I Dreamed of Africa (2000)

Very disappointing...

Strong and Moving!

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

...is very high indeed!But,says the heroine,all that Africa gave me was worthwhile.Was it?That's the problem of the film:too few scenes display what she did for Africa and what Africa did for her.Too often,the plot gets lost in melodramatic funerals,the mother (veteran Eva Marie Saint,the star of "North by northwest" and "on the waterfront"!) discovering Africa and quietly trying to make her daughter see reason -that is to say taking her back to Italy- .That said,the film is never dull.Kim Basinger ,given the limitations she's working under,does the best she can and we feel her love for her family and the big country she dreamed of.The landscapes are very nice .The cast includes French Vincent Perez and a pre -Bond Daniel Craig.

Having read all of the negative comments about this movie - and having just wasted a few hours of my life by watching it - I can pretty much say that they're ALL true.The scenery is great, but I think my wife said it all. During the windstorm scene, she remarked, "What a tough place to live. Why would they continue to want to live there?"Why did they continue to want to make this movie? 5 stars for scenery, 1/2 star for acting ability, which was SORELY lacking.This probably would have been a good book - something about perseverance in the face of tragedy and everything that nature throws at you - but for a movie to plod along like this without you ever really caring about the characters **Spoiler** such as when the husband is robbed - his emotion and her face as she held him were just NOT there.

follow your mother advice, stay home and never do anything daring, exciting or new. that's the message i got from 'i dreamed of africa'. twice kuki's mother tells her how it is, kuki doesn't obey and loved ones start dropping like flies. so the movie seemed to reverse it's premise completely.and furthermore, there's nothing really interesting going on in africa, unless you like seeing pointless deaths and lots of crying after. the acting is, really, just awful. the supposedly italian pair sound more like danish, and why the heck are they talking english in italy, if the director has gone through the trouble of having the african natives speak their own language? it's beyond comprehension.the deaths make this movie a very depressing one, and the promised 'great shots from africa, just like you were there' are completely missing. i must tell you, i don't really understand the bit about the illegal hunting either. the man, paolo or whatever is going hunting or fishing all the time, so it's not really an ethical point for him...then what is it? maybe somebody would like to explain it to me. but for sure, even if you were hunting to eat, you don't have to spend your entire living hours to do so, do you? the man is obviously obsessed with guns, and teaches a small kid to use a gun as well.the plot is childisly predictable. 'oh, oh, now the kid goes to play with the poisonous snakes after his mother just warned him about it! i WONDER what's going to happen.' the dialogue is dull, and there is zero character developement for some side roles that might have saved at least a bit of the movie, for example daniel craig and lance reddick are completely ignored and wasted.'i dreamed of africa' is a boring and just an incredibly naive, shallow, depressing and stupid movie.1/10

Like "The English Patient," this movie seems either to take you in or make you cringe. I'm with the cringers, and I've only seen a few moments of this arfer on BRAVO. The title "I dreamed of Africa," consciously mocks the narration in "Out of Africa" by the heroine of that film, but mockery is all it can achieve because it is, unlike "Out of Africa," not any good. Some elements of this still-born film are plainly stolen from "Out of Africa," such as the husband's indifference to the ranch and the wife's contrasting responsibility and determination, or her connection to a wise native helper. But this dog of a film is more like "Green Acres" than "Out of Africa." This film is an obvious emulation of "Out of Africa," without anything near the fine sensibilities of that truly great film. The discontinuity, silliness, and aimlessness of this film are evident just from watching a few scenes. Perfunctory acting, an incongruous and often silly score, cheap sentimentality, and a truly pedestrian script make this one a non-entity. Don't believe the silly people who praise this film -- it's nothing but a mediocre attempt to ape a truly good film. Hit stop or change the channel, as I am about to do.