Customer Reviews

Shakespeare: The Animated Tales [Region 2]

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

What a wonderful find! Aficionados of animation know how hard it can be to find the work of Russia's Christmas Films on DVD (Operavox and The Miracle Maker being the only other North American releases that I'm aware of). This is a great set, with twelve of the Bard's famous works presented in various styles of lush animation:

Disc One
The Tempest - Stop-Motion Puppetry
A Midsummer Night's Dream - Cel Animation
As You Like It - Oil Paint on Cel

Disc Two
Hamlet - Paint on Glass
Julius Caesar - Cel Animation
King Richard III - Paint on Glass

Disc Three
Romeo and Juliet - Cel Animation
Othello - Cel Animation
The Winter's Tale - Stop-Motion Puppetry

Disc Four
Macbeth - Cel Animation
The Taming of the Shrew - Stop-Motion Puppetry
Twelfth Night - Stop-Motion Puppetry

There are some incredible moments in these films: the magical fluidity and strange forms of A Midsummer Night's Dream, the ghostly image of Ophelia floating down the corridor's of the castle, Caesar's blood-red cape flowing and wrapping around his corpse. Although each play has been truncated to 30 minutes, the performances (both animators and voice actors alike) are sharp and the essential meanings and messages have been retained. These films are marvelous, and if you enjoy the works of William Shakespeare and/or the work of great animators, I'm certain that you'll enjoy this set.

Now here's hoping for The Canterbury Tales!

Any fan of animation or Shakespeare should think about buying this set. The set does not seem to have the Robin Williams introductions (and they are missed) but otherwise everything is here. Can't say enough good about this set. Makes it very clear how dull regular TV programming is. Priceless stuff.

I grew up watching Shakespeare The Animated Tales on Discovery Kids Latin America... back when it was for kids and not babies.
Anyway, it's nice to get to see it again, and some of the animation is pretty cool (e.g. Hamlet episode). I also have a predilection for the stop motion episodes.
Despite the decent digital transfer of the video, the sound is poor. I have to watch the discs on the highest volume possible, and even then it's hard to listen to it in parts.
Also, the $70+ price tag is a turn-off, when even 13-episode series range from $20-35.

I wrote an entire curriculum for my 6th graders a few years ago introducing them to Sharkespeare in the best way I knew how...through video and in-class plays. These used to run on HBO, if I remember correctly, and that's where they caught my attention. Marrying these videos with some in-class skits and some of the other "modernized" Shakespeare movies (Romeo and Juliet, Midsummer Night's Dream with Pfeiffer) really opened up my kids eyes to what Shakespeare was saying in his poetry/plays. My 6th graders just loved it and it helped them be confident when the word Shakespeare came up! I highly recommend these for anyone that needs to get to know the Bard. It was really fun for me, too, I might add!

As a high school English teacher, I'm always looking for ways to make Shakespeare accessible to a generation who could sometimes seem to care less about classical literature. The joy of this series is that it includes all of the most popular plays, and every one is done in a different style of animation celebrating some of the world's greatest artistry. The few that I've previewed have been presented very well. The language is maintained, and the graphics help to bring it all together. They're very much like graphic novels, if you've had the chance to view some of those.

Anyone interested in trying to make Shakespeare come alive would be interested in these DVDs. They make great examples for the differences in interpretation, also!

This use to come on HBO in the mornings when I was about 10 years old. It was my first real introduction to Shakespeare and I've been hooked ever since. That's saying something considering where I live and grew up. The middle of Oklahoma isn't exactly cultured so the exposure to this kind of literature is very lacking. I was lucking having a teacher in high school who encouraged it a lot later on.
Visually it's amazing. It's full of several different types of animation and drawing styles that you don't see today and was even hard to find back then. The animation is really what apealed to me as a child. The stories and speech was just new though. I had a fear that it was better in my head than it really was because it had been so long, but I was not disappointed. My 3 year old niece even sat and watched Romeo and Juliet all the way threw.
As for that $79 price tag, well, it may not be worth it if you haven't seen it before. I recommend it to anyone who teaches or has kids. While I'm sure most could appreciate it as it is, it is a lot to pay for for 12 half hour plays. To me personally, it was worth every penny.

I remember watching this series on HBO when I was a teenager. This was the series that truly made me love Shakespeare. Done in various art styles, they stay as true to the Shakespeare as possible with them being animated stories. My favorite out of all of these are the Taming of the Shrew, I love the stop-motion animation done for this story. But then Taming of the Shrew is one of my favorites from Shakespeare to begin with. Definately a 13+ series, don't think that just because it is animated that your 7 year old will be able to watch. This IS Shakespeare. So before you put this on for your kids, stop and think are they old enough to understand the death and tragedy of Macbeth? Will it be too mature for them?

Shakespeare is so much easier to understand when you see and hear it, and these "Shakespeare McNuggets" are great for younger students. I do, however, highly recommend pre-screening - some may not be suitable for your student (we do not watch Othello).

Many of these animated tales are laughable and are certain to make kids dread the Bard. While fans of animation might marvel at some technical achievements, it much like film buffs marveling at the technical achievements of Birth of a Nation--impressive, but practically unwatchable.

Hamlet falls into this category--although easily the greatest [except perhaps Lear] of Shakespeare's tragedies, it is reduced here to dreary animation that looks like something one might create for Adobe Flash.

Despite desperately wanting this to be a highly recommended series, I have to say you're better spending your money elsewhere.

I did not like the "animation" at all..
It spoilt the text of the plays..

I will rate this item 0 stars!! Yes that bad..