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Ivanhoe (1982)

2/4/2009, reviewed by Eli Evans

The version that he grew up with, Eli can't dislike this movie and, while Amanda didn't like it when she first saw it a few years ago, she didn't think it was so bad this time.

To compare with the longer version we watched previously: Rowena is more sweet than passionate, uses tears instead of shouts to get her way, and Amanda thinks she looks like a babe taken straight from the beaches of 1982 California. Rebekah is actually beautiful, but her scenes with Brian Guilbert are drastically shortened. The plot is significantly simplified resulting in less confusion but also less drama. And the costumes and sets are extremely romanticized and inaccurate (they look really fake, too!). Wamba the Fool is more witlessly lovable and Friar Tuck unknowingly exchanges blows with King Richard. This version's depiction of the storming of Front de Boeuf's castle beats the other's hands-down, but the final battle between Ivanhoe and Guilbert is lame (it's like comparing Obi-Wan's final duel with Darth Vader to the light sabre fights of Star Wars: Episode I).

Neither of us have read the book recently enough to tell you which is more accurate and, while both have quirks, they are both enjoyable Medieval drama.

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