Customer Reviews

Hamlet [VHS]

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This title is actually an animated version with real actors' voices, about 30 minutes long. Our kids love it, and the 5 other plays in the series. Most of the reviews on this topic actually refer to Kenneth Branagh's full-length video, not the animated version. My kids and I hope Random House completes the series with childrens' videos of all the plays. END

Can't even recommend this one for kids. It's done in the cheapo still-frame "squiggle" animation style, fading from one still to the next. They tried to make it a fairy tale. A narrator in voice-over tells most of the story; there is almost nothing remaining of Shakespeare's script. It runs about a half-hour, and the effort to abridge and tidy it up for the eyes of children resulted in the nunnery scene (for example) vanishing as mysteriously as does Ophelia. The lines it includes are mangled beyond recognition.

While Hamlet isn't a story for children (so why make the adaptation?), this is just insulting. If you find anything worthwhile in Shakespeare's story, don't inflict this on your kids: they'll get scared when you start shouting at the screen.