Merlin

Rating:
Summary: The best movie I have ever seen!
Review: This is a fantastic movie. The acting is excellent, the plot is interesting and cool, the specieal effects are great and the movie overall, totally kicks!

Rating:
Summary: Wow!
Review: I really enjoyed this film. I highly reccommend it to anyone asa base line for Aurthurian legend. I know it helped me betterunderstand things.

Rating:
Summary: No.
Review: This was one of the worst movies I've ever seen, and the only reason I'm reviewing it is because I have nothing better to do. Frankly, the acting was horrible, the character development was minimal, and the plot was completely distorted. The special effects, while flashy, did not make anything better unless you are attracted to flashing lights and noises (not literally). The ending was thin and unrealistic; and the talking horse seemed to be a last-minute injection into the movie to appeal to kids. Judging from the amount of positive reviews I've read, with titles like "Classic... a masterpiece" seem like desperate advertisements and lower my opinion of the general population. I enjoy the Arthurian legends, but this movie was a disgrace.

Rating:
Summary: Even as a TV-movie, "Merlin" leaves much to be desired.
Review: Already hailed as a wasted, 4 hour event taking 2 days to air, "Merlin" is going need more than an all-star cast and a catchy musical score to redeem itself from low ratings hell ala Nielsen. As if the poor acting wasn't bad enough to send loathers of poor-quality cinema to the bathroom, they had to throw in the cheesy spec. effects and comical script to complete the deal. I can understand that even though "Merlin" is historically flawed, people still enjoy this film....just as much as I can understand why there are people who enjoy ridiculous films that innacurately portray Adolf Hitler as a saint with as much of a pathetic storyline. That, however, still does not change the fact that "Merlin" along with those other movies are, and will always be BAD.

Rating:
Summary: Great Entertainment
Review: Every aspect of the movie was superb! I couldn't care less about the "historic" accuracies of the story or whether it followed in the tradition of the book. From an entertainment standpoint, Merlin was a pleasure to watch. I thought the acting was extremely good. Martin Short did one hell of a job playing Frick!. The special effects were also outstanding.

Rating:
Summary: A surpisingly BAD movie.
Review: Being the highest-budgeted 2-episode miniseries ever produced by NBC, I was shocked at how bad this movie really was. The historiclly inaccurate events were told out of sequence, and the all-star cast gave a horrendous performance. The special effects were poorly photographed; notice how the stones from Vortigern's castle just seem to "disappear" upon collapsing, instead of tumbling downhill. Compare this to the SFX in older movies, such as "Dragonslayer", which were done without computers and look much more realistic.

Rating:
Summary: good
Review: This movie had its good points and its boring points. This is a good film dont get me wrong it is grate for young and older kids. It is a interesting story line and the carictors are grate too it is just that some points just dont quite chetch your attention.

Rating:
Summary: Terrible Beyond Words!
Review: Having seen the almost 3 hours telemovie "Merlin" in one go on the state channel, I have to say that the special effects are ok, though not exceptional, but for the rest...well not very positive things come to my mind. The fist halve of the movie has it's moments like the little eleves flying around in Mab's castle, the little golden fish swimming around the Lady of the Lakes neck...the second halve of the movie on the other hand deflates like a souffle, so at the end you only have some childish movie in a nice somewhat adult package! Comparing the movie with John Boorman's "Excalibur" is an insult to that movie and director! Sam Neill, a fine actor, is totally miscast as Merlin, Isabella Rossellini, hitting 50 in real life, is to old and unbelievable as Nimue, Martin Short is terrible as Frik...The only actress well cast is Miranda Richardson as Mab and Lady of the Lake! Terrific performance! What a waste of big money and talent! Dump it to never be seen again and onto the next item of the day please!

Rating:
Summary: Umm ... No.
Review: I was really excited when this movie first came on TV. I saw "Excalibur" when I was much younger, and loved it, and have been a big fan of the Arthurian legends ever since. With "Merlin", I thought to myself: Cool ... this generation's definitive portrayal of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round table. By the time "Merlin" had limped along to the scene near the end where Sam Neill is happily re-united with his talking horse, whose voice isn't very unlike that of Mr. Ed, I practically roared out with so much laughter that I ripped my pants (NOT FUNNY). I had given up any such expectations. Why? Well, let's see. The sets were ridiculous, the script was silly, and the costumes were SO bad that they actually distracted me from whatever interactions happened to be going on between the people who were wearing them. I heard in a "making-of" show that the costume designer had been going for a combination of Western European and Japanese styles, when designing the "armor." However, as noted by many on USENET, the effect was more Star Trek than Age of Chivalry. Okay, to end this review on a high note ... Neill and Bonham-Carter did the best they could with the script and direction that they were given. But if you're a fan of either, and haven't seen this movie yet ... you're not missing anything.

Rating:
Summary: Awful.
Review: Some historical/literary corrections: First, there *was* an evil (not good-hearted) Nimue in some of the original legends. She tricks Merlin into teaching her all of his secrets, which she uses to trap him in a cave forever. It's another of those "Take a great legend, mess it about, and people won't notice because they don't read" kind of story. Certainly there is NO version of the story written before this one (or since) in which Nimue and Merlin, an unlikley couple given the circumstances, live happily ever after. Second, the longbows. Arthur, if he existed, reigned around 470-500 CE. Longbows weren't first used until about 200 YEARS LATER. The fireplace & chimney piece in Frik's room wasn't invented until 700 YEARS LATER, the lecturns 1,000 years later. So I say BAD art director! BAD! Now, I could rant endlessly about other ways in which this movie defies the legend. But even for an audience interested in this film as an independent work of art (and I use the term loosely), there was much to hate. Poor acting (even from Neill), loose plotting, prosaic visuals , etc. On the whole, a disappointment, not even good enough to be called brain candy.