A bit overrated, but still an amazing film

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

One of those movie experiences that is so good it makes you realize you've been grading everything else on a curve.

First, I must say I am not an opera fan. Other than watching opera in Bugs Bunny cartoons and in the movie Amadeus, I don't do it. I don't do foreign language thingies and have never (I am in my 50's) been to an opera. So, I am a self admitted cultural dolt when it comes to Opera and can't compare this movie to the original intent.That being said, because it was featured in Amadeus, the Magic Flute has sparked a curiosity that never amounted to much more than listening to the overture. Until.....I saw this on Netflix.I watched this and was blown away. Granted, I did add the captions so I could understand the words, came to the IMDb to read about the movie to learn that the actors were the singers.The Queen of the Night?!?! She was excellent in her role. The way it was filmed, she looked insane during her aria. I was blown away. So much, I got my teenage daughter to watch it with me (her exposure to opera was via the same Bugs Bunny Cartoons and Amadeus). She was blown away too. And by reading how it was intended on the internet, I was amazed by the vision of Kenneth B. when he upgraded the setting and translated it into English. Thank you so much for doing so. If your goal was to introduce Opera to the unlearned masses (such as me), you succeeded. I only regret that I did not have the opportunity to see this in the theater as I would have gone to see it multiple times.For the snobs that rue how it wasn't a stage production, I respectfully disagree. I loved this film and would recommend it to anybody to watch it on Netflix. And if you have a rocking home theater system, turn it up to 11 when you watch it. Rattle the windows and rock the house.

I stumbled on this today. It's on Netflix now, which apparently is the first time audiences in the US have had an easy way to see this. I was blown away. I have loved this opera for most of my life, and the interesting setting in WW I was compelling to me. Kudos to Kenneth. But the grandeur of Mozart's music really overshadows everything. Pure genius. Why isn't this easily available in the US? No, it won't make a lot of money at the box office, but there are a lot of people who would end up getting a copy of this on DVD/Blu Ray.....Mozart is very popular and a nice version of one of his best operas in English will do well over the long term. It might even lure some people in who haven't listened to Mozart before. Lets get it out there, guys!

With stunning Mozart music and fabulous acting, "The Magic Flute" makes up to be a very unusual film. The plot is rather hard to understand and there are constantly weird going ons to intrigue and surprise. This film is for anyone who likes opera, otherwise this film is not nearly so enjoyable. Though this is surreal and usually ununderstanable, the music and characters interwoven make up splendidly,The story is basically what is most likely Mozart's opera, except it is set in the First World War. A young man is saved from death by three angel-like women and finds himself in a place he doesn't recognise, ruled by a mysterious queen called The Queen of the Night. In this new world the young man looks at a photograph of a beautiful woman and instantly falls in love with her. He learns that the woman has been kidnapped and with a birdman, sets out to rescue her.Recommended to opera lovers and people who like weird films aged nine and upwards! Enjoy "The Magic Flute"! :-)

It's a sad fact but the libretto of Die Zauberfloete is quite... weak. This film has done the amazing achievement of lifting up the story line and making in it not only beautiful in music and decors, but also interesting to follow and understandable! Chapeau. What a great movie. The Papageno-Papagena sound at the end is a masterpiece and is a perfect capture of the theme behind the scene. It's uplifting and joyful, and the voices are perfectly acceptable to very good. It's at the same pleasure level as La Traviatta of Franco Zefirelli. And I have to say it takes guts to revisit this story with a WW1 theme and achieving such a nice result.