Product Description

Winner of 3 Emmy Awards these exceptional animated stories have been designed to introduce children and young adults to some Shakespeare's most popular works. Each play has been animated in it own unique style by the exceptional talents of the leading directors of Russia's Christmas Films. Actors from the Royal Shakespeare Company and stars of stage and screen, including Antony Sher, Joss Ackland and Jenny Agutter, provide voices for the characters which were recorded and produced by BBC Wales. In Russia, art and animation has long been used as a veiled form of satire, education and political protest. This has inspired scores of Russian animators to develop fascinating and highly individual techniques, a prolific kaleidoscope of styles from which the animation artists were chosen for these stories of Shakespeare-The Animated Tales.

Giftbox Contains 12 Animated Plays on 4 DVD's: The Tempest, A Midsummer Night's Dream, As You Like It, Hamlet, Julius Caesar, Richard III, Romeo & Juliet, Othello, The Winter's Tale, Macbeth, Taming of the Shrew and Twelfth Night

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #23727 in DVD
• Brand: Shakespeare
• Released on: 2004-07-06
• Rating: Unrated
• Format: NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 4
• Running time: 300 minutes

Review
A sumptuous collection for both students and adults --Booklist

Review
Highly Recommended 3 1/2 STARS --Video Librarian

The Times
"Achieves an eerie sophistication that is a pleasant suprise"

Customer Reviews

All the World's a Stage ... or a Cel, or a Paintbrush
What a wonderful find! Aficionados of animation know how hard it can be to find the work of Russia's Christmas Films on DVD (Operavox and The Miracle Maker being the only other North American releases that I'm aware of). This is a great set, with twelve of the Bard's famous works presented in various styles of lush animation:

Disc One
The Tempest - Stop-Motion Puppetry
A Midsummer Night's Dream - Cel Animation
As You Like It - Oil Paint on Cel

Disc Two
Hamlet - Paint on Glass
Julius Caesar - Cel Animation
King Richard III - Paint on Glass

Disc Three
Romeo and Juliet - Cel Animation
Othello - Cel Animation
The Winter's Tale - Stop-Motion Puppetry

Disc Four
Macbeth - Cel Animation
The Taming of the Shrew - Stop-Motion Puppetry
Twelfth Night - Stop-Motion Puppetry

There are some incredible moments in these films: the magical fluidity and strange forms of A Midsummer Night's Dream, the ghostly image of Ophelia floating down the corridor's of the castle, Caesar's blood-red cape flowing and wrapping around his corpse. Although each play has been truncated to 30 minutes, the performances (both animators and voice actors alike) are sharp and the essential meanings and messages have been retained. These films are marvelous, and if you enjoy the works of William Shakespeare and/or the work of great animators, I'm certain that you'll enjoy this set.

Now here's hoping for The Canterbury Tales!

Great stuff
Any fan of animation or Shakespeare should think about buying this set. The set does not seem to have the Robin Williams introductions (and they are missed) but otherwise everything is here. Can't say enough good about this set. Makes it very clear how dull regular TV programming is. Priceless stuff.

Nice to have, but...
I grew up watching Shakespeare The Animated Tales on Discovery Kids Latin America... back when it was for kids and not babies.
Anyway, it's nice to get to see it again, and some of the animation is pretty cool (e.g. Hamlet episode). I also have a predilection for the stop motion episodes.
Despite the decent digital transfer of the video, the sound is poor. I have to watch the discs on the highest volume possible, and even then it's hard to listen to it in parts.
Also, the $70+ price tag is a turn-off, when even 13-episode series range from $20-35.