With WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE'S A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM we see a continuation of the current Shakespeare fest. The play, in my opinion, is the finest of Shakespeare's comedies, offering an effective balance between magic and reality, all couched in hilarious scenarios conveyed through delightful prose. So to see a new cinematic production of the play is a real thrill. This film is enjoyable enough, but it's not without problems.

        Shakespeare's dialogue establishes the setting as Athens, yet the film is obviously set in Northern Italy. And if the visual clues are not Italian enough, then the overuse of "La Traviata" certainly is! Indeed, much of the film looks like an Italian opera. There's a lushness to the setting that seems operatic, and many of the scenes are introduced through crowd scenes where people walk around looking at fruit or each other without any apparent purpose.

        But if the setting is somewhat confused, it's easily forgiven, since the story is such fun and rather well conveyed. The plot concerns two sets of characters: there's the mortals who are in various stages of getting married, and the fairies, who are enmeshed in a marital tiff.

        The fairy King, played very calmly by Rupert Everett wishes to extract some revenge on his Queen, aka Michelle Pfeiffer, so he sends his henchman, Puck, to seek a love potion to place on her eyes. Once cast, the spell makes her fall in love with the first person she sees.

        Enter the mortals. Helena loves Demetrius, but he wants Hermia and she wants Lysander. When they flee into the woods, Puck tries to help out their romance, but just makes things worse. Stanley Tucci plays Puck, but I found his role disappointing. His facial expressions are delightful, but he doesn't seem to have enough to do to fulfil the promise his casting suggests possible.

        There's another set of mortals in the woods, a rough crew of actors who hope to put together a play for the wedding of the Duke of Athens. They're a wild and woolly lot, these actors, and the real ham of the crew is Bottom, played by Kevin Klein. Unlike Tucci, Klein does not disappoint. He's is brilliantly outrageous without seeming over the top, and director Michael Hoffman cleverly includes hints of Bottom's home life to reinforce the very humanness of the man who is perceived only as a buffoon.

        There are many other nice touches in the film. Although Traviata is dominantly featured, the music also includes the incidental music written by Mendelsohn, especially the most famous wedding march. I really enjoyed A Midsummer Nights' Dream. Even confused as it is, and with rather staid costuming, the film brings Shakespeare's classic tale to life in a rather fun manner.

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