The Three Musketeers DVD > Reviews > All For One And One For All!

Author's product rating:   

Did you enjoy it?	Loved it
Story	Outstanding
Characters / Performances	Outstanding
Special Effects	Outstanding
Soundtrack	Outstanding

Advantages:	A decent family action film, Good direction, Kiefer Sutherland, Charlie Sheen, Tim Curry
Disadvantages:	Hugh O'Connor

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

While Robin Hood is always the big motion picture epic that everyone remembers from the early 90's there was another from Walt Disney that maybe isn't so well remembered. It is of course the Hollywood version of the classic tale of The Three Musketeers. In fact even Brian Adams appeared on the soundtrack for this movie but these days only Prince of Thieves seems to be trotted out every year onto tele. At the time though I did really enjoy The Three Musketeers and in fact when I spotted it on DVD just after I bought my first player it was one of the first films I purchased.

This is a Disney rework of the classic Dumas novel of the same name in which 3 members of the disbanded Kings guard (Sutherland, Sheen and Platt), link up with a brave young man who whished to join them (Chris O'Donnell) to once again save the kings life. The 4 men must stop a messenger reaching London and forming an allegiance between Cardinal Richelieu and the King of England. They have only a few days to succeed or the king will be killed and France involved in a deadly relationship with the English.

The film does take on the rather Disney Friendly family feel to it but that certainly doesn't take anything away from the story. It's shot very well and uses the story and the script to create a very enjoyable action film. At 105 minutes long it isn't as if Disney have stretched it one step too far either as the length actually works quite well. Any longer and it might not have been so effective, any shorter and they'd have missed important parts out. The way its done makes it very accessible to the whole family, a trait that really makes Disney the company they are.

It comes from director Stephen Herek, who was also the mastermind behind the original Mighty Ducks film and the more recent Rock Star. He manages to make The Three Musketeers look quite special, capturing the realism of the old town scapes and recreating medieval France onto our screens. The direction is quite smooth, with decent lighting where required and some very well choreographed fight sequences. In fact the sword fighting scenes really make the movie and Herek seems to devote a lot of the films attention to making sure these scenes work. In all honesty had they not looked right, the film certainly wouldn't have worked.

The big screen adaptation is done by David Loughery who also worked on Passenger 57 and Money Train over the years. Between himself and Herek they have taken Dumas original and created a rather decent modern conversion. A lot of the time these sort of Hollywood conversions are purely about the money but you get the feeling with Disney they actually want to tell the story as well. The special effects and stunts look pretty good and its all nicely summed up by the soundtrack. In particular the collaboration between Bryan Admas, Rod Stewart and Sting really provide a poignant backdrop for the movie.

I thought that the casting of the movie really hit a note with me. With the lead roles filled with Sutherland, Sheen and Platt playing Athos, Aramis and Porthos respectively. All three are talented actors and there seems to be a good camaraderie between them and also co star Chris O'Donnell. All 4 lead characters are fantastic and really do make the film. Of the 4 for me Sutherland stands out above the rest but its only marginal.

The whole cast seems to have been pretty well chosen. Tim Curry as Cardinal Richelieu is an inspired choice. He seems to pull off the bad guy role so well and really fits the part as the evil cardinal. The only performance that didn't really impress me was Hugh O'Connor as the king of France. While the character was a little feeble, O'Connor didn't really seem to have much about him in terms of acting ability or screen presence. The casting did work though and added nicely to a good story.

Overall this is a very decent adaptation of the classic novel. The acting is quite well rounded and the direction is rather smooth making for a very enjoyable movie. It is one the whole family can enjoy and apart from one performance there isn't really anything that stands out as being particularly bad about the movie. It can occasionally be picked up on the tele on certain channels but I would actually recommend either renting or buying it if you can find a copy. Well worth it and fun for everyone.

Play: £5.99
Amazon Marketplace: £3.77