NekoHomey Purely Joyful Movie!

Matialth Good concept, poorly executed.

Borgarkeri A bit overrated, but still an amazing film

RipDelight This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

artyyeo We've watched both this version of the Esther as well as (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0168331/?ref_=rvi_tt).Here's my take ...This version of the Esther certainly reveals a larger budget. It has great CGI effects and the costumes are more beautiful. Even the palace interior designs were better looking. Everywhere you look, the physical part of the movie was adorned with eye-popping glamor and beauty. I would rank this category a 7-8 out of 10.But, when one watches a biblically based story, one is looking for authenticity, historical accuracy and heart-felt conviction. Besides the introduction which linked the hatred of Haman's people to King Saul wiping out their people in the book of 1 Samuel, the rest of the movie moved too much away from the biblical story. So, what kind of inaccuracies am I talking about?Towards the end, the queen was supposed to invite the king to two banquets before she revealed the petition. It was collapsed into one. The real Esther never had a boy-friend but this Hollywood movie added its own into the story to sensationalize.Next, Mordecai was supposed to be wailing and crying in the streets when he found out that his people will be annihilated. Wailing was emphasized in the Bible to indict deep and extreme emotional outcry. This emotional content was very subdued and skimped over.Also, the part about Esther telling Mordecai to instruct the people of Israel to pray and fast for 3 days and nights was again lightly skimped over. This is where it needs to be emphasized and emotions poured on it with versus quoted and praying depicted. But, I saw none of those in this movie.With a star-studded cast such as Peter O'Toole, Omar Sharif and John Rys-Davies, if the story content were presented in a more accurate manner, it would have been a success. The stars did their acting well and so did Tiffiny DuPont. The rest were average in their acting.In short, I was pretty disappointed with this movie for the lack of inspiring spiritual contents.

milla54 In my entire life, I have only walked out of 3 movies. This was one of them.From a production standpoint, the acting was wooden and unbelievable, the costumes were opulent, but often badly fitting, or just ugly. The makeup looks like it was applied by a beauty-school drop out. There was unnecessary amounts of cheesy, canned dialog that was painful. The relationships depicted felt fake and false, and not at all realistic or deep.The main character, Ester was childish, immature, and so overly sugary-sweet it was intolerable. Her "love" for Xerxes was awkward and unbelievable.More over, it did not come close to actually conveying the true depth and beauty of the biblical Ester story. This film took the plot points of that story and then managed to completely remove the whole soul from it. Ester's quiet strength is entirely lost.Lastly, this film is chock full of anachronisms, from Ester literacy level, to the thick American accents.It was all around bad. Please, if you are looking for a good film, look somewhere else.

dposes I admit, I had a difficult time staying interested in the movie during the first 30 minutes. I was extremely disappointed with the lead actress portraying Esther. I found her character very immature and childish as well as her dialogue. At times, the dialogue was so out of touch with everyone else's. It was almost like putting a 21st century teenager in that time period and nothing changes but the clothes! I think if her dialogue had been a bit more mature and "culturally in context" to the time frame as the other actors seemed to be, this movie could have had more of an impact. I still rated this movie a 9 out of 10 because I felt all of the other actors were superb, especially Luke Goss, King Xerxes. I was so mesmerized by his performance as the King. I do not agree with any criticisms of his portrayal because ultimately I think he worked the best with what he was given. I do believe that if this movie had more "hype" months prior to the release, it would have done more favorably at the box office. I do not recall ever seeing a trailer on cable television or any talk shows talking about this biblical epic. Considering some fine actors were in the movie, I think this movie was sold short to the general public. It is an exceptional movie and my only criticism was of the lead actress, otherwise, a great addition to any epic collection.

windypoplar As far as i know they have only been two previous attempts to bring the biblical story of Esther to the screen. "Ester and the King" with Joan Collins (!) and the TNT bible film "Esther" with F. Murray Abraham. This one is by far the best I've seen. It manages to be historical without seeming dull, faithful, without being blasphemous and sensual and moving,without being lascivious or silly.Big time credit to the director, Michael Sajbel, he does a fabulous job. His shot are epic and evocative and he really gets his story across. Tiffany DuPont is a complete unknown to me, but after a while, I fully accepted her as Hadassah, she is quite appealing. Luke Goss is powerful and believable as Xerxes. John Rhys-Davies does the best work in the film as Mordecai, He is one underrated actor.The look of the film is really beautiful, the score is excellent and whether or not your familiar with Ester's story, you'll enjoy this. gives some motivation for Haman's actions and I thought that worked really well. A special mention for "Tiny" Lister too, who play Hegai, he steals every scene he's in.All in all this was a really good picture. I especially loved the use of the necklace that Hadassah wears, I won't reveal its importance here, but it was a wonderful plot device. Highly recommended.