Joss Wehdon's version

I'm a huge fan of Joss Whedon, so it isn't easy for me to say it, but I just didn't think his version worked. Among other things, the old-fashioned values and the modern setting crashed too much. It got too distracting for suspension of disbelief, although Amy Acker and Alexis Denisof were good.

I didn't have the problems with this version that you mention, perhaps with the exception of Kenneth Branagh's acting, which was a little over the top silly. Also, he and Emma Thompson always seemed a little old for their roles.

Emma was otherwise a perfect Beatrice, though, and I really love this version in general, precisely for its excuberance. It's hard to make a movie of a story that is after all so flimsy, silly and (from our point of view) unlikely. Eloquent banter or not. As director, Branagh makes it into a real feel-good pill, with the fantastic cinematography of beautiful landscapes and sun, and with the joy of life that begins and ends it, showing how all the drama, at the end of the day, really was "Nothing" to these people. As such, it works.

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"The best fairytale is one where you believe the people" -Irvin Kershner

I'm with you on this. Here are some of the reasons Whedon's version works better than Branagh's:

1. Whedon's characters occupy a consistent and cohesive universe - Branagh's "family" members seem unrelated, there is such a polyglot of accents, colors, differing abilities with the language, while the "family" aspect of Whedon's setting is clear and intimate.

2. In Whedon's film, I saw for the first time Boracchio made a human being, rather than a plot device. Having him be in love with Hero himself makes sense of actions which, in every other production I've seen, live or filmed (and there have been quite a number), have to be handwaved.

3. Nathan Fillion versus Michael Keaton. I would be the last person to assert that Fillion is a more accomplished actor than Keaton, but there is no contest as to which makes a better Dogberry. We shouldn't sympathize with the (in Branagh's version) injured and humiliated Conrade when he calls Dogberry an ass. I blame Branagh, not Keaton.

4. "Sigh No More," which Branagh makes the theme song. Why use it three times? Why, at the end, do the engaged couples romp merrily to the musical assurance that faithlessness is the inevitable outcome?

5. Sean Maher versus Keanu Reeves. Here, again, there is no contest as to the better Don John, villainous brother to Don Pedro (how are we to believe that Keanu Reeves and Denzel Washington are related?). Reeves' truncated dialogue still shows his glaring inability to handle the language, while Maher's smooth snake is compelling and masterful. I love Maher's filching of a cupcake as he leaves the wedding he's despoiled - that was Maher's own touch.

6. Alexis Denisof versus Kenneth Branagh. Denisof is, for once, clearly a soldier - watch him check out the security and perimeters from his window as he and Claudio discuss Hero and marriage. Branagh's Benedick is all pyrotechnics - I admire, but remain uninvolved, while I do care what happens to Denisof's character.

For a few.