Media Type : DVD | Rating : 6.5 out of 10 | Watched on : Someday in 2001

Release Date : July 18^th, 2000 | New & Used DVD Price : $7.75

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This movie came straight to video instead of hitting the theaters, which is interesting. The movie takes the viewers through many different horizons and landscapes, and takes them through the classic tales of the Arabian Nights in one fairy tale that is very seducing from the moment you start to watch it. The movie revolves around a sort of crazed ruler who has been betrayed by his wife, and he no longer trusts women. In a desperate attempt to save his sanity, he decides to takes the insane step of marrying every woman in the city, one by one, and the morning that follows the wedding night, has them beheaded. All the women in the city who know about this plan are in a frenzy, including the dozens of women waiting to be his wife, one by one. At this time of desperation, the daughter of the Vizir [Prime Minister to some of you] takes on the task of ridding the supposed “mad man” of his madness and show him the true meaning of love.

To win his trust and keep her own life going, she starts telling her new husband [played almost realistically by Dougray Scott] a story which keeps going on and on, transforming and changing from one story to another. As a twist, she always stops short of finishing a story at dawn, making sure her husband is seduced enough, even though he is extremely mad about it, to let her live another day so that she can continue the story. She keeps doing this repeatedly, and through the stories, she tells her husband of different kinds of wisdoms and lessons one can learn from mistakes and experiences. Near the end, her husband comes to realize this and decides to take another chance again.

The whole movie is a lot more than the summary above, including the attempt by the ruler’s brother to take over the kingdom, with a fight near the end that combines the wisdom the Vizir’s daughter taught her husband through all the different stories. All the tales in the movie are told in a fabulous manner, with special effects and landscapes that will leave you wondering as to why this movie did not appear in theaters first. It is a family movie, though the idea of having wives to kill them every morning may not appeal to kids and many people [even though it never gets to happen, thanks to the Vizir's daughter]. All the characters in the movie have a fantasy character to them, which they portray to the viewer very realistically. Anyone who is fond of the original tales and the books will surely find this to be the most realistic adaptation of those tales ever made. The original tales had 1001 stories. This movie takes on only a few of them, given the time limit a movie is supposed to abide by [the running time for this movie is around 175 minutes]. Even then, you will not be bored and can easily watch this movie anytime and be pleased.