Three Musketeers 1993 vs 2011 a Review

In 1993 Disney Motion Pictures release a version of the Three Musketeers, that will set the bar forever more as the mark to achieve when it comes to action adventure movies. The Disney version contained all the aspects of a truly great motion picture. The villain Cardinal Richelieu (played by Tim Curry) and the antagonist and Captain of the guards Captain Rochefort (played by Michael Wincott) were well established early on with Rochfort portrayed as the Cardinal's right-hand man.). Rochefort announces the official disbanding of the King's Musketeers. Three of the remaining disbanded musketeers (Athos (Kiefer Sutherland), Porthos (Oliver Platt), and Aramis (Charlie Sheen) refuse to throw down their swords

They team up with a young wanna-be-Musketeer, D'Artagnan (Chris O'Donnell), to stop Richelieu's evil plot, of forming an alliance with Buckingham by way of Milady De Winter (Rebecca De Mornay). Joined together, the four Musketeers set out on a mission to protect King and Country.

However, the 2011 release of Paul W.S. Anderson’s Three Musketeers fell far short of the mark. Porthos (Ray Stevenson), Aramis (Luke Evans), and Athos (Matthew Macfadyen) teaming up with the young D’Artagnan (Logan Lerman) do their best to recreate the rolls in this new action Adventure film.

The film had issues from the onset with Anderson’s interpretation of the lead characters and their implementation into the script. Perhaps it is because of the Jolly robust characters in the Disney Film that left high expectations to viewers, or a reluctance to accept the characters as more serious in actions and style. But the film lacked the romance and offered a passive wimpy character in King Louis X111 (Freddie Fox) unable to handle his own manhood or instill confidence in his queen (Juno Temple). Disney’s version is somehow a more acceptable version with their unsure but determined King (Hugh O'Conor) than Andersons Louie.

The film also fell short in other areas that fell back on the writer themselves. Anderson was given a hard enough job with the theatricals written into the script, but writers Alex Litvak (screenplay) and Andrew Davies committed a huge writing foo-paw by offering the introduction of Airships built over the heavy Ocean going vessels of the period. Historians will be quick to point out that though Da Vinci’s Designs depicted a rough draft of a winged version airship in 1488, the first airships were not even built until 1784; well after the death of Louie XIII in 1643.

I found the overall script somewhat questionable and offered very little excitement when compared to Disney’s version released nineteen years earlier. Though there were some interesting points, given the opportunity I would prefer to watch a Disney Three Musketeers re-run than Anderson’s 2011 release.

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