My favorite Shakespeare adaptation of all time

| Aug 14, 2024

It might not be set to the music of ABBA, but with Patrick Doyle’s radiant score, an intoxicatingly beautiful Tuscan setting, and an infectious, non-stop party vibe, the joyous Much Ado About Nothing feels [...] akin to Mamma Mia

| Original Score: 75/100 | Jul 26, 2023

Much Ado About Nothing is one of the few movies of recent years that could leave its audiences weeping with joy.

| Dec 31, 2019

What a piece of work is this.

| Feb 19, 2019

Imaginative, intelligent, and brilliantly filmed, Branagh's Much Ado... is likely to make many people-especially the young-understand that Shakespeare can be vital, interesting, moving, and fun.

| Aug 14, 2018

Doyle's enrapturing music and Branagh's cinematic grip of the play--inventive, lithe, somehow Shakespearean--are splendid. This Much Ado is a flawed gem. Certainly, regrettably, flawed; still, a gem.

| Jan 5, 2018

Emma Thompson is normally a very reliable performer on screen, but Beatrice is not one of her successes.

| Nov 16, 2017

Very accessible, jubilant Shakespeare with brief bawdiness.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Apr 4, 2012

A spirited, winningly acted rendition of one of the Bard's most popular comedies.

| Feb 23, 2012

[Branagh] has found his way to the play's profound yet populist heart, rediscovering Shakespeare's vision of romantic fulfillment - celebration with an underlying tug of sadness - for an era that believes itself all too wise to the ways of love.

| Original Score: A- | Sep 7, 2011

Branagh's highly entertaining and accessible take on one of the Bard's zestiest comedies. [Blu-ray]

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | May 8, 2011

Continuously enjoyable from its action-filled opening to the dazzling final shot...

Full Review | Jul 2, 2008

A joyous romp whose forced jollity is only occasionally wearing.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Jul 2, 2008

You can not fault Branagh's enthusiasm and his successful campaign to bring the Bard to the masses.

| Jul 2, 2008

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Nov 20, 2007

Although Kenneth Branagh's interpretation does much to make Shakespeare's play comprehensible, it ultimately fails to create any kind of enduring watchability.

| Original Score: 70/100 | May 3, 2007

There's much to commend in Branagh's pruned, international version of Shakespeare's troubling comedy.

| Feb 9, 2006

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Sep 23, 2005

Full Review | Original Score: B | Jun 29, 2005

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Jan 5, 2005