|
|
|
|
| MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM, A (1998) - PG-13
|
|  |
|
ReviewScore: 61 out of 100
SBD Star Rating:
by Lew Irwin
View Credits | See Other Reviews
| |
Critics are looking for "magic" in Shakespeare's tale about magic, A Midsummer Night's Dream, re-envisioned for the screen by director Michael Hoffman. Janet Maslin in the New York Times can't find it. "There's no magic potion to banish the film's awkwardness or make it more than a string of intermittent acting highlights," she concludes. Nor can Glenn Whipp in the Los Angeles Daily News, who writes that the film "suffers from an incoherent vision and a fatal lack of magic." Jay Carr in the Boston Globe agrees: "Hoffman has given us a serviceable Midsummer Night's Dream, but not a magical one when nothing less than magical will do." "Sometimes, magic doesn't happen," is the verdict of Steve Murray in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Philip Wuntch in the Dallas Morning News concludes that the film "is imaginative but not magical." But Jami Bernard's review in the New York Daily News is headed: "Magic's Still There" Likewise Rick Groen in the Toronto Globe & Mail commends Hoffman for resisting the temptation to load the film with special effects and to rely instead on the performances of the cast. He particularly praises the performance of Kevin Kline as Bottom in a closing scene. "Suddenly, with virtually no help, our disbelief gets suspended, instantly transporting us into the illusion. We're moved, and the point is beautifully made: Who knows when the theater might work its splendid magic?" |
|
|
|
