I generally like Kenneth Branagh's adaptations of Shakespeare's plays - Henry V, Much Ado About Nothing and Hamlet were superb - but this one didn't work for me. Overly complex yet quite dry. Plus, if you're not that familiar with the Shakespeare play (and I'm not) you need to follow the dialogue to figure out what's happening, and that's no easy thing.

Shakespeare, that is. I'm not necessarily averse to updating the time period - strangely no one ever moves them BACK in time - or making a point (Orson Welles' Julius Caesar, for example, produced in the thirties when Mussollini was the current dictator in Italy, or a recent RSC production of The Merchant Of Venice set against the London Stock Exchange) but here wunderkind (in his own mind at least) Branagh tampers just for the hell of it and after setting it in Japan shot the bulk of it in Sussex, England. Branagh clearly sees himself as the Jose Morinho of the Arts - oh, yes, I'm a special person, wrote my autobiography in the womb, don't you know - but has a tough time convincing me for one. Such is this guy's ego that he throws in an introductory paragraph explaining how Japan was opened up to trade in the 19th century (No doubt Shakespeare was grateful and applauded from the grave) and tops this with an entirely gratuitous section like something left over from a Run Run Shaw chop-socky effort from the 70s. He just about stops short of Title Cards informing us that the major characters are, in fact, mirror images of each other in case casting Brian Blessed as BOTH Dukes and two Black actors as the non-Royal brothers didn't get it over. On the plus side - and just about the ONLY thing there is the fine reading of Rosalind by Bryce Dallas Howard, yet another American actress who has mastered an English accent. Pity there was little or no chemistry between her and Orlando or that Kevin Klines' Jacques was a little down in the mouth rather than melancholy. Branagh has never had much success directing actors and does nothing here to prove me wrong. On the other hand it's almost always good to see Shakespeare on the big screen - unless you let some prat like Baz Lurhman near it - so give it a five out of ten and get out the DVD of Chimes At Midnight.

I've always loved Shakespeare, ever since reading Twelfth Night 10 years ago in my last year in primary school. And I have great respect for Kenneth Branagh. You can clearly tell by his acting and how he directs Shakespeare that he respects the bard's writing while making it accessible for a wider audience. His casting choices are often spot-on too, yes with the odd questionable choice but never serious enough to bring the film drown too much. All of his Shakespeare film adaptations are well worth watching at least once with his weakest being Love's Labours Lost and my personal favourite being Much Ado About Nothing. As You Like It is not as good as his Much Ado About Nothing, Hamlet and Henry V(I need to check if his 80s Twelfth Night would count, if so that applies too),but definitely superior to Love's Labours Lost. It does have its flaws, the Japanese culture is not all that authentic and Rosalind's disguise is completely unconvincing- nowhere near masculine enough- that it does raise laughs at how Orlando could fail to see through it. However, it does look absolutely beautiful with stunning locations, sumptuous costumes and some of the most beautiful photography in any of Branagh's movies. The music is witty and lively as well as sweet and lilting. The writing is amusing and poetic, in short faithful in spirit to Shakespeare.

The story is well-paced and still has that sense of fun, and the idea to have Branagh to only direct rather than do that and cast himself as well was a refreshing one. I personally have no idea with Branagh casting himself in his films actually, criticise him all you want about him being self-indulgent, I think it further reinforces how talented and versatile he is.(Besides he is not the only one to do it, Orson Welles and Laurence Olivier did it too and Alfred Hitchcock appeared in cameos in a lot of his films). The cast are great. Bryce Dallas Howard is beautiful and charming, and Romola Garai is adorable. Jade Jeffries and Janet McTeer are also well cast. David Oyelowo is a dashing Orlando, and doesn't make him too much of a pretty-boy and not much else. Richard Briers as always is a pleasure to watch, while Alfred Molina is delightfully silly and Kevin Kline, while not as well used as he was in 1999's A Midsummer Night's Dream, is also sterling, doing justice to the play's best soliloquies. I do absolutely agree with another reviewer with the lack of any praise for Brian Blessed. He does two roles that are completely different from his personality and anything else he's done, and gives Frederick some arch without ever resorting to camp(he's also quite nuanced in this role) and Duke Snr a surprising amount of poignant subtlety, bringing to life Shakespeare's writing in the way not many people today do in one role. Overall, Branagh has done better but I still think As You Like It was much better than I heard it was, which prior to watching was mostly negativity or indifference. 8/10 Bethany Cox