Review of The Magic Flute (2006) by Sam F — 29 Mar 2013

Just watched Kenneth Branagh's film adaptation of the famous opera "The Magic Flute" by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart with the libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder. Combine all these great minds together and you get a splendid comedy drama about men and women and bird lovers and screeching queens and good-hearted villains and a menacing chicken and angelic nurses.

Kenneth Branagh and his crew intelligently set the Classical era opera during the World War I era and have the libretto translated from German to English, while still making sure the new words fit the music by the Classical genius.

Instead of starring film stars, Branagh starred real opera singers for the parts so that he would not have to dub the opera singers' voices over, which would make the film rather artificial. Overall, the film is a great orchestration of sound, effects, music, drama and comedy.

This is a definite must-watch for all opera- and musical-lovers.