Arabian Nights Movie Review 2000

Lavish spectacle and good casting overcomes the somewhat sluggish storytelling that combines a number of familiar tales. Sultan Schahriar's (Scott) grip on reality is slim ever since his greedy brother (Frain) and his first (and now late) wife plotted to assassinate him. Although he agrees to marry lovely Scheherezade (Avital), he also plans to kill her the morning after. But the lady is bright and desperate, she sooths her savage sultan with a number of stories involving genies, flying carpets, 40 thieves, and magic in order to stay alive until his sanity returns. Filmed on location in Turkey and Morocco.

Distribution

Artisan Entertainment, 2700 Colorado Ave., Ste. 200, Santa Monica, CA 90404, Phone: (310)449-9200, Fax: (310)255-3730, URL: http://www.artisanent.com, Remarks: Does not handle retail queries from consumers; contact your local video distributor.

Available on VHS, DVD
Running time 175 minutes.

Cast and Crew

Genres

Romantic Adventures, Middle East, Royalty, Magic, Magic Carpet Rides, Genies, Sanity Check, Brothers & Sisters, Marriage

Screenplay

Peter Barnes

Cast

Mili Avital, Dougray Scott, James Frain, John Leguizamo, Rufus Sewell, Jason Scott Lee, Alan Bates, Tcheky Karyo

Cinematography

Remi Adefarasin

Director

Steven Barron

Music

Richard Harvey

Producer

Sr. Robert Halmi, Jr. Robert Halmi, Hallmark Entertainment