Prospera was intriguing when I first heard about this movie. But it came off very convincing - almost as if Shakespeare wrote it that way himself. I was just wondering why Taymor chose to do this though! Helen Mirren was her superb best. Djimon was excellent as Caliban. I saw him in the movie "The Island" earlier and found he does deliver his best in challenging roles. All other actors did their part very well. I would recommend this movie to Shakespeare buffs. Don't expect too much from it as Shakespeare certainly did not write action plays. But it was time well spent.

of gorgeous scenery both real and mixed with CGI.Julie Taymor never disappoints me and this is no exception!

to life. But the real revelation is Russel Brand who surprises with a brilliant performance. If you get the DVD, you need to watch the special feature with him and Alfred Molina where Brand gives a five minute extemporary monologue completely in the character as Trinculo to appreciate the skills he has as an actor.

to avoid the feeling that this was the master's farewell flourish. If you haven't seen this movie, it's absolutely worth it. Ignore the negative posts; I have no idea what their problem is. I rate this as among the best Shakespeare adaptations specifically for the screen, along with Zeffirelli's "Romeo and Juliet" and Branagh's "Much Ado About Nothing" and a very few others. When this movie was released there was predictably a minor flap about the central character of the old magician/sage Prospero here, Prospera being played by a woman. But it turns out to be no problem at all; with some extremely small adjustments to the text, everything works just fine, including the parent/child relationship Prospera/Miranda which is now mother/daughter. And Helen Mirren, one of our greatest living actresses, sells it. Converting Shakespeare to film carries both advantages and risks, but one advantage is an extra dimension of nuance: with effective use of close-ups the actors can act with subtle facial expressions as well as with dialog and body language. And Mirren does this very effectively indeed -- watch her face carefully in every one of her scenes. This movie also doesn't shy away from the full text; it's delivered clearly and for anyone not so familiar with Shakespeare's wording this is as good a place to start as any. Another advantage of film is the ability to use special effects, which this movie uses especially for the airy spirit Ariel an excellent Ben Whishaw and for the final "vision" sequence. These work well, they add to the overall feel of the play, and avoiding the risk they're not overdone. Compared with other Shakespeare plays the list of characters is relatively small, and although there's no doubt this is Helen Mirren's film, the rest of the cast is uniformly good. Felicity Jones is a really nice and convincing Miranda, Djimon Hounsou gives a strongly portrayed version of the conflicted Caliban, and the shipwrecked nobles David Strathairn, Alan Cumming, Chris Cooper, Reeve Carney, Tom Conti are uniformly good. The biggest problem area with The Tempest as a play is with the "fools" the comic relief, here played by Alfred Molina and Russell Brand : relative to other plays they just aren't that funny and they seem to be just a distraction to the main story, but to their credit Molina and Brand pull off just about the best versions of them that I've seen.Kudos to director Julie Taymor for giving us this. She's someone with genuine vision and is no stranger to Shakespeare either -- see her eccentrically powerful version of Titus Andronicus "Titus" 1999, with Anthony Hopkins as one other example.

meets Ferdinand - Mirren's ironic commentary added a whole new dimension to the play for me.I also loved Tony Conti as the aged senator Gonzalo. His performance is so masterful it puts his character at the forefront of the story for once - no bad thing.Overall I think Shakespeare fans will really enjoy this film. Other people may be left a little bored and bewildered.

Strathairn's Alonso is magnetic and Dijimon Hounsou is a Caliban that is both terrifying and sympathetic. Alfred Molina and Chris Cooper prove themselves to be scene-stealers, Ben Whishaw is an effective Ariel who as a spirit looks wonderful and Alan Cumming plays it straight and is good at it no matter how strange it initially is. Julie Taymor's direction is compelling and creative, especially in the character relationships, you feel the spiritual connection between Ariel and Prospera, the sadness of Caliban and Prospera's sorrowful weariness at the end and the idea to have Caliban as Prospera's shadow self was convincing. The visuals are spectacular, right from the palaces, towers, columns and the scenery itself helped by well-above average effects and sweeping cinematography. The dialogue is as poetic and witty as ever, and while some may find the rock music jarring, while it is not my kind of music, it did give some energetic flavour to the songs. All in all, not a movie that everybody is going to like, but while not perfect I thoroughly enjoyed it. 8/10 Bethany Cox

suppose it's all right.Although Tom Conti's Gonzalo and Alfred Molina's Stefano were good, I also felt the rest of the characters - even Prospera - lacked a certain passion Brand was okay as Trinculo, but not quite as charismatic as I would have liked . Miranda was almost as good as we have any right to expect, but the only real stand-out character who displayed proper passion was Caliban. Most definitely the most successful version of the character I have seen yet. Much the same goes for Ariel, who was very close to how I've always imagined him.I could mention other occasional shortcomings - textual cuts, a speech that did not have maximum effect, a comical scene that wasn't all that comical, etc. - but the fact of the matter is that this adaptation was a thing of beauty. Being a stage designer for opera productions, Taymor understands how to create a simultaneously modern and poetic environment stuffed with stylish imagery. I loved the sounds effects and the visual effects equally, and have long yearned to see such a version of The Tempest. So this makes me very happy.Several scenes represented thoughtful ideas about interpretation, just like a good production should. A new detail it alerted me to was when Prospera says of Caliban towards the end, "this thing of darkness, I acknowledge mine". I have always thought that this line meant that Prospero acknowledged Caliban as being a part of him; something integral to him. But in this production, we have a situation where several characters try to explain who they are, and Prospera's words may simply identify Caliban as one of her subjects with no further meaning. Taymor latterly has Caliban leave Prospera's cell much like Lucius left for the sunset with Aaron's child in Titus , which suggests a different and intriguing reading of the scene. After all, Prospera is returning to Milan, so what can happen to Caliban other than that he receives his freedom? Neat, methinks!With its several shortcomings, one could argue that the film deserves an 7 rating rather than a 8, but what pushed it towards a 8 for me was the incredible beauty of the sung version of the epilogue during the end credits. It was even done in a voice that could be mistaken for Helen Mirren's, which I thought was a splendid touch.All in all, a splendid and satisfying if imperfect adaptation that I know I will watch often on DVD. It is the best version of the play yet made.8 stars out of 10.