Four of 1993's hot young stars have fun in a quite frivolous but nonetheless highly enjoyable adaptation of a novel that quite obviously many see as a sacred text.It's full of energy,colour and movement and everybody enjoys themselves hugely. Mr Lester's earlier version was too self - consciously smug and clever for me;tried too hard to be British and Monty Pythonesque(Heaven forfend).Here it's just good old - fashioned fun with Mr K.Sutherland outstanding,but all the boys doing the most unlikely feats of swordsmanship and athleticism. This is not a serious history of pre - revolutionary France.It's a family comedy with bags of action that can offend nobody except the po - faced critics who want to see a straight adaptation of Monsieur Dumas' immortal story. I liked this film.It made me laugh,the horsemanship was outstanding,the swordfights brilliant and Mr T.Curry deliciously bad. I have a feeling that Dumas would have forgiven the liberties taken with his text in order to make it accessible to all,not just a few Francophiles,who,clearly,don't want to share it with the rest of us peasants.After all,it was that sort of attitude that triggered the French Revolution,n'est ce pas?

I have read the book, which is very good, and I have seen the Gene Kelly version and the 1973 film which I think are both better. At least this adaptation kept me entertained. The sword fights were clumsy, but energetic. Chris O'Donnell was a bit weak as the protagonist known as D'Artagnan. The king and Queen were a bit young, but at least they can act, particularly the lovely Gabrielle Anwar. Now for the pros. Great music by Michael Kamen, and Tim Curry's (one of the better actors in the film) Cardinal Richelieu is very slimy. It's not his best performance,he overdid the character at times, but I was entertained by one of my favourite actors, as he had some good lines like "Austria's loss is France's gain ". Kiefer Sutherland was good too, and Michael Wincott was also impressive. Charlie Sheen likewise, but Oliver Platt had some truly funny lines, and delivered them with zany zest. The film itself looks beautiful, with nice locations, cinematography and costumes, and I liked Rebecca DeMornay as Milady. The only problem I had with Milady was the way she died, completely unfaithful to the book. Entertaining film, but I don't know what Alexandre Dumas would make of it though. 8/10 Bethany Cox

D'Artagnan (Chris O'Donnell) intends to follow his father and join the Musketeers in Paris. His father was disgraced for supposedly failing to protect the king. Rochefort (Michael Wincott) working under the evil Cardinal Richelieu (Tim Curry) disbands the Musketeers. Three Musketeers Aramis (Charlie Sheen),Athos (Kiefer Sutherland) and Porthos (Oliver Platt) refuses to surrender. D'Artagnan quickly finds himself with three separate duels with the three Musketeers. He falls for Constance (Julie Delpy) who is a lady-in-waiting with Queen Anne (Gabrielle Anwar). D'Artagnan is captured by Rochefort but escapes after learning of Richelieu's plan to conspire with the English and Milady De Winter (Rebecca De Mornay) to overthrow the King.

This Three Musketeers is trying to be another Young Guns. The problem is that it can't quite make this fun without feeling silly. This is a light weight swashbuckling adventure of yesteryears. It has no tension. The chemistry between the Musketeers feels tired. Chris O'Donnell has his joyless sincerity. The movie stalls whenever the swashbuckling action stops.