Spikeopath
OK, this isn't actually the fab cartoon series Dogtanian and the Three Muskehounds, but Stephen Herek's Disney film is basically a live action cartoon.Starring Charlie Sheen, Kiefer Sutherland, Chris O'Donnell and Oliver Platt as Aramis-Athos-D'Artagnan and Porthos respectively, story is a fictional load of guff involving Tim Curry's evil Cardinal Richelieu trying to usurp Hugh O'Conor's King Louis XIII of France. Enter the last remaining Musketeers, sworn to serve their King, who after being joined by D'Artagnan set about foiling dastardly plans whilst admiring heaving bosoms.There's a couple of half decent sword fighting scenes, the photography (Dean Semler) and costuming is first rate, and undeniably there's a sense of fun about the whole thing; even if some of it is not intentional. But it's a pretty flat experience as valid entertainment, almost every casting decision is wrong, with O'Donnell and Sheen ridiculous beyond belief, the plot is wafer thin, the dialogue awful and the running time is padded out with music that hinders rather than enhances the pic. Michael Wincott (Captain Rochefort) and Rebecca De Mornay's (Milady De Winter/Sabine) breasts come out of the production in credit, but really you should seek out the Muskehounds as a better alternative for cartoon swordery. 4/10
badajoz-1
Yes, there are liberties taken with the plot lines - the worst being Cardinal Richelieu thinking he could be King. But heyho Alan Rickman as Sheriff of Nottingham in Kev's 'Robin Hood' was trying it on the same, and had less chance than the Grey Eminence. Hollywood does take terrible liberties with European classics, just like Abe Lincoln, Vampire Slayer!!! The film is cheeky in tone, with plenty of swordfighting, derring do and love betrayed, but it does not quite shirk the state terror of executing Milady! The end is dragged out rather but the acting is pretty good and the storyline lollops along nicely. It is trying to emulate Dick Lester's version but comes up short against a really fine film that gets the balance of staying true to the book and getting plenty of laughs - remember Charlton Heston as Richelieu talking to Raquel Welch's husband played by Spike Milligan!!!!!!!!!! - Priceless. Enjoyable romp if you don't mind the changes to storyline and Tim Curry's overacting.
FlashCallahan
The three best of the disbanded Musketeers - Athos, Porthos, and Aramis - join a young hotheaded would-be-Musketeer, D'Artagnan, to stop the Cardinal Richelieu's evil plot: to form an alliance with enemy England by way of the mysterious Milady.Rochefort, the Cardinal's right-hand man, announces the official disbanding of the King's Musketeers.Three, however, refuse to throw down their swords - Athos the fighter and drinker, Porthos the pirate and lover, and Aramis the priest and poet.Arriving in Paris to join the Musketeers, D'Artagnan uncovers the Cardinal's plans, and the four set out on a mission to protect King and Country....From the upstart of the film, you cannot help but think Disney is trying to cash in on the 'Prince of Thieves' bandwagon. For one Wincott pays the second in command villain, and Bryan Adams provides the 'big' song.Whilst it's nowhere near as fun as the aforementioned movie,it still has it's moments and the titular characters are a hoot whenever they are together on screen.O' Donnell on the other hand is the kiss of death for this movie, and ruins every scene he's in. It just goes to show that 'scent of a woman' was a one trick pony.Luckily Sheen, Sutherland and Platt share most of his scenes and over shadow him at all times.Curry is crazily fun as the Cardinal and just keeps the ham and cheese light. Other characters are wasted, and annoying, but the last third of the film ups the action ante and makes the whole thing worth sitting through.Just.
skmaven
Carping about the lack of fidelity of Disney's The Three Musketeers to Dumas' book or to history misses the point. It's not *our* history. It is (implicitly) set in a parallel world, possibly - no, probably - the same one in which the delightfully silly sword-romp At Sword's Point (1952 ) is set. And this too is a delightfully silly sword-romp, not to be taken seriously in the least.Almost every time the story is revisited, the character of Athos gets another softening. In the book he murdered (or attempted to murder) his wife out-of-hand, without waiting for her to regain consciousness and try to explain (what an SOB!), and still hates even her memory. The relationship never comes up in Fairbanks Sr's The Three Musketeers, and is barely hinted at in a reaction-shot in The Iron Mask - which still manages to make clear that there's some real bad history there. By the 1948 version, he "merely" repudiated her - and never ceased to love her. In the 1993 version he believed her guilty of murder and turned her over to her enemies, and grieved for her ever after.I don't have a favorite version of The Three Musketeers - each and every one I have seen is flawed, usually in different ways. But this one makes a nice casual treat, particularly on a double bill followed by At Sword's Point.
AD
