I agree with the posters who found the special effects irritating. My conclusion: they were trying too hard. CG effects were rapidly becoming more sophisticated, but you could still look at a shot and pick out the bits that were added in post-production.
I adore Miranda Richardson, but her role in particular made me ill. The laryngitis-stricken voice, the sped-up, jittery movements, it was awful. Martin Short was also irritating and cheesy, and I usually love him.
In defense of those who love it, perhaps if this had been my first introduction to the Arthur legends, I would be smitten with it, too. When I go back and look at a show like "Land of the Lost," the effects are amazingly fake and cheesy, but as a child I was mesmerized by it, and terrified of the Sleestaks.
I compare this movie to other miniseries which mean well, but fall short of expectations. The Dune remake on SciFi was in a class with this movie. It had many redeeming qualities, and I could see that they tried hard, but I couldn't get past the cheesy (though well-meaning) CGI and deliberate mispronunciation of nearly every name in the entire story.
My biggest problem with this miniseries? You shouldn't look at a movie and think, "well, they sure tried hard to make it good." A great story can go a long way to discract me from cheesy effects, but this is a made-for-TV remake of a classic story which has already been brought to the screen numerous times.
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