5/5 A beautiful work of art
  by Karkey Flynn (Haslett, Michigan USA)
Kenneth Branaugh has done another masterpiece with Shakespeare's play. Very artistically made and includes a host of wonderful actors and actresses. The setting is in Japan where English Lords have gone with their families to embrace the beauty of the orient. There is a squabble between brothers and many things unfold because of this and everyone seems to connect with whatever comes to them. One brother returns with friends to the woods of Arden and his daughter goes on her own escapades with her cousin and the court jester (Alfred Molina). The story comes together beautifully in the end with marriage, joy and reconcilliation.

4/5 Dark Bard
  by George F. Fry (Canada)
I enjoy Shakespeare on film and collect most of the interpretations, some better than others. Recently I have purchased Branagh's "As You Like It" and Al Pacino's "Merchant of Venice". I have always considered them to be comedies, but in these recent versions they have become extremely dark.Perhaps it is simply a reflection of the confusion of our own time.
"As You Like It" for some reason which is not quite clear,is transfered to Japan, and although allowing for considerable beauty in the costumes and photography, it really strains the text to comply with the concept.
What carries it are the beautiful performances. "As you like it" is a great play for wonderful cameo parts such as Touchstone, melancholy Jaques, Audrey and so on. Alfred Molina and Kevin Kline give distinguished perfomances despite the Hokusai version of the Forest of Arden. Kline particularly has emerged as a fine Shakespearian actor; one remembers his excellent and touching Bottom in the recent film of "Midsummer Night's Dream". Let us just call it a worthy but unsatisfactory attempt, sadly lacking Branagh's uplifting joy exhibited in his "Much Ado About Nothing".

2/5 Is it a movie, or a haiku?
  by Masood A. Raja (Akron, OH, Uniterd States)
Clearly from other reviews lots of people enjoyed the movie, but I found it quite -- empty! Yes, visually it's stunning, well done there, and the cinematography does some unusual stunts, but the play is so pruned that we don't ever understand why Rosalind is such a popular character, why Jacques is such a malcontent, why Touchstone is so funny, why the shepherd adores Phoebe so .... and on and on.

To be fair, I'm a professor of Ren. Lit., so my standards are high, but I cannot understand why Branagh chose to edit the play so ruthlessly. Certainly the movie's length allows for more of the dialogue to be included.

The other odd choice was that the dramatic elements (the usurpation, the bad-blood between the brothers) is played VERY seriously ... which I think is amiss in what is undoubtedly a comedy. Rocketing back and forth between true brutality, self-loathing to ennui and hilarity made me a bit sea sick. I've so enjoyed his other efforts at bringing Shakespeare to the screen, but this attempt, in my opinion, focuses so much on the visual that the story's meat-and-potato bits are the only ones left intact. Le sigh.

5/5 An English Teacher's Perspective
  by M. Belfield (SoCal)
This is a wonderful adaptation of the play, but be advised that substantial script cuts have been made. Some of the nuance of the play has been lost, but overall the plot's integrity remains solid and the characterizations are consistent with the original script. My students enjoyed watching this video as a review for the test, but it doesn't substitute for a reading of the play. The epilogue is produced in a very clever way; I enjoyed that part the most. I would definitely recommend buying this video for classroom use.

5/5 great movie
  by L. Rachetto (Fort Collins, CO)
This dvd is a great performance. Set in Japan. it's a very interesting approach to the play.