Spidersecu Don't Believe the Hype

Lightdeossk Captivating movie !

RipDelight This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

Curapedi I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

Randolf Carter I was excited to see this mini series, because I had seen a couple Gaiman films. I was pretty impressed by the visual mastery in Mirrormask, so I was looking forward to it, as the synopsis was reminiscent of "alternate reality" stories, like "Weaveworld' and many others by Clive Barker. Well, the first few seconds were so excruciatingly bad, I was seriously hoping it was preview for something else.Alas, no. This was the movie, and I was looking at, what...a million hours in dog years to suffer through it? No thanx. I forced myself to sit through half of the first disk, since I pad good money for it, but that was it. I HAD TO stop. I don't know what happened, other than he was given a Mac'n'Cheese budget and two weeks in which to finish the film.I couldn't believe how many great reviews there were on this film online. I mean, did I get a different DVD set by mistake? I don't think so, the box sure looks the same.I hate being so tough on a film for having a low budget, and I do like many low budget, indie films, but this one flat out stank! I couldn't get into the plot, because the sets, costumes, and acting was so awful.So, if you are a HUGE Giaman fan...or just like low budget indie films, bu it....of course if you want to throw money away so bad, mail it to me.

invadertwinkie Yikes.First of all, I would like to say that unlike many people here, I apparently am on of maybe 3 people who are capable of reading the BACK OF A BOOK. Yes, kids. When we are the slightest bit vigilant instead of gazing with gaping maws at a television set, we notice things.THIS IS A SERIES THAT SPAWNED A BOOK, NOT THE OTHER WAY AROUND. SERIES FIRST, BOOK SECOND. Get it? Now that that is out of the way... I was one who picked up the book first and then went to the series. I had great interest in tracking it down to compare the series with my imagination. My boyfriend, in his kindness, found it for me and bought it as a gift.With all respect to his kind endeavor, I almost wish he hadn't spent the money.After crafting characters in your imagination from reading a book, it is expected that your perceptions will not measure up with a visual/audio representation of the same. I was shocked to find Richard to be a clumsy fool who is painful to watch, let alone sympathize with. Door becomes a character with little to no mystique about her, far removed from my perceptions of a charming and oddly elegant ragamuffin. Similarly, the bravado of Hunter is turned into that of a psychotic cave woman, with the brilliantly deadly Croup and Vandemaar far less like their "wolfy and foxy" counterparts that I had dreamt up which amazed and terrified me.That aside, I do realize that there is little sense in comparing the latter to the former and expecting to have something made *BEFORE* the previous medium I had read be considered the thing to be changed.It is for this reason that I beg people who have seen the series to not give up on Gaiman. His novelization of this series is far superior in terms of storytelling, character development, presentation, etc. I do have to say that it was a darn shame to have all of the beautiful characters I had imagined and the intricate world that captivated me so reduced to this. PLEASE read the book if you want a better presentation to a wonderful story. This truly would be unwatchable if it weren't for Gaiman's inventive story and charming dialogue, even if it is utterly butchered by mediocre acting and very poor budgeted sets.All in all, please read the story if you want a great adventure and steer clear of this series unless you are unshakably a Gaiman fan.And I DO mean unshakable.However, if you did get past all of the above problems and loved it still, I highly recommend running headlong from you television sets and diving in to American Gods, The Sandman, or any of the other fine written works of Neil Gaiman.In short, please, just save yourself the time and money and read a book.

primitivepeople It's taken me a long time to discover "Neverwhere". When it was first shown in the UK in 1996, I was a student without regular access to a TV, so I never heard of it, and never saw it. The first time I heard about it was in November 1999, when I visited the disused Underground station at Down Street, where some of the series was filmed. People mentioned it, and it all sounded interesting.I kind of forgot about it until recently, when I was browsing around for something to read, and came across the "Neverwhere" novel. I bought it, read it, and loved it - I think it's an original, exciting and highly readable book that really appealed to me. Having read it, I was itching to see the TV series, which has stupidly never been released on DVD in the UK, but is available in America - I ordered it from Amazon. It's worth pointing out that the DVDs are actually region-free, although advertised as Region 1, so you'll be able to play them in whatever DVD machine you have. The Region 2-only DVD drive on my computer worked fine.Anyway...it's interesting to note the comments here. This seems to be a love it or hate it series, with some people clearly very unimpressed. I think it's important to point out a couple of things - first, the TV series was made before the novel was published, and it was written first and foremost as a screenplay. Neil Gaiman only began writing the novel once filming had commenced. He says that the novel is how he would have liked the series to be without the constraints of the budget they had, but that said, there's nothing massively different between the book and the series.Second, I think a lot of people criticise the series for its production values. Yes, bits of it look a bit cheap and nasty, but it's not a major issue if you ask me - it's still a good piece of drama. You don't need a massive budget to make good fantasy, and the BBC has an excellent track record, with things like the older series of Doctor Who. This series is perhaps the last of a long line of typically British sci-fi and fantasy, a genre somewhat different to the stuff made in the States, and to some extent, you either get it or you don't. The BBC have now thrown huge budgets and a lot of SFX into the new Doctor Who and Torchwood, and perhaps they're a little poorer for it.Third, if you're not at least slightly familiar with London's geography and history, bits of this won't make all that much sense at all. The American edition of the novel is actually quite different to the British one, in an attempt to explain some of the things that Londoners would just instinctively understand. The series is clearly closer to the British version of the novel.The cast features some surprisingly big names, and I thought they were all good, especially the beautiful and slightly mysterious Door, the deliciously creepy Croup and Vandemar, and the charismatic Marquis. All the actors in the series have gone on to bigger and better things, which shows the strength of the talent in this.I'll agree that the action scenes weren't very convincing, but never were they so bad that I had to suspend my disbelief. Given the budget and the constraints the makers were working under, I thought this was a really fine effort. The last episode in particular was very good indeed, and finished off the whole series brilliantly.The only thing that struck me as a little pointless, and annoying, was the monologues at the beginning of each episode. A little stilted and wooden, and not really very necessary.Neverwhere is perhaps crying out for big-screen treatment, and the Jim Henson Company has bought the rights, but the whole project seems to be a bit stagnant. However, it couldn't be in better hands - with fine films like Labyrinth and The Dark Crystal to their credit, I'm sure JHC would make a fine job of this. I really hope it sees the light of day.Neil Gaiman has also hinted at a sequel (at least in novel form), and I sincerely hope it happens. If there's any justice in this world, Richard and Door will be an item by now. :) Highly recommended.

Fred_Paris You probably have to know London a bit to fully enjoy the story of Neverwhere (the series or the novel for that matter). The whole story relies on knowing a bit of the city layout, above and below :) And it's understandable that US viewers can be surprised by the low budget BBC production (unless they were familiarized with it through stuff like Dr Who which seems to be popular at the moment). Most European TVs don't get to sell their productions abroad so they won't invest as heavily as the US productions.I read the novel long before I could get my hands on the DVD (actually way before I was even aware of anything being available in filmed form, much less as a DVD). For some reason the only release seems to be for the US market.Regarding the Neverwhere series, yes, while the cast is mostly good, some of the actors are so-so. Even with the obviously shoestring budget, the sets and costumes are quite inventive and convincingly used. The directing unfortunately is really poor and it does quite a bit of damage to the effectiveness of the whole.If you have read and enjoyed the novel, you will find the series to be something imperfect yes but also something that you can watch with fondness. Possibly a proper adaptation by a proper director with a decent budget would be nice. But it's unlikely it will ever happen. Isn't it better to enjoy what's available even if it could theoretically be better ?