Plot so thin, it passes unnoticed.

everything you have heard about this movie is true.

Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.

There are some excellent synopses of this story online, but in essence it concerns the love between Rosalind, the daughter of Duke Senior, who is usurped from his court by his brother Duke Frederick. Rosalind is forced to leave the court – accompanied by her friend Celia, daughter of Frederick – and live in the forest, where Orlando, who was lovestruck from the first moment that he met Rosalind, is trying to find her. As with many of Shakespeare's plays, mistaken identity is a factor – Rosalind pretends to be a boy named 'Ganymede' and offers counsel to Orlando, to help him get over Rosalind. Around this central story are other sub-plots of love, romance, and the search for happiness and meaning.In this version, the story is transported to Japan – this was a move which received mixed reviews. For my part, I thought it worked beautifully, affording some wonderful scenery, which was photographed beautifully. Bryce Dallas Howard was beyond stunning as Rosalind – she was luminous, and it was easy to see how Orlando became so entranced by her. Romola Garai played Celia, Rosalind's best friend, and was great in the part, amply demonstrating why she is carving out a career as a respected actress. In truth, it is hard to select just one member of the cast as stand-out, as they were uniformly excellent. Brian Blessed starred as both Duke Senior and Duke Frederick, and made the two characters very distinctive, showing the harshness and cruelty of Frederick, and the kindly gentleness of Senior. Kevin Kline shines as a melancholy lord, and Alfred Molina puts in a great turn as Touchstone, a court fool (jester of sorts) who accompanies Rosalind and Celia when they leave the court. Other terrific performances include David Oyelowo as Orlando and Adrian Lester as Oliver (Orlando's brother).I also loved the epilogue in which the fourth wall is well and truly broken in a lovely way. Overall, this was a delightful, colourful, romantic adaptation of one of Shakespeare's comedies, and I highly recommend it both to fans and non-fans of the Bard.

To score this play 10 out of 10 is an insult. It was so sublimely executed. Utterly flawless in its presentation of the flawed fabric of our natures. If Lucifer were to seek my council and ask how he might elevate his gaze from his pismire prognostications about the human condition I'd recommend he watch this and then try to grow up some. Many of us see the worm in the weave but we tend to imagine it lends it character rather than destroying it. Paradise is not paradise without imperfection for love requires weakness to grow in compensation. Humility is hard learned and best achieved in degrees of defeat. A man defined by victories is a shallow and fickle thing. I stand here amid all my defeats prouder than I could have been if I had won the world. Shakespeare rocks and Brannagh brought that out with a vastly accomplished collective of actors and support crew. The Japanese theme in an English wood worked so well one wondered whether Britain might not be better suited to becoming part Japanese.

As You Like It is not one of my favourite Shakespeare plays. Much as I liked it when working on it at school, nowadays I find it a little tedious - I just can't get excited about the hero and heroine and their strange courtship although the basic idea is very witty and anything by Shakespeare is superior work.I can be very disappointed by Jacques if this character's not acted with enough flair - I think it is a very difficult part to put over and I've seen very good actors somehow not manage to bring the part alight. However, Kevin Kline acts Jacques so brilliantly that my estimation of the character itself rose considerably. It's the first time I can remember seeing Kevin Kline in a movie..... been looking for more of his movies since.Delightful filming and the fine acting throughout and especially of Mr Kline who is far and away the glittering star of this version in spite of all the other very good performances.Sometimes Branagh's versions for Shakespeare work for me, sometimes not. This one, with the Japanese influences, is particularly entertaining - and hilarious when required - though my favourite from Branagh is still his Much Ado About Nothing.

This is a very enjoyable movie but with other Branagh Shakespeare that I've seen it isn't perfect. There always seems to be "something" lacking. Much Ado was too fluffy - it has some serious themes that Branagh didn't seem to bring out as was concentrating on the "fun" (the BBC version is the best I've seen so far). Henry V was earthy and all the rest of it but for me it was pale beside the Olivier version. This is not because I dislike Branagh's realistic approach, it was good, but because I just don't think Branagh himself can act well enough for the part - but perhaps it is "personal taste". Love's Labour's Lost was a failure, a bit tedious, and weakly acted at times. I watched the Beeb version just after and learned that this actually is a very witty, very clever great play but I wouldn't have known it from the Branagh musical. I haven't seen the Hamlet yet.Branagh doesn't that I can see act in As You Like It? I was delighted with Kevin Kline's Jaques which he does far better than whoever in the BBC version and he's certainly the star of this play. I was a bit disappointed by Touchstone - wish he had been a more serious character as I think the clowns tend to be - Bolam did it better in the Beeb version. I didn't feel Brian Blessed was right for the banished Duke although OK for the villainous Duke. It was weird that the former looked like a Saxon king whilst the latter was a Japanese equivalent. The Japanese connection was entertaining at times but a bit strange as in spite of the info Branagh has to give at the start to explain the location - there weren't enough Japanese actors to make it work. However, it's a pleasant bit of fantasy with nice acting that should be accessible especially to those who aren't really Shakespeare fans whilst enjoyable if not perfect for those that are!