Movie Review – ‘The Three Musketeers’ (1993)

Hello everyone! 🙂

Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!

I’ve recently seen the 1993 film adaptation of ‘The Three Musketeers’ on Disney+, based on the 1844 novel by Alexandre Dumas. Quite frankly, the story should be entitled ‘The Musketeers’ as the focus is on four main characters. The 2014 BBC TV series is called ‘The Musketeers’, so there you are.

I’m not what you would call an expert on ‘The Three Musketeers’ story. I have seen a few episodes of the aforementioned ‘Musketeers’ BBC TV series. My Mum seems to be an expert from watching the BBC TV series. 😀 So this film is a revelation in finding out more about ‘The Three Musketeers’. 🙂

The story focuses on the adventures of a young man called d’Artagnan who is on a quest to join the Musketeers in protecting the King of France. He meets three titular Musketeers when he wants to be a Musketeer himself. However, the Musketeers find themselves up against a very evil cardinal. 😐

As I understand it, this Disney film adaptation from 1993 simplifies and alters the story from what’s in the original 1844 novel. This is something I’m bound to expect and clearly the 1993 film is more light-hearted than the BBC 2014 TV series. The BBC TV series seems darker and grittier than the film.

The film is directed by Stephen Herek, who would go on to direct the live-action ‘101 Dalmatians’ film in 1996. The film’s stars include Charlie Sheen as Aramis, Kiefer Sutherland as Athos and Oliver Platt as Porthos who are the titular three musketeers featured throughout this 1993 film adaptation.

The film’s main star seems to be Chris O’Donnell as d’Artagnan. Chris O’Donnell is probably well-known for playing Dick Grayson/Robin in ‘Batman Forever’ and ‘Batman & Robin’. It was surreal to see Chris O’Donnell star in a period adventure film compared to playing Robin in the ‘Batman’ films.

Tim Curry plays the main villain of the film – Cardinal Richelieu. I’ve seen Tim Curry before in ‘Muppet Treasure Island’ and he was in ‘Home Alone 2: Lost In New York’. I’m with my Mum in that we couldn’t take Tim Curry seriously, having seen him in ‘Muppet Treasure Island’. He’s good though.

Rebecca De Mornay stars as Milady de Winter in the film. Milady de Winter happens to be a spy in the film when working with Cardinal Richelieu to supplant the King of France. She also turns out to be a former flame of Kiefer Sutherland as Athos, I believe, when he and the Musketeers apprehend her.

There’s Gabrielle Anwar as Queen Anne; Michael Wincott as Captain Rochefort; Julie Delpy as Constance, d’Artagnan’s love interest; and Hugh O’Conor as King Louis. There’s also Christopher Adamson as Henri, Herbert Fux as an innkeeper and Bob Anderson as King Louis’ fencing instructor.

A star I didn’t expect to appear in the film was Paul McGann playing two characters – Gérard, a man chasing after d’Artagnan in the film; and Jussac. Paul McGann is well-known for playing the Eighth Doctor in ‘Doctor Who’ on TV and audio. It was such a thrill to see Paul McGann appear in the film. 🙂

There’s quite a number of exciting action sequences that I enjoyed in the film. This is especially towards the climax where the musketeers united to fight against Cardinal Richelieu’s soldiers and how they managed to save the king. D’Artagnan also becomes a musketeer by the film’s conclusion.

1993’s ‘The Three Musketeers’ has been an enjoyable film to watch. I’m not sure how accurate the film adaptation is to the original source material and what was changed in the adaptation process. The highlights for me were watching Chris O’Donnell, Tim Curry and Paul McGann appearing in the film. 😀

I’m glad my Mum was around to explain things to me about who the characters were and what the story was generally about. 😀

Thanks for reading!

Bye for now!

Tim. 🙂