The Mists of Avalon

Rating:
Summary: Arthur At His Best ... From The Ladies Point of View
Review: In 2001, TNT Originals, Inc. produced a high budget miniseries surrounding Marion Zimmer Bradley's memorable tome, THE MISTS OF AVALON, which re-envisioned the legend of King Arthur from the perspective of the women of Camelot ... and a marvelous job they did.

Filling with top notch acting by Angelica Huston, Julianna Marguilies, Joan Allen, and Samantha Mathis, MISTS carries with it a sense of action, adventure, and even dread as the Lady of the Lake (Huston) is determined to carry on the fate of Avalon. However, in toying with the fates of mankind, she unwittingly changes the course of history and of her nation's destiny. Intelligently acted with smart, crackling dialogue, MISTS tells the entire story of Arthur, from his planned birth up until his inevitable end with the return of the sword Excalibur as an offering to the mists.

This DVD release of the miniseries is edited seamlessly into one epic three-hour tale with only a handful of the commercial break 'black-outs' remaining. The sound is Dolby Surround, and the transfer is absolutely stunning (listen for the effects especially in the action sequences). The disc, as well, contains extras including additional scenes not shown in the televised version, a gallery of photos, an assortment of the prepared storyboards, photographs of the costume and production designs, and even a family tree tracing Arthur and Morgaine's lineage.

A must for any fan of King Arthur tales and certainly enjoyable for any TV addict.

Rating:
Summary: Movie was entertaininng
Review: I felt that the movie was okay, as usual it did not do the book justice. I thought the casting was off. I thought Julianna Margulies did a beautiful job portraying Morgaine, however the cast did not even come close to the physical discritptions given in the book. I think some one resembling Winona Ryder would have been better suited for the part physically. I think Angelica Houston did a great job acting; however in the book both Vivian (The Lady of the Lake) and Morgaine were described as small and "elf-ish" I would not call Angelica Houston elf like. And Morgaine and Vivian were supposed to look so much alike that people often confused them. I know this is a long book and the movie could only be so long but a lot of things that made the book great were left out of the movie; Kevin the Harper for example and how Lancelot came to marry. The reasons behind the running of the herd were left out and a plethora of other things. If you are interested in this subject matter I would suggest purchasing the book instead it is a far better story. If you have no intention of ever reading the book then you may enjoy the movie. All and all the movie was entertaining but did not live up to my expectations. I would not recommend watching this movie before reading the book. The characters are so off physically that it removes your ability to envision it the way the author intended it.

Rating:
Summary: the best
Review: this must be the best interpritation of the Arthurian legend ever writen

Rating:
Summary: Avalon lives
Review: The best aspect of this adaptation of Marion Zimmer Bradley's classic book was the casting--nobody could have portrayed the Lady of the Lake better than Anjelica Huston and Julianna Margulies was the perfect Morgaine.

I've never read the book (though you can be sure I will now) but this is exactly the way I imagined the legend of Camelot as a child--though I was glad to see Morgaine portrayed in a positive light for once. She really was the backbone of this version.

The soundtrack is okay, but one would be better advised to purchase Loreena McKennitt's CD THE VISIT instead--it captures the mood of Avalon and the Mother Goddess.

Rating:
Summary: best if you have not read the original
Review: Like most adaptations, it does not live up to the expectations of long-time fans of the novel. (very few do) That being said, it is good entertainment, probably best for those who have not read the original. The acting is strong, the costumes are good, the soundtrack is appropriate, and the sets are fair (don't look too close or you will have dificulty suspending your disblief). I am glad I was able to see it, but I probably will not be re-visiting the DVD again and again as I prefer my memories from the book. I found that the fight scenes were played out in more greusome detail than I remember from the book, but perhaps Holywood feels that it must bend to market-pressure for violence. (Although it was gratuitous for my tastes, I must admit that the swordplay was well choriographed). If you have read the book, keep your expectations in check, you may just enjoy it anyway! It is good to see Zimmer-Bradley's vision out in the public eye, if only in a limited fashion.

