As You Like It Reviews

Back in the 90’s, Kenneth Branagh became one of the most promising directors. In the 2000’s, even though he continued to direct, his work as a director was barely noticed but he made an interesting come-back in 2011 with the big budget ‘Thor' and I wonder where it will lead this time. Anyway, I kept following him all this time and it was the main reason why I wanted to check this flick. It was his 5th Shakespeare adaptation but like most of his recent work, it was barely seen. There was actually quite a lot to to enjoy here. Indeed, the whole thing looked quite gorgeous with some very nice use of colors (just check the poster) and Bryce Dallas Howard never looked better. They made also an interesting choice to keep the original text which was sometimes a little hard to follow (I’m French but I saw the movie in English with Dutch subtitles...). Still, the language was pretty impressive and there was some really huge monologues, all respect for the actors involved. Still, I can’t say it was really amazing though. Indeed, I really didn’t care much about the story. Indeed, it started as drama but then, suddenly, it became a very frivolous (and rather boring) comedy. Furthermore, I didn’t really dig the whole thing about the girl disguised as a boy while nobody recognized her. I thought it was pretty tedious and not really interesting. Still, it remains a well made Shakespeare adaptation, the cast was really good, and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.