kelly-rhodes1 I don't often write reviews but I had to... having loved the first movie by David Lynch since I was a kid and just finished the book I had to write!This rendition is the truest to the book out of the two movies and it's hard not to compare this to David Lynch's version. However huge liberties were taken by the writers and imho it dumbed the story line and made it somewhat ridiculous turning one of the best sci fi books written to an almost comic book level. The emperor is made to seem naive and the princess irulan a genius... not sure how that works, as the emperor wouldn't be naive.. and certainly wasn't in the books. Irulan shouldn't have had such a grandiose story line... clearly they wanted to give her more lines.Gurney Halleck is played by PH Moriarty and was appalling and not remotely believable. Chani played by Barbora Kodetova, again not remotely believable and should never have been given such a powerful role. The baron Harkonnen played by Ian Mcneice had flashed of genius but very limited and over acted... he's a cold calculating character who thinks he if far smarter than he is, was a disappointment overall.The set design and costumes were garish and looked like something out of the 80's it would have been better to have spent their budget on decent outdoor sand scenes. Saskia Reeves I think did a fair job, clearly she had a great grasp of who Jessica is meant to be. Alec Newman was badly cast in my opinion, Paul Atredies is meant to be 15-16 and Alec was not only too old to play him but did a shocking job... wooden and two dimensional and doesn't remotely inspire an audience let alone a legion of fremen warriors.That all being said, the script kept some important scenes that David Lynch's version didn't and was all the richer for it. The weirding way was much better shown, although I like the ideas of the weirding module in David Lynch's version. The scene with the reverend mother and Jessica and the water of life I think was quite well done and the introduction of Alia and her as a child was very good.All in all I gave it 4 due to the content being more accurate, but deducted 6 for the shocking acting and writer liberties. The book is good enough as it is, it doesn't need rewriting by writers that think they know better. I would just like to see a clever, well acted, try to the book version...

Azsorious I came into this with mild expectations, having seen Lynch's Dune and then reading the entire book series. Needless to say I was disappointed at best.Paul is unrecognizable in this series, gone is the noble yet immature Atreides. Instead we have a spoiled, impudent brat. They insert pointless dialogue which never occurs in the books or movie for the sake of comic relief supposedly, something which detracts from the high-stakes nature of this epic. Unforgivably they also cut crucial sections out of the production (struggle in the ornathopter after Leto's death) and replace it with an ornathopter chase! The re-unification of Paul and Gerney is also woefully unemotional contrasted with Lynch's rendition.TL;DR: Unnecessary additions, criminal subtractions, bad acting/casting (outside of the Baron and perhaps Irulan), action-movie-esque kitsch, gawdy set design, cringeworthy CGI.Unless you are a die-hard Dune connoisseur avoid this mini-series. Watch the director's cut of Lynch's Dune and Children of Dune but avoid this miserable rendition like the plague.

Abd L Azeez Alkalidy Dune 2000 TV series, with so little budget of $20,000,000 they were able to treat it with so much love and care that would only make you wonder what would they did if they didn't had to make it on so tight schedule and low budget, it's a story of a wasteland that was made so many times but never like this, when just a boy had to leave his home land and face terrible destiny of becoming a messiah, you can feel, watch how his character grow, At the end he is not the same person, and the best part is you can believe it. Almost most of the actors are unknown, but they all (well ...most) fit their parts perfectly, William Hurt as Duke Leto Atreides, i always though Leto to be a stronger character, but he did a great job, i got used to him in the first minutes, Alec Newman as Muad'Dib, this is the Muad'Dib in my mind, and now after seeing the series i can never visualize Muad'Dib other than him , and that is a big deal because Muad'Dib is my all-time hero , Saskia Reeves as Lady Jessica Atreides is not as good as i was hoping, she have few minutes to shin , like when she talk's to paul about him going too far , fearing for him and the rest of the universe, Ian McNeice as Baron Vladimir Harkonnen , there will never be a better Baron Vladimir Harkonnen than him , he is so good here i think he was born for this part, it's so good to see actors like him have a part where they could really show their true talents, he is outrages , melodramatic, with sick twisted cunning mind, whenever he is on the screen i think he is giving the series a whole new dimension. if you are frank herbert's fan , or a fan of any kind of Si-Fi, or simply love deep philosophical story , this is a must watch

TheLittleSongbird Of the three adaptations(to knowledge) of the Dune book franchise, the best is the mini-series Children of Dune. It is not perfect, it has Susan Sarandon's overacting and occasionally can feel cartoonish, stilted and incomplete, but it is wonderful visually, has the best music score of the three adaptations, has good acting on the whole and is easy to follow at least. David Lynch's film, apart from a couple of good performances here and there and the amazing visuals, was severely lacking, starting with an underdeveloped and not always cohesive story, even at 3 hours the film felt too short(a 5 or 6 hour mini-series is better for Dune), there is some really bad, cheesy scripting and there is the feeling of Lynch being the wrong director for it. This mini-series is far from great, but it is a marginal improvement over Lynch's film but Children of Dune, while not perfect either, eclipses them both.Generally Dune(2000) does look good. The sets are so sumptuous in colour and beautifully rendered and the costumes are a creatively bizarre mix of styles that suit the characters very well. The photography on the whole is clean, clear and not too distracting. The special effects are mixed in quality, at times they are well-proportioned, textured and fit well within the story, but at others they have a cheap look(cartoonish and cardboard). The music is also excellent, a component that like with Children of Dune is done much better than in Lynch's film. With the music here there is the right amount of the moody and the majestic. The dialogue really doesn't come across very well, very cheesy often and far too casual, very little of Frank Herbert's intelligent prose comes through.Dune(2000) has a more suitable length than the Lynch film, is easier to follow and doesn't try to rush things through. It doesn't quite come off successfully. John Harrison deserves credit for bringing his own style while trying to respect some of Herbert's details, and doing things at a leisurely pace to give time to breathe was a good decision. There were times though where the pacing came across as too leisurely and too many parts were under-explained or left more questions than answers. The cast are a mixed bag. The best performance comes from Ian McNiece who is funny and menacing. William Hurt is very good, meaningful and charismatic not to mention cool, in his expanded character role and Saskia Reeves makes for a Jessica that is sweet and calculating. Sadly there is also PH Moriaty, whose Gurney is bland and over-compensated, Barbara Kodetova who is annoying and especially Alec Newman who is very ill at ease and too sullen. The more minor roles are not memorable and not enunciated enough.Of the characters, the only ones who are developed reasonably enough are Duke Leto(the expansion really does help), Baron and Lady Jessica, everybody else are underwritten ciphers really and some like Piter and Thufir who are criminally underused and forgettably performed. In conclusion, very mixed feelings on this mini-series. 5/10 Bethany Cox