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Oscar nominee Julie Taymor (director of Across the Universe and the Broadway rock musical Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark) scripted and directed this visually inventive adaptation of the William Shakespeare play, The Tempest. Changing the gender of the leading role from male to female, Taymor cast Helen Mirren as the sorceress Prospera (p.k.a. Prospero).
Playing up the story's mystical elements, Taymor brings The Tempest to life as a fantasy thriller, but one marred by tonally inconsistent forays into broad comedy. In the tale, the vengeful Prospera has been stranded on a remote isle for 12 years, where she's raised her daughter Miranda (Felicity Jones, way too old to pass for 15), whom she plots to restore to her rightful position within the aristocracy of Milan. Prospera seeks to avenge herself on her treacherous brother Antonio (Chris Cooper), who usurped her duchy, and his conspirator, King Alonso (David Strathairn).
Magically luring them to her island, Prospera conjures the eponymous storm that leaves them shipwrecked there. But Prospera's machinations are complicated when her daughter falls for Alonso's noble-hearted son, Ferdinand (Taymor's stage Spidey Reeve Carney). The cast also includes Djimon Hounsou as Prospera's feral slave Caliban, Russell Brand as the jester Trinculo, Alfred Molina as the hard-drinking Stephano, Alan Cumming as Alonso's brother's Sebastian, Tom Conti as Gonzalo, and Ben Whishaw as the spirit Ariel.
As adapted by Julie Taymor, this version of The Tempest is like a Shakespearean version of the 1980 Flash Gordon movie, with some zany Baz Luhrmann-esque touches thrown in. Unfortunately, it's not as good as that might make it sound. There are moments where the film packs a wallop, but overall The Tempest is a wildly uneven film whose stabs at comedy are completely off-base with how Taymor plays the rest of the film. The Tempest is not magical, tragic, or funny enough to generate more than ambivalence at best and frustration at worst for being such a missed opportunity.
I could watch Mirren read the menu at Applebee's and find it compelling, but the tragedy of Prospera and the weight of mortality she feels is lost because Mirren doesn't look frail at all. Also, the change in gender of the protagonist alters the dynamic between parent and child. A father raising his daughter as a virtual prisoner and then having to give her away provokes a far different response than a mother doing so, especially one as majestic and likable as Mirren. Ultimately, I blame this confused portrayal of Prospera more on Taymor's interpretation than Mirren's.
The rest of the cast is serviceable, with only Whishaw truly distinguishing himself. Ariel's androgynous, bestial look is far more intriguing than Hounsou's far from monstrous Caliban, who should have been more Gollum-like. The Benny Hill-like bits of comedy involving Caliban, Trinculo and Stephano are too jarring; perhaps those worked better onstage, but within the context of this film it was too goofy to mesh with the pic's overall somber tone. (And, boy, do those costumes look good.)
While The Tempest boasts many moments of visual flair, it's ultimately a disjointed, emotionally flat and lackluster affair.
Author: Jim Vejvoda
Source: IGN Movie Reviews
 Oscar nominee Julie Taymor (director of Across the Universe and the Broadway rock musical Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark) scripted and directed this visually inventive adaptation of the William Shakespeare play, The Tempest. Changing the gender of the leading role from male to female, Taymor cast Helen Mirren as the sorceress Prospera (p.k.a. Prospero). Playing up the story's mystical elements, Taymor brings The Tempest to life as a fantasy thriller, but one marred by tonally inconsistent forays into broad comedy. In the tale, the vengeful Prospera has
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