Livestonth I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

Fairaher The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

AnhartLinkin This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

Ella-May O'Brien Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

runamokprods Nice, fun family friendly mini-series retelling of '1001 Nights', with Scheherazade telling tales (Ali Baba and the 40 thieves, Aladdin and the lamp, etc.) to keep her crazed husband from having her killed, and to lead him back from madness. The effects are good for a TV piece, and the acting is generally pretty strong. There's nothing wrong with it, but unlike Barron's adaptation of 'Merlin' there's not a lot that's inspired either. There are some funny moments of anachronistic wit (many provided by a goofy by effective John Leguizamo in a dual role as the fat, cowardly ring Genie and the scary and powerful lamp Genie. Not at all a bad mini-series, but not one I can imagine feeling the need to watch again. It's too aimed at kids with it's somewhat simplistic and heavy handed morals, and sudden changes of characters. Some nice visual inventiveness from director Barron, who creates terrific transitions into and out of the stories.

Shiryu05 I wanted to see what sort of performance Dougray Scott would give in a movie that was not a blockbuster-type. Granted he is talented and i felt he gave an admirable performance as the Sultan who couldn't trust his own shadow let another person. One thing that put me off though was the accents, both his and Sheherazade's accents were awful - he sounds much like his characters from movies such as MI2, ever after etc they could have made an effort and had him learn to speak in a manner befitting someone from the middle east.Pronunciation of the Arabic language was really awful. Simple words like harem and Allah (God) were horribly mispronounced.The special effects were awful but i suspect that was because of a minute budget. John Leguizamo did a great job as both Genies, specially the part where the 2 of them are groaning about their familial relations - reminded me of my own family.I was surprised to see Andy Serkis in the lineup and wondered how i had missed him since the Lord of the Rings trilogy is one of my favorite films of all time.Mili's Sheherazade physically was beautiful and somewhat believable in her role, i wish she had been more expressive though since Dougray Scott (accent aside) portrayed the anguished sultan to perfection.All in all a fun, silly movie to watch if you need to get your mind off something :-) Enjoy !

tedg Spoilers herein.One key to master storytelling is the art of folding. That includes all sorts of techniques of overlapping narrative, spanning from overarching metaphor to stories within stories. It is an ancient technique, as old as any story we know. It is especially present in the 'Arabian Nights' stories, signified by what's inside the lamp.The writer of this film understood the singular advantage of the material and made changes to emphasize the folds: the warring genies played by the same actor; the many bleeds between the framing story and the inner stories, and most particularly in the outer framing layers. The whole thing could be what we see from the magical giant, or what his wife whispers in his ear, or how the interloper makes love... or what the teller in the market tells, and that's well before you get into Scheherezade's double nesting: telling the story to her kids and/or telling to her husband.Once you have that, you have a success. Add in some beautiful faces (Vanessa Mae), some lush (but somewhat comic) costumes and really successful locations, and you've got something that works, even in the face of imperfect directing and pacing.One thing that's wonderful about these stories, the originals, is how they cover the 'orient.' This is extended here in referencing locations an peoples in various Arabian locations plus, Persia, Africa, China, even Tibet. Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.

elpasoasshole The movie was a real turnon. I thought the costumes were Realistic for the period. The story though an old one is timeless. I truly enjoyed it . I have a few of Vanessa Maes CDs and appreciate her violin expertese.I had no idea she was so pretty. And young.