PlatinumRead Just so...so bad

Matialth Good concept, poorly executed.

Dorathen Better Late Then Never

Solidrariol Am I Missing Something?

eudoxios75 Very nice movie with most interest focused on the film's music track, Ed Harris is perfect, mainly due to similarity he did the best he could and of course attributed the "quality" of Beethoven's character, Of course it could not and never managed to "identified" perfectly with the myth that incarnated. ( I don't know if anyone else could do better, maybe only Ian Hart which was the best "Beethoven" ever in my opinion).Diane Krueger as Cholts, is right, with internal dynamics that took no outward, deliberately, a modest quiet strength in front of the "God of music"! Remarkable how there isn't a love scene, something I respect a lot!

brokersong This movie made me feel....well....what am I trying to say...nauseated.Every cast read like they were trying their worst, including Harris, who is a good actor and was fantastic in Pollack. Music insertions during the entire movie were inappropriate. Beethoven is one of most beloved geniuses but not a single actor or scene depicted such brilliance and utter tragedy. Some of the scene were near (poorly executed) copies of scenes from other books/movies.The movie dabbles in a maze of confusing themes: I struggled to follow the ever-changing theme and constantly distracted by ridiculously poor - acting, writing, scenery, music segment choices and placements, and relentless one-liners.I was determined to continue watching the movie. In fact, I watched it twice in a row. And the most important and perhaps one scene that can help common folks, like myself, to look into the soul of brilliance, would have been during the "9th" concert scene. Yet, I was entirely disappointed with the lack of synchronization between the music and conducting and unpreparedness of musical acting (pretending to look like a real musician) by the acting cast. Despite my best effort to understand and like the movie, even just a bit, this movie is a disaster. Maybe all is not lost - teachers can use this movie to show students how not-to-act and how not-to-direct/produce.I saw (twice). I cringed. I wrote my first movie review.

dw-stefaan I went to see the movie knowing it was a fantasy, a plot written by someone not pretending to biographical. I searched to understand more about Beethoven. I've read several Biographies about this genius and his bad temper. And then this movie, takes me into his music, tells me things about his music, words can't grasp. To me this movie is a must for anyone who wants a peace of the puzzle to understand his music and the man behind the music. A more fun way to understand some things about this mysterious man. You can comment the music choice, or the story being fantasy but that doesn't diminish the fact that the movie gives you some insight in the music, the man, the composer.

Suradit The music was, of course, marvelous.The story, however, is like some after-school special revisionist nonsense. One other reviewer felt that this was OK because it was a "fantasy." This begs the question why is it necessary to fantasize a story that would have been quite interesting if kept at least somewhat historically accurate? The performance of the 9th Symphony was quite good, allowing for the silly thesis that Beethoven had to be rescued by Anna due to his deafness and only she could stand out of sight pretending to conduct so he could mimic her. Anna saves the day. And therein lies the problem, the story is really about the fictional Anna and anything to do with Beethoven or his music is sacrificed in the process. I doubt many children would sit through this but if they do, they and the impressionable adults who prefer fantasy to reality will probably carry the fiction away as fact, along with other cinematic fabrications that treat historical reality with contempt.Rather than allowing the audience to watch the orchestra during the performance, which might have been interesting, the camera keeps shifting back and forth between Beethoven drunkenly swaying back and forth while supposedly keeping an eye on Anna and Anna swaying back and forth while appearing to suffer from motion sickness. An iTunes download of the music played in a dark room would have been more entertaining.The acting was mixed. Some performances, mainly by the supporting cast, were reasonably good while the others were borderline deplorable. With the New York accents, poorly developed erratic characterizations and Americanized dialogue & behavior, I kept thinking it would have been better done as a full-length cartoon. Maybe Mickey Mouse as Beethoven and Minnie as Anna, and Donald Duck as Karl. "Fantasia" was a pretty good musical fantasy too and the acting more believable.