Highly Overrated But Still Good

Disappointment for a huge fan!

In other words,this film is a surreal ride.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

Being a viewer with a short attention span who bores very easily watching TV I was amazed that Merlin's Apprentice captured me so much that it caused me to sit watching avidly for the full three hour epic on the British Christmas TV schedule. I wanted to break away, but I couldn't; for me this testifies to its excellence. Negative criticism of the Director David Wu is unjustified; he's been nominated for Outstanding Direction for another of his works, and in this there was nothing to barrack him about. The production values for a TV drama were engaging. The cast were not "wasted" as David Mayer claims, though it would have been more satisfying if Miranda Richardson had more screen time. I admit I did find some of the editing cuts rather odd, and some of the flashback sequences didn't quite work, but overall it was a very enjoyable fantasy drama. I very much disagree with David Mayer's comment that the script was "flaccid and slow" - personally I thought the vocabulary used was charming and thoroughly in the time/mood of the piece. What is David Mayer's problem about using many different accents? It makes a drama so much more interesting and gives it way more flavour than a piece which only contains a bland monotone of generic American accents - personally I love to hear more than 'one voice' for distinctive characters; especially in fantasy. Drama isn't ALL about SFX - this fantasy didn't really need them, because the story, the cast, the acting, the direction were good enough to hold the attention and keep the viewer watching - and that's ALL a production aims for. How cruel and unjustified for David Mayer to say this should be dubbed for comedy and that it didn't work - this smacks of bitterness to me, as though this reviewer has an axe to grind regarding this production. The truth is that it DOES definitely WORK and it's certainly not a comedy. Merlin's Apprentice is an enchanting, exciting, and captivating tale well acted, well produced, and well directed that all ages can enjoy viewing, with many "Oh my goodness" moments in it that keep you glued to the set until the end. Watch it if you can, and find out!

After sleeping for fifty years, the enchanter Merlin (Sam Neil) awakes weak and returns to the decadent Camelot, where he finds that the Holy Grail has vanished. With the kingdom under siege by the savage Rauskaug (Alexander Kalugin) that is helped by the evil sorceress Lady of the Lake (Miranda Richardson), Merlin seeks help with the thief and aspirant sorcerer Jack (John Reardon) to find the protection of the Holy Grail. However, he realizes that corruption has doomed Camelot.I love movies about King Arthur, Merlin, the Holy Grail and the Knights of the Round Table. I tried to like "Merlin's Apprentice", but unfortunately it is long, boring, confused and corny. The screenplay shows a messy and silly story with many characters, but most of them are not well developed. Due to the restrained budget, the battle scenes are very weak and the scenes supposed to be funny are not. I loved the beauty of the actress Meghan Ory that I have seen for the first time, but her character Brianna should have been better developed and resolved. I did not like the performances of Christopher Jacot, Sam Neil, Miranda Richardson and Duncan Fraser. My vote is four.Title (Brazil): "O Aprendiz de Merlin" ("Merlin's Apprentice")

This three hour film is presented in two distinct parts - and I mean very distinct.The first part is actually rather charming in a dumb TV fantasy sort of way; Sam Niell is very winning as Merlin, and the story has some neat twists and turns, some predictable, but one or two unexpected; certainly we are left hanging over what might possibly have destroyed Camelot and erased its connection with the Holy Grail.But the second part - my God!, this is bad! Slow, completely predictable, a mind-numbingly ridiculous happy-ending, wretchedly hammy acting, a script that no longer remembers it's set in the Middle Ages, fight-scenes that are meaningless even when not confusingly disjointed - no one could imagine a worse second-half of any movie or TV series.So how the heck did it get imagined? My guess is, they started with half a script, got paid up front for the second half and decided, 'screw it, we got the money, let's take a vacation'. Either that or they just went suddenly psycho half-way through production.Don't share that fate (or mine, who wastefully kept watching, expecting - hoping - that something interesting might happen). Avoid this tripe at all costs.

Bad is the keyword for this film, and it can be applied to almost every facet of it. Bad storyline, bad dialog, bad acting, bad adherence to the Arthur legend and worst of all bad follow-on to the original. In fact there are so many contradictions to the first Merlin that this cannot be considered to be a sequel. Sam Neil (whom I like very much) just mailed this one in. I suspect he demanded his own death scene halfway through as a desperate way to get out of the film. The writers should have their paychecks seized and donated to a worthwhile charity.