As You Like It
This was the ninth and final film directed by Kenneth Branagh in which Richard Briers stars. The others are Henry V (1989), Peter's Friends (1992), Swan Song (1992), Much Ado About Nothing (1993), Frankenstein (1994), A Midwinter's Tale (1995), Hamlet (1996) and Love's Labour's Lost (2000).,Lions are not native to Japan. The lion is a carryover from the original play, which was set in a generic European country at an indeterminate time in the Middle Ages. Even that didn't make much sense, as lions have been extirpated from the main part of Europe since the 4th century AD, and from the Caucasus since the 10th century. But many Europeans, possibly including William Shakespeare, didn't know that lions weren't around anymore.,Touchstone: The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool.,The picture seems to end without the play's Epilogue. Then, the closing credits begin, when they are suddenly interrupted by Bryce Dallas Howard, still in character as Rosalind, who then is seen speaking the Epilogue as she begins to walk to her trailer, drinking a cup of coffee along the way. After the speech, Kenneth Branagh can be heard off-screen saying "Aaaand...cut!" After this, the closing credits resume.,The version shown on cable television has been formatted to the aspect ratio commonly used in HDTV production (that is, anywhere from 1.78:1 to 1.85:1), while the version released to movie theatres was released in the typical CinemaScope/Panavision aspect ratio (2.39:1). It is the theatrical version which has been issued on DVD. Since the film was made using the Super 35 format, it was possible to make versions of the film in different aspect ratios.,Featured in 14th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards (2008),Under the Greenwood Tree
Composed by Patrick Doyle
Lyrics by William Shakespeare
Performed by Patrick Doyle and London Symphony Orchestra,I have to admit that I don't really care for most of Shakespeare's comedies, which involve huge casts, pairs of lovers, and a lot of talking at chance meetings. So it is with AS YOU LIKE IT, which I suspect for most people will only be really enjoyable as a lot of scattered scenes performed by some really good actors. That said, it's been going on 20 years (!) since Branagh first started directing these Shakespeare extravaganzas, so what point has he gotten to? First, the bad points, then the good points.

After almost 20 years, it's clear that Branagh has almost no new ideas when it comes to moving the camera around. A lot of the shots and gimmicks have been ripped straight from HENRY V and MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING. Sometimes they're simple and effective and the right choices; other times, the recycling is just embarrassing.

Second, Branagh continues to bite off more than he can chew by attempting novel or gimmicky stagings of these venerable old plays as films, a trend that he began with HAMLET (Four Hour Hamlet! No Lines Cut!), carried through to LOVE'S LABOURS LOST (an ambitious failure, but still a failure with a Capital F) and now here with an AS YOU LIKE IT set in Japan, a choice comprehensible only because Branagh explains it to the audience with several title cards. Which means, it's an incomprehensible choice because he has to explain it so much. This is the sort of adventurous staging that works OK on the London stage, where there are 100 Shakespeare stagings a year and this sort of transposition is expected in order to keep things fresh. But on film, it is mostly confusing (although very pretty).

Now for the good things, and they are very much worth noting as hopeful signs for the future of Branagh's grand Shakespearean experiment.

The casting in this film is almost uniformly excellent. Branagh has (mercifully) abandoned showy stunt casting in favor of assembling a diverse cast that actually can act and actually has Shakespearean experience. Kevin Kline, David Oyewelo, the lovely Bryce Dallas Howard, Adrian Lester, Alfred Molina, Romola Garai (a real surprise)... you're in good hands with all these performers, which is not something you could say of a Branagh Shakespeare film since HENRY V. Furthermore, Branagh has stopped the nonsense where anyone can just show up on these films sporting whatever accents they like, regardless of the film's time or place setting (which was tolerable in MUCH ADO, but silly in HAMLET and excruciating in LOVE'S LABOURS LOST). This film is about English characters: so everyone's got an English accent, even the Americans. Thank God. Branagh has also managed a way to cast fine actors of color without trying to make us believe that a black actor and white actor are siblings (MUCH ADO, again).

Bryce Dallas Howard -- dare I say it -- it a better actress and more luminously beautiful and commanding a screen presence than Emma Thompson was in MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING.

Even more surprisingly, Branagh has also given his faithful old company of secondary players from the old Renaissance Theatre Company -- you'll recognize them from his previous films -- room to actually act like the professionals they are. Brian Blessed doesn't quite pull it off in a dual role, and well, Richard Briers is ubiquitous in Branagh's films, but Richard Clifford, Jimmy Yuill, Gerard Horan and Patrick Doyle are given a little bit more to do and it's a real asset to the film. These performers assist in giving AS YOU LIKE IT -- dare I say it (dare I even hope it) -- the earthy, humanistic feel that made his HENRY V so very memorable. Which leads one to wonder: WHY did Branagh go for all this flash and glitter with Hollywood stars (starting with MUCH ADO) in the first place, eventually leading to the train wreck that was LOVE's LABOURS LOST? Why didn't he just stick with the approach that worked so brilliantly with HENRY V - still one of the greatest Shakespeare films of all time? For God's sake... BRING BACK THE RENAISSANCE THEATRE COMPANY!!!!

If Branagh has not really grown as a director, this film shows that his creative team -- cinematographer Roger Lanser, production designer Tim Harvey, and composer Patrick Doyle -- continue to do him just as good service as ever, and even seem to kick it up a notch.

The verdict? A problematic film, one that might not appeal to everyone, and decidedly less showy or fun than his popular MUCH ADO... but all in all, a definite step forward for the great Branagh Shakespeare film project. He should get another chance from HBO Films to do another one.,