciting!!
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Summary: much ado about nothing sharon
Review: My Critique of "A Midsummer Nights Dream"
I recently read "A Midsummer Nights Dream" by William Shakespeare, I enjoyed reading this play, I thought it was hilarious how Shakespeare would toy around with the characters and make fun of the actors who were alive at the time this play was written. When reading this play was assigned, I thought man what is he thinking? I did not want to read this play because I thought it would be very feminine and I am not normally a touchy feely kinda guy. I would much rather read something that is funny or has a lot of martial arts in it. My opinion of Shakespeare was that he was an old fart, that he was too mushy and liked to say "Thy" entirely too often. But after reading the play, I feel more upbeat about reading more Shakespeare stuff.
I think that his main purpose for writing this play was to show people how love will cause you to do crazy, crazy things. Two of the main characters Lysander and Demetrius fall in love with the same girl, Hermia. They both know the other is in love with Hermia, and they compete for her affection. Lysander, sings for her, he gives her gawds (fancy presents) and anything else that he thinks she will like. Hermia has a friend named Helena who is in love with Demetrius, and Hermia wants her friend to marry Demetrius. However, Hermia's father wants Hermia to marry Demetrius, so Lysander and Hermia run away into the woods so they can escape to Lysander's Aunts house outside of Athens. Lysander's Aunt is very wealthy and considers Lysander to be like a son to her. But when they are in the woods, they fall asleep and the King of the Fairies servant, Puck, finds them. The King of the Fairies, Oberon, tells Puck to cast a spell on Demetrius so he will be in love with Helena. Puck messes up and casts the spell on Lysander making him fall in love with Helena. Helena thinks that Lysander is playing a cruel joke and does not believe that Lysander is in Love with her. Puck then casts a spell on Demetrius making him fall in love with Helena. When Hermia wakes up in the woods she tries going to Lysander, but he is already in "love" with Helena. So, Hermia and Helena get angry with each other. Hermia thinks Helena stole her man and Helena thinks that Hermia and Lysander are playing a cruel joke on her. In the end, Hermia falls in love with Lysander and Demetrius falls in love with Helena and everyone gets married.
This is kinda Disneyish.
I personally learned from reading this play that love will make you make sacrifice for the person you love. When you love a person you will be willing to do many things for them. A good example of this is how Hermia and Lysander were willing to run away to be together and how Hermia was willing to fight Helena for Lysander when he was under Pucks misguided spell.
I would highly recommend this play, it is the finest play by Shakespeare that I have ever read. I think this play has totally flipped my opinion of Shakespeare upside down. I no longer think that he is a pansy, tight wearing, geeky kinda guy. In fact, after reading this play I would give him the benefit of the doubt that if they had football back in his day that he may have even been able to catch it. I was really amazed that Shakespeare had a sense of humor. I thought all of these plays were boring love stories full of poetry and other romantic scmitty schmatt. Given the opportunity, I would like to attend a performance of this play.
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Summary: Excellent analysis, little hard to follow
Review: The footnotes to this text, while excellent, are not specifically noted in the lines. I would find myself adding the footnote markers to the text myself; it was tedious. I would recommend the Washington Square Press version, which is consistently good and reader-friendly.
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Summary: Best Movie Ever!! by melmcc13
Review: I'm no fan of the original play and this film version is even worse. The film adds pointless scenes (nudity, along with others) not in Shakespeare's work and twists others; all aimed at an audience that doesn't care about solid acting--of which this film has none (spoiling the few interesting bits of the play)--to begin with and many of the actors simply shouldn't have even been considered-both Reeves (who can't act at all), and Keaton could never work out in a drama movie.
It should be said that nearly every big-screen Shakespeare translation (apart from Zeffirelli's version of Hamlet and Branagh's Henry V) have stunk. Parker's Othello is just as bad as this piece of trash to say nothing of Luhrmann's Romeo and Juliet or Hoffman's A Midsummer Night's Dream. It's my suggestion, that if you really want to see Shakespeare off the stage, then look for BBC material.
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