Rating: 
Summary: Yet Another Plea Against Editing!
Review: My main problem with this A&E production was the fact that they cut about half of the original mini-series that this "presentation" was taken from. As a result the film as A&E showed it is EXTREMELY choppy (particularly the ending, where you can tell they skipped about an hour of the action). The only redeeming thing about this is that at least they kept a lot of Paul McGann (Potemkin), who is one of the best English actors of his generation. Look for the scene were the Orlov brothers beat Potemkin; the Orlovs are played by Paul's real-life brothers, Mark & Stephen McGann. Great if you are a McGann fan; stay away if you have any real interest in Russian history.
Rating: 
Summary: Great acting...but lacking in the edit department.
Review: The costumes and acting was great...however Catherine's character was made out to be a very sensual character. This isn't a movie for kids under 13 years old, so be forewarned.
Rating: 
Summary: Waste of money and time
Review: The real CTG was a chubby blonde and CZJ is a slender brunette, and, okay, I probably liked watching CZJ more that I would have the real CTG. But surely there must be actresses who could have played the role better. It's a shame we couldn't peel (sorry, I couldn't resist) a few decades off of Diana Rigg, or CZJ's co-star Jeanne Moreau, or better still, Francesca Annis. Get "Lillie" and watch Annis and a much better supporting cast (and direction and production) put CTG to shame (and they did it a quarter-century earlier) in a MUCH better costume show about a young woman who starts as an unsophisticated teen and conquers a man's world, royalty and all. Annis is a lot more believable as she charms, beguiles, teases, scorns, tolerates, manipulates, and sometimes frostily discards kings, princes, artists, ministers, captains of commerce, seemingly whatever men she chooses -- all this without being a princess, czarina, or empress. The boss ladies in "I Claudius" and Lindsay Duncan in "Traffik" likewise showed how it should be done. The fake duchess in "Hornblower" and the perfect cast of "Pride and Prejudice" show that A & E can find great actresses now. Why didn't they do it here? For instance, the actress who played CTG's lady-in-waiting could probably have done a lot more with the lead role. The one star performance is by Jeanne Moreau as the aging / dying Empress Elizabeth. Too bad she's gone before the movie's half over. Ian Richardson is satisfactorily sly and slimy, but Omar Sharif helps prove that actors, like wines, do not all age well (sorry to say that about a fellow bridge freak). The role of Potemkin could have been so much greater than the hardly believable boy-toy play it got. This movie is worth watching because it depicts highly significant times and events often ignored in the US as we focus on our late colonial and early revolutionary events occurring about the same time. Also, for the guys, sure, CZJ is definitive delicious brunette yumminess (but Sophia was better), and we get lotsa good cleavage shots, but in a skin flick, I want more skin.
Rating:
Summary: Coulda, shoulda been better
Review: The real CTG was a chubby blonde and CZJ is a slender brunette, and, okay, I probably liked watching CZJ more that I would have the real CTG. But surely there must be actresses who could have played the role better. It's a shame we couldn't peel (sorry, I couldn't resist) a few decades off of Diana Rigg, or CZJ's co-star Jeanne Moreau, or better still, Francesca Annis. Get "Lillie" and watch Annis and a much better supporting cast (and direction and production) put CTG to shame (and they did it a quarter-century earlier) in a MUCH better costume show about a young woman who starts as an unsophisticated teen and conquers a man's world, royalty and all. Annis is a lot more believable as she charms, beguiles, teases, scorns, tolerates, manipulates, and sometimes frostily discards kings, princes, artists, ministers, captains of commerce, seemingly whatever men she chooses -- all this without being a princess, czarina, or empress. The boss ladies in "I Claudius" and Lindsay Duncan in "Traffik" likewise showed how it should be done. The fake duchess in "Hornblower" and the perfect cast of "Pride and Prejudice" show that A & E can find great actresses now. Why didn't they do it here? For instance, the actress who played CTG's lady-in-waiting could probably have done a lot more with the lead role. The one star performance is by Jeanne Moreau as the aging / dying Empress Elizabeth. Too bad she's gone before the movie's half over. Ian Richardson is satisfactorily sly and slimy, but Omar Sharif helps prove that actors, like wines, do not all age well (sorry to say that about a fellow bridge freak). The role of Potemkin could have been so much greater than the hardly believable boy-toy play it got. This movie is worth watching because it depicts highly significant times and events often ignored in the US as we focus on our late colonial and early revolutionary events occurring about the same time. Also, for the guys, sure, CZJ is definitive delicious brunette yumminess (but Sophia was better), and we get lotsa good cleavage shots, but in a skin flick, I want more skin.
Rating:
Summary: Waste of money and time
Review: This is the worst movie I have seen!!!! If you don't know history, you should not make historical movies!!! The only person who can watch this movie is somebody who doesn't know anything about Russia and doesn't care about actors. This movie is ridicioulos.
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