This original film based on the old play by William Shakespeare brings about a visual view of the old play. After reading the book and now watched the movie, there are themes in this film that make me a little disappointed. My first complaint with the film is the dialogue is not 100% accurate with the book. One thing you'd expect from a book adaptation is accuracy which they do for the most part other than the dialogue. To the things I enjoyed. Christian Bale and the rest of the cast bring a good performance of these characters that would for other actors, be difficult to pull off but they do it well. Examples of this would be the film adaptation of "The Outsiders" book by S.E. Hilton and played in film by Tom Cruise, Matt Damon and others. Other good thoughts I had was the music composed by Simon Boswell really gave a little more interest adding onto the emotions by the characters. Another was the sets felt accurate from the book as you would think of the some imaginary places from the book would be.

One of my favourite movies, Kevin Kline, Rupert Everett, Michelle Pfeiffer and Stanley Tucci steal every scene and recite Shakespeare with ease. Calista Flockhart bothered me at first but she grows on you.

A fun and well updated version of the play. There are some questionably strange choices in attempting to contemporise this and make it work in cinematic form but they largely work. Production wise this is sumptious to look at and the soundtrack works beautifully. The star studded cast largely cope well with standouts being Kline who is superb as bottom and Stanley Tucci as Puck. All in all its a successful production of the Bards classic, especially as it's not a play that particularly lends itself to this medium. That said I'm not sure Shakespeare purists will be as enamoured and due to the prose itself I doubt it'll convert many who weren't already familiar with the play, so I'm not sure who the target audience for this will actually be. Despite enjoying this myself, it's worth stating that I watched this with my wife who gave up with it about 40 minutes in as the prose simply wasn't for her and the humour simply wasn't to her taste. Never the less it's an attempt to make Shakespeare accessible to the masses and whilst I'm not sure it wholly achieves that aim, it's laudible in its intention and effort.

Looking down the cast list before watching this film, I did not think that it would be Kevin Kline that would end up the show-stealer, but here we are. Hoffman's updated adaptation of the Shakespeare classic may not win over the purists with its altered setting and rather lighthearted tone, but it is for large sections a rather enjoyable film, particularly when the actors are allowed to get lost in the fun they are having with their roles. The source material doesn't necessarily lend itslf well to uniform character development given the size of the cast and the time restrictions of a feature-length film, but those that get the opportunity to shine do so, particularly Kline's Bottom and Tucci's Puck. Kline's exuberance leaps off the screen and delivers energy that is sorely lacking from conventional adaptations of period theater; his exaggerated theatrics in the final performance are wonderfully lively. The film comes in fits and starts, but when it's moving you'll be plenty entertained. (3/5)

I was happy to see so illustrious a cast in any movie as most of the praise I would give the movie is directly for their performances and really nothing else whatsoever. Pfeiffer & Kline both did stand-out jobs (though Kline is not a good replacement for the '35 version's Cagney, whose performance was far superior) and Bale is among my favorite actors. The problems I had with this movie were really no fault of its own as this play is just very poor material for film adaptation; had I not seen other versions, read through the plot on Wikipedia and had subtitles on I would've quickly become lost in the movie's complicated-but-uneventful plot & dogged fixation with having the actors speak in Shakespearean verse. I did like that they inserted some dad-joke-level comedy with the donkey mannerisms but I was absolutely blown away that the decision to insert bicycles into the plot was not at some point struck down by the studio. There's rarely been a dumber idea for a gimmick and they didn't use them to change the plot whatsoever, they were just sort of there to prevent the audience from suspending their disbelief. Truly mind-boggling.

I have never been a Midsummer Night's Dream fan but this is a great adaptation of it.

A horribly boring, dull and terrible movie. Don't watch this, if you like yourself.

Hollywood Shakespear enriched by Kelvin Kline's Bottom and Stanley Tucci's Puck. Lavish SCENE'S, settings and a well chosen soundtrack add depth, which is rounded off by the rest of a strong cast.

Not amazing, but enough fun that I watch it often. For me the most enjoyable performances were the players (Kevin Kline, Roger Rees, Max Wright, Gregory Jbara, Sam Rockwell), and Stanley Tucci as Puck. The rest were take-it-or-leave-it, they did well enough, but most of the pleasure of this movie comes from the above performances. I also really enjoy the music, both the original score, and several opera selections that seem to fit in really well (to my mind). It's a pleasant and comfortable movie to watch.

Michael Hoffman's adroit adaptation of the Bard's most eccentric comedy showcases wonderful sets, beautiful costumes, terrific production values, and a strong affection for the source material. Kevin Kline's Bottom steals every scene that he's in, but there's also solid acting by Michelle Pfeiffer, Rupert Everett, Anna Friel, Stanley Tucci, Dominic West, Calista Flockhart, and Christian Bale. There's no shortage of cinematic translations of A Midsummer Night's Dream out there, but this version's mixture of mirth, myth, bicycles, and body glitter manages to leave a unique impression.

Movie way better then the play.

It's as charming and sweet as the day is long. I'd say, considering the play, that's about perfect.

It's a solid adaptation to my favorite Shakespeare play with great performances from Dominic West, Stanley Tucci, and Michelle Pfeiffer. The art direction, costumes, make up, visual effects, and score are all strong as well

I've always believed that you cannot and should not make a film adaptation of Shakespeare's work. It's not the language style or the settings. It's all because of the fact that Shakespeare's plays are written in a way where every character can be performed in many, many, many different styles, and these styles are used thousands of times every year in America to this day. To take Hollywood heartthrobs and to through them in front of a camera to perform something that has been performed so many times by so many different people is honestly a shame to me. But... the mistake was made in 1999, and we can at least agree that the cinematography was decent, and that the sets were fun to look at. Even with the use of Shakespeare's magnificent language, however, the chemistry between the actors do not fulfill the interest in the story, and in this situation that's the worst mistake you could ever make in a film production. The conclusion is this: either go see the story performed on stage, or watch all the other film adaptations that will occur in the future roll in. It'll be entertaining either way.

Bottom is absolutely hilarious. A total show off, he seem to loves the extra attention

A Midsummer Night's Dream is a fun adaptation of Shakespeare's play, featuring mostly solid performances across the board (Most notably Kevin Kline as Nick Bottom and Stanley Tucci as Puck), the payoff of moving the setting to the late 1800's, and being generally faithful to the source material. Verdict: B

An interesting take on Shakespeare's brilliant play, however plot inconsistencies and awkward scenes really hold this film back from it's source material.

The cast are clearly having a great time but there's nothing entirely new or exciting about this adaptation. Full review later.

Faithful to both the language and visionary of Shakespeare's with fine performances, but for some reason the film became incomprehensible and less compelling as it progresses to be somewhat torturous at not understanding what's going on or what they're trying to say. This adaptation is for those who admire Shakespeare's work with complete understanding. (B-)

It's well constructed, but the comedy doesn't seem as visible as it should be.