Rating:
Summary: Avalon rules! Watch this movie
Review: I loved this movie!
Anjelica Huston was perfect for the lady of the lake because her charicter shows power and determination to keep the goddess alive.
Julianna shows the conflicted emotion in morgaine and her strong spirit. If the story had a different ending and Morgaine had become the Lady of the Lake i think she would have been wonderful.
I lost track of the plot and the story lost my interest a few times but on the whole it was the best movie i have ever seen.

Rating:
Summary: disappointing adaption of the novel
Review: Having loved Mists of Avalon since it was first published, I was interested to watch the TV adaption of the novel. Sadly, I found it to be a disappointing adaption, from the wrong ages of characters (Morgause was about 14 in the beginning of the story she can't possibly be played by a woman almost 50!!!) to tacky looking sets. I kept wondering if I was watching the same basic story.
Perhaps had I not read the novel, I would have enjoyed it more, but I would not recommend it to those who were hoping for an adaption more aligned with Zimmer Bradley's original work.
On the plus side, I did think that Julianna Margulies was an excellent choice for Morgaine.

Rating:
Summary: Should this have been painful?
Review: I think my problem with this miniseries adaptation mainly comes out of the fact that The Mists of Avalon is my favorite book. I've read it at least 3 times. The first time I read it was in 8th grade, and I loved it then, and I still love it now. You can imagine my excitement when I found out they were making a movie--no, even better--a miniseries out of it. I always dreamed of seeing this story told on some sort of screen. Finally that dream was coming true.

Unfortunately, my high hopes were not lived up to. I could make a list of reasons why I didn't like this, but I'll try to limit myself to the 1000 word limit of these reviews. First of all, the choice of actress for the character of Morgaine didn't exactly fit my picture of her. According to the book, she's supposed to be small and not very beautiful. Sorry, Juliana Margulies, but I don't see you as small or ugly. Secondly, in this miniseries, the names were changed. Usually something this seemingly small wouldn't bother me, but... well, in the book his name wasn't "Lancelot," it was "Lancelet," and even then, it wasn't the name assigned to that character when we first met him in the book.

This book left out huge parts of the plot and ran too quickly through the parts it did cover. There wasn't enough time to learn all the detailed interactions between characters. When I watched it on television, it was only 2 two-hour episodes. It should have been at least four to cover everything in the book. So much was left out that it was hardly the same story. The whole character of Marion Zimmer Bradley's book was not captured in this movie. It's not there at all, and I was hugely disappointed.

Rating:
Summary: Thank the Goddess that Marion didn't live to watch it!
Review: In the first 45 minuts I was thinking that this was a truly fine adaptation of the book, with some understandable changes. I was glad with the cast, except for Anjelica Houston in the role of Vivianne, nothing against her, I like her very much, but I can't get away from my mind the image of her as an "evil witch", because of the roles that she had played before, and for the purpose of the book to wash away all the wrong ideas about the Old Religion and it's followers, I think she was not the right actress to perform that role. Anyway, after those 45 minuts I saw how the original story of the book began to fade in to the mists, and a hole new atrocious plot took place, where some interesting arguments of the author, and very important characters were lost. For those who didn't read the book, it is comprehensible to like the movie, because the little bit of the book they took was enough to show the magnificence of Zimmer Bradley's work, but it is a shamefull shadow of it for those of us who infact read it. I give 2 points to it because the work of art was delicious, because after all Morgaine was splendid, even with all that was taken from her, and because, after all, I was puzzled to see how would they clean up the mess they did with the plot until the end, I found that kind of entertaining.

Rating:
Summary: Great movie!!!
Review: Great photography! I would watch this one again and again! Good classic of the mythology stories. Nice to see movies about the women behind the men in the myths we all know so well. As in, the rest of the story...