Usually I would be one to pass on a made for tv movie, but as a fan of Zimmer Bradly, I would have been foolish to miss the dramatization of 'THE MISTS OF AVALON.'
SPOILERS
At the end of the first half, I suffered an array of emotions. For one, I was spellbound by the cast- Morgaine could not have been played better, and all of the men were picked true to the novel. Joan Allen was delightfully wicked and Angelica Huston pure brilliance as Viviane.
But this is not my point. Though the costumes, scenery and cast were all well, there were major plot holes and plot changes in the story that left me a tad angry.
If anyone who read the book will remember, Morgause did not kill Viviane- the unmentioned (in the mini) Balin did, out of grief and a kind of madness. Also, after the Beltane fires, Morgaine and Arthur discovered that they had slept together as the King Stag and the Goddess- in the mini series it was not so.
These are the two biggest leaps of faith that the series took. Another being that Morgaine and Lancelot made love in the novel but not in the series. And Gwynhefar was far underplayed by Mathis, though she did not do a horrible job.
I suppose I have to say that on a sliding scale, the movie was a six out of ten- above average but sorely missing key points. The four hours of the series seemed at times wasted, and for all they tried, they could not replicate the feeling of the book.
SPOILERS
At the end of the first half, I suffered an array of emotions. For one, I was spellbound by the cast- Morgaine could not have been played better, and all of the men were picked true to the novel. Joan Allen was delightfully wicked and Angelica Huston pure brilliance as Viviane.
But this is not my point. Though the costumes, scenery and cast were all well, there were major plot holes and plot changes in the story that left me a tad angry.
If anyone who read the book will remember, Morgause did not kill Viviane- the unmentioned (in the mini) Balin did, out of grief and a kind of madness. Also, after the Beltane fires, Morgaine and Arthur discovered that they had slept together as the King Stag and the Goddess- in the mini series it was not so.
These are the two biggest leaps of faith that the series took. Another being that Morgaine and Lancelot made love in the novel but not in the series. And Gwynhefar was far underplayed by Mathis, though she did not do a horrible job.
I suppose I have to say that on a sliding scale, the movie was a six out of ten- above average but sorely missing key points. The four hours of the series seemed at times wasted, and for all they tried, they could not replicate the feeling of the book.