The Three Musketeers- the 2011 Movie

For some reason film makers are besotted with The Three Musketeers. There have been at least 23 movie versions, another 7 animated versions, and multiple TV series in the past 100 or so years.

I really want to see one of these old versions

It was with great excitement that I prepared to see the new movie version of The Three Musketeers. Then I read the weekend papers. The review in the Herald, not too bad. 3 1/2 stars. Then I read the review in the Sunday Telegraph.  One star! One for all, all for one, and everyone for the exit. Ouch.

Clearly it's a movie, that you either like or hate.

So how was it?

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Well, it bares the slightest resemblance to Alexander Dumas' classic The Three Musketeers. Which I read and loved last year. The character names are the same, and some scant elements of the story. But Dumas did not write about frogmen in Venice, or flying galleons designed by Leonardo DaVinci. This is more The Three Musketeers for the computer gaming generation. There are many Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon moments which always breaks the spell for me, as I remember the soul destroying experience of being trapped inside a cinema for hours and hours enduring that movie.

Still there's lots of swashbuckling action, wonderful costumes, with lots of heaving bosoms to keep the teenage boys entertained.

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Sadly this incarnation of The Three Musketeers was shot in Germany. Not Paris. So clearly Not Paris. If you're going to make a movie that is set in Paris, even in 17th century Paris, please make it look like it could be Paris, don't just use scenes of Germany and add Notre Dame to the skyline. It doesn't work, and is just plain annoying.