20th Century Studios A Midsummer Night's Dream (DVD) [1999]

This is one of the best Shakespeare movies.

I enjoyed watching this version of AMND at home and in my 10th grade classroom at school after the students read the play aloud. The acting is good to great and although not all lines were used, the key lines were. I had to skip one scene--when the young lovers awake in the morning they are nude--but the kids did not notice since I stopped the DVD right after Titania and Oberon fly away, and picked it up when Bottom wakes up at the next class meeting. The kids really thought the performance of the Pyramus and Thisby play was funny (except for the poignant Thisby suicide scene)--they just don't get the humor off the page. This performance helped the students appreciated Shakespeare's wit and the beauty of this language. I give it at A.