The Legend of Suriyothai Reviews
Top CriticLovely, large, and tedious, subscribing blindly to storybook stereotypes (this warrior is brave, this prince is noble, this consort is evil) and acted, for the most part, in a passionless monotone.
Even with panoramic scenery and well-orchestrated bloodbaths, the movie suffers from gaps, mostly in its emotional core.
Full Review
| Original Score: 2.5/4
An eye-popping if lumbering spectacle.
| Original Score: 2/4
Yukol has spread a huge canvas, gloriously costumed and photographed, but the staging and acting are often awkward and the saga is simply too dense for good drama.
Full Review
| Original Score: 2/4
The movie is both stunning on the level of visual pageantry and curiously inert as cinema.
Full Review
| Original Score: 2/4
Heavy on pageant and incident but light on character and motivation.
Full Review
| Original Score: 2/5
Without knowing what has been lost in the process, it would be hard to imagine the original film was any less repetitive or more dramatically engaging than what remains.
Full Review
| Original Score: 2/4
Filmcritic.com
"...broke all box office records [in Thailand] -- which it is not destined to do here."
Full Review
| Original Score: 2/5
Las Vegas CityLife
American audiences expect crouching tigers and hidden dragons in their Asian fare, so plodding elephants may be a little anti-climactic. This one is for the history buffs.
Film Blather
Unabashedly sentimental and unambiguous, hailing the titular princess as a saintly hero at every opportunity, and painting good and evil characters without shades of gray.
| Original Score: C
ReelTalk Movie Reviews
At best confusing and urgently in need of tightening.
Capital Times (Madison, WI)
What pieces of the story you do manage to figure out don't carry any emotional weight.
Full Review | Original Score: 2/4
Internet Reviews
The incomprehensible production is rather like a subtitled Masterpiece Theater costume drama sans feeling.
Full Review
| Original Score: 2/4
L.A. Weekly
Despite the exotic visuals, Western viewers may have trouble digesting a two-and-a- half-hour epic more in the tradition of Thucydides than De Mille.
Film Freak Central
A George Lucas film set in 16th century Thailand (Siam) complete with plucky girl heroes, angst-driven boy kings, and lots of beheadings.
Full Review
| Original Score: 2.5/4
Citysearch
It's easy to marvel at this film's epic scope and wondrous visuals, but we're left wondering how much better the original must be.
Full Review
| Original Score: 5/10
Los Angeles Daily News
These dramatic things keep happening, but the characters involved in them are so thinly drawn and woodenly acted that maintaining interest is more of a chore than thrilling.
Full Review
| Original Score: 2/4
The drama fails to rise to the heights of the production design.
AV Club
