Jeanskynebu the audience applauded

ShangLuda Admirable film.

FirstWitch A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

Fleur Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

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.

miksko Normally I put TV productions into a category of their own; very few of them stand a comparison with productions made for the big screen. There are however a notable few exceptions; most of them Brittish, like "Prime Suspect", "Walking with Dinosaurs" and "Queer as Folks"."Arabian Nights", a Jim Henson Production, is yet another one. I won't try to fool you; there are tracks left from the TV format and its commercial breaks. But the casting is good, the acting is excellent and the story is told in a quick but relaxed pace, with some interesting quirks.In short: It has all the sence of wonder you expect from a good story book.

mijones3 This is (once again) a loose version on the Nights theme, and is not the story collection known by most fans of the works. There are so many departures from the original that it would be ridiculous to list them all; however the dropping of the character of Dunyazad, Shahrazad's little sister to whom she actually tells the stories, is not only a great shame but it has created a problem, because it has left Shahrazad telling the stories directly to the King; thus making the film script less credible than the original. Shahrazad is depicted as being the first potential victim of the Sultan's wrath, rather than the one to break the mold of his killing spree; thus making Shahriar seem more of a nice guy than he actually was. A handy way of removing the most distinctive characteristic of one of the cruellest kings in literature also partially removes Shaharazad's underlying motive for telling the stories in the first place, because in the original Shahriar's track record has been proven and the city has been nearly decimated of available young ladies. However, the chosen script has been acted well and looks visually stunning, helped by magnificent Turkish and Moroccan backdrops. In the first part of the film Shahrazad tells the tales of "Ali Baba", "The Hunchback" and "Aladdin". Only the first half of the tale of "The Hunchback" is told, which is a shame because it has been done well; and I was looking forward to "The Story of the Tailor". Curiously the character of ‘the Christian' was replaced with a totally out of place Englishman (who just happened to be wandering through Basrah in the 11th century). In this movie Aladdin's cave is filled with terracotta warriors rather than treasure! These warriors are guarding the lamp, which is therefore quite easy for Aladdin to find because its position behind the statues is obvious. The second part of the film concludes the story of "Aladdin" (rather slowly) and tells the tales of "The Sleeper Awakened" and "Prince Ahmed and the Fairy Peri Banou". "The Sleeper Awakened" is in fact a telling of a part of the original, this version ending with the Polonius-like death of the eves-dropping Haroun Al-Raschid. Also in this part an invented dispute between Shahriar and his brother Shahzaman becomes more and more intrusive. NB. Shahriar was a Persian king; not an Arabic sultan - and his capital may have been Ctesiphon. It certainly was not Baghdad, which was not built until 762 AD, 121 years after the end of the Sassanid dynasty. Whilst this is enough of an inaccuracy, the original story actually implies that he ruled the eastern half of the Sassanian empire and Shahzaman the western half, so his capital may well have been much farther east - after all we are told in the prologue that Shahriar "lived and ruled in India and Indochina".