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Love's Labours Lost [2000] | ![Love's Labours Lost [2000]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41R3VA3W89L._SL75_.jpg)
 enlarge | Director: Kenneth Branagh
Actors: Kenneth Branagh, Alessandro Nivola, Alicia Silverstone, Natascha Mcelhone, Matthew Lillard
Studio: Pathe Distribution
Category: Video
Buy New: £9.90
New (7) Used (6) Collectible (1) from £0.98
Avg. Customer Rating:  8 reviews
Sales Rank: 3022
Format: Dolby, Pal, Surround Sound
Language: English (Original Language)
Rating: Universal, suitable for all
Media: VHS Tape
Number Of Items: 1
Running Time: 90
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 7.3 x 4.2 x 1.1
EAN: 5011531898726
ASIN: B00004WZVW
Theatrical Release Date: 2000
Release Date: March 26, 2001
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Brand new, tape is factory sealed. Tiny amount of minor shelf wear to base of insert.
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.co.uk Review
Having taken Shakespeare at his word on Hamlet (i.e., not cutting a single syllable out of a very long play), Kenneth Branagh selects a more radical approach with Love's Labour's Lost. Here the prolific director-star weeds out much of the play's dialogue, and adds songs and dances of a decidedly modern bent. The King of Navarre (Alessandro Nivola, Nicolas Cage's wacko brother in Face/Off) and his three comrades (Branagh, Matthew Lillard, Adrian Lester) take a vow: no womanly distractions while they pursue their studies. Ah, but at that very moment, floating down a magical studio-built river, is the queen of France (Alicia Silverstone), accompanied by three ladies-in-waiting. You do the maths. Branagh has set the tale on the eve of the Second World War, which allows for the inclusion of vintage pop songs, including "Cheek to Cheek", "The Way You Look Tonight" and a rousing chorus of "There's No Business Like Show Business", led by--who else?--Nathan Lane. The fact that most of the cast members are not accomplished song-and-dance folk is clearly meant to charm, but the results are spotty at best. Perhaps the most dynamic performer is Natascha McElhone (memorable from Ronin), whose aristocratic bearing and bottomless eyes lend a gravity to the material that is otherwise absent from Branagh's twinkly staging. The play contains some of Shakespeare's loveliest paeans to the language of love, yet Branagh seems to be in a hurry to juice everything up lest the audience lose interest. The labour shows. --Robert Horton
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| Customer Reviews: Read 3 more reviews...
 Indecency Strikes Again. December 29, 2007
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I was fairly enjoying this production, in spite of the characters breaking out into 1930's songs now and then. If they had stuck to a 1930s mood I might have been able to watch until the end, but the dance routine at the masked ball was indecent in the extreme and that was the end of it for me.
A shame! Apart from that, it was really only Kenneth Branagh's acting which was saving this production from complete mediocrity anyway.
 Good if you like 30's style musicals but I don't so spoils it somewhat August 6, 2007
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
I would have preferred more of the Shakespeare text and less of the song and dance. Although some nice songs were chosen, I'm just not interested in that kind of 30's musical style - I prefer more modern musicals. There was too much song and dance which meant cutting down the Shakespeare drastically so I soon became rather bored and it was hard work watching this attentively.
I felt it anomalous that Kenneth Branagh, clearly so much older than the other three students, didn't play the King anyway. He should have done as was the only actor of the younger characters who had the presence to do so and could have got away with being so much older than the other students - after all, the King could be a mature student so his age isn't all that relevant, but being subordinate to a not very exciting "king" was a casting mistake I think. I wondered whether the idea was to attract young viewers with the three young men. That could have been achieved just the same with Branagh in the leading part. He was by far the best actor - apart from the older couple Briars and the lady who plays Marple, I forget the actress's name who were also excellent and appropriate for their parts. Branagh sounded "real Shakespeare" and could have given more presence to the show, whilst the other three younger men, whilst very charming and perfectly good actors, didn't seem to have that proper Shakespeare style I'd expect to see in any Shakespeare presentation. Apologies to them if they are all expert Shakespeare actors, perhaps it's just that I found the show tedious, but no doubting the screen only lit up when Branagh or the older couple were on there. I never got into the comic turns and think this is also because the Shakespeare dialogue was so cut up by the dancing and stuff that I just couldn't concentrate on any of it much and was pleased when it all ended. In the end it seemed a trivial sort of play which I'm sure isn't the case if one had the full play acted properly. I've seen this acted properly at some time in the past, but didn't remember anything much of it at all.
I think it's a shame to trivialise any Shakespeare play and it needn't have been trivialised.
But nonetheless, three stars. It's pleasant on the eye, nicely presented, the actors are all nice enough, the songs are nice, the dancing's OK if you like that kind of dancing. Others may prefer Shakespeare done this way. It's just that I don't think this particular adaptation works and it needs some dynamism at the very least.
 Unexpectedly wonderful August 10, 2001
38 out of 40 found this review helpful
I groaned when I found out that LLL was being done as a musical. Has he gone mad at last? No, he certainly hasn't. He's turned a rather inaccessible play (the full text contains heavy parody of the affected language of Elizabethan courtiers and academics) into a scintillating romp. The music and dancing is perfectly apt, and the production is gob-smacking - the colour, the music... everything is a delight. This is a DVD which gives you a little more every time you see it. Life affirming and life enhancing, and the bittersweet ending is perfectly done.
Oustanding Production of a brilliantly funny play. January 19, 2001
17 out of 18 found this review helpful
A brilliant adaptation of what is(for me anyway) a lesser known play. Branagh brings the play up to the 1930s and makes a West End Musical out of a South Bank Comedy. The songs and dance never look out of place with the Bard's words ...Remarkably easy to watch and enjoy - you do not need to be a Shakespeare buff to have a wonderful time watching this!
Enormous fun, but far from perfect December 29, 2000
14 out of 16 found this review helpful
After the wonderful include-every-word-from-all-sources Hamlet Branagh takes almost the opposite approach, paring down the text to a minimum (see some of the deleted scenes included on this disc to get a sense of how much was cut) and adding thirties musical style songs and dances. The result is charming, amusing, delightful and great fun. Unfortunately that is all it is - and Shakespeare should always offer more. Compared with Hamlet and Henry V this is lightweight in the extreme. Better to compare it with the similarly textured but much superior Much Ado About Nothing which is almost perfect. A fine one to add to the Branagh collection, but not amongst the best. Incidentally when are Hamlet and Henry V being released on DVD?
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