The Magic Flute

With stunning Mozart music and fabulous acting, "The Magic Flute" makes up to be a very unusual film. The plot is rather hard to understand and there are constantly weird going ons to intrigue and surprise. This film is for anyone who likes opera, otherwise this film is not nearly so enjoyable. Though this is surreal and usually ununderstanable, the music and characters interwoven make up splendidly,

The story is basically what is most likely Mozart's opera, except it is set in the First World War. A young man is saved from death by three angel-like women and finds himself in a place he doesn't recognise, ruled by a mysterious queen called The Queen of the Night. In this new world the young man looks at a photograph of a beautiful woman and instantly falls in love with her. He learns that the woman has been kidnapped and with a birdman, sets out to rescue her.

Recommended to opera lovers and people who like weird films aged nine and upwards! Enjoy "The Magic Flute"! :-)

A man behind me commented at the end, 'What a bizarre idea', which I suppose it was, if he was expecting a filmed version of the staged opera. What we get, however, is a proper movie, with all the tricks and all the realism that can offer. The plot is - always was - nonsense, which suits this semi-fantastic treatment perfectly. Branaugh uses his CGI with drama and humour as well as the poignancy of the First World War to hold the story together. The principals were ideal - they looked right as well as sounding perfect. Papageno was a comic delight. Liz Smith - not a singing role - was enjoying herself as much as the audience where I saw the film enjoyed her. The singing would be enough to hold an audience on its own.

The most wonderful movie I've experienced in the past year. I was enthralled by the translation of the German lyrics into vernacular English; the Italians for once did not dub it away, but just provided Italian subtitles: Bravo! I was in awe of Mr. Fry's — I believe — ability to preserve the poetry while translating the language, and making it still fit the music. This opera is my very favorite and I loved the singing. The idea of setting the opera in a 20th century war scene gave the libretto story credibility and passion, something most opera lacks, except as the music imparts. I salute Mr. Branagh's genius. As usual in such musical movies it isn't clear who actually did the signing, but whoever did, did a wonderful job; the passages by The Queen of the Night gave me the usual chills up and down my spine, and Mozart is irrepressible! I have long savored Bergman's Magic Flute, and I do think Branagh's has earned at least an equal berth.

I think it's sad that this movie got such a low IMDb grade. I just wanted to say that this film is not for people who has an abc list of criteria each film has to fulfill to be a "good" film.

I do not watch much TV and film, and it's getting even less as I've started to work in the business myself.

This movie is for people like me, who've seen enough to see they need something different. AND it's for Magic Flute fans. I you don't like things being different or Mozart, you won't like this film either.

But IF you like Mozart and things that are different (call it "original" if you'd like). Then this is a MUST SEE. Branaugh has captured ALL the important details i this movie, and by IMPORTANT I don't mean whether the coloratura can hit the F sharp in a special way. I mean captured the true FEEL of the original play.

The libretto is silly and full of love, so is this movie. I've seen so many different versions of the opera, but only in this film have I seen truly fitting singers in the different roles. Most casts have a dull Tamino -> in this he's brilliant. Pamina is brilliant. Papageno is brilliant.

Mozart would be proud of himself and the performers and Branaugh if he'd watched it. Congratulations!

If The Lord Of The Rings trilogy has showed us anything, it showed that myth and fantasy have a place in modern cinema. I have long & will still firmly believe that my favorite Mozart piece, Die Zauberflöte, can & should receive a properly reverent modern cinematic treatment, while respecting the original Mozart vision, & adding fantasy aspects that could appeal to the modern masses.

This presentation however, is not that treatment I still hope for, primarily due to what I consider to be an unnecessary & unfitting portrayal, in an awkwardly placed period. Plus, The direction tends to be as misplaced as the screen adaptation itself, though still a thoroughly picturesque visage.

In & of itself, it's a very enjoyable film to watch. The English adaptation by Fry is suitable, the performances from the cast are wonderful, the casting itself was splendid, & of course, the music is beyond beautiful.

I can only criticize the film for being something I'd rather it not be, as I don't believe The Magic Flute belongs set in this way. Why wouldn't you just present this piece in a more reverent way, as an entity belonging purely to the fantasy realm, the way one would expect from A Midsummer Night's Dream or the like? I would expect that someone with such respectable Shakespearean credits to his name would be thoroughly capable of rising to that challenge. The intrusion of a WWI theme only steals from the wonder of a would be mythical experience, in my opinion

You get an A+ for effort, an A for execution, & a B- for intention, which would have been lower had you not tried so very well to make the style & period work. Nonetheless, an enjoyable view, that leaves me to still want for the version I desire, & believe we all deserve