No, I have not forgotten that there are some of my readers who can't stand the plays of William Shakespeare, and I am willing to admit that his poetical, Elizabethan language can be rough to deal with, but a new Shakespeare film has just premiered on HBO and will be released on DVD in about two weeks, and it is the sort of film that makes the Bard enjoyable and understandable, without cheapening his work in any way.

The film is Kenneth Branagh's new production of "As You Like It", one of those comedies with a typically silly plot involving cross-dressing and hidden identities. It is not one of my favorite Shakespeare plays to begin with, or even my favorite of his comedies, but I was so entertained watching this version that I forgot all about that.

Kenneth Branagh, who, over the past eighteen years has starred in and directed screen versions of "Henry V", "Much Ado About Nothing", "Hamlet", and "Love's Labour's Lost" had gotten to a point at which he seemed to be more interested in making Shakespeare big box office by casting actors who were totally wrong for his plays - Michael Keaton and Keanu Reeves in "Much Ado About Nothing", and Alicia Silverstone (!) in "Love's Labour's Lost", not to mention the fact that he cut the latter play in half so that he could put in songs by Gershwin, Jerome Kern, Irving Berlin, and Cole Porter and give them to mostly actors who couldn't sing or dance. The disastrous box office and critical reception given to "Love's Labour's Lost", Branagh's first Shakespearean film to totally bomb, seemed to sour his attitude on filming more works by the English playwright.

Now, however, he seems to have gotten over it, and this time, although he still makes unusual choices in casting and on new locales for the plays, none of the actors in this new version of "As You Like It" seem uncomfortable with handling the blank verse and delivering it beautifully while still managing to make it comprehensible and getting it to sound like meaningful dialogue rather than simply great poetry. This version of "As You Like It" gets the dialogue across as few films based on Shakespeare's works do - Kenneth Branagh has a real gift for this, and it is not shared by any other director who has tackled the Bard, not even the great Laurence Olivier.

The plot is one of those crazy, convoluted situations that one always finds in Elizabethan comedy. Rosalind (Bryce Dallas Howard) is the daughter of Duke Senior (yes, that is his name), overthrown in a coup by his own brother, Duke Frederick. (Both dukes are played as twins by actor Brian Blessed.) After falling hard for a young man known as Orlando (David Oyelowo), who defeats the Duke's favorite wrestler in a staged match, Rosalind herself is banished, and ends up, with her best friend Celia (Romola Garai), in the Forest of Arden, disguising herself as a boy for the journey. As is expected in these kinds of plots, all of the major chracters in the story including Duke Senior, as well as many of the supporting ones, also end up in the same forest, where the rest of the film takes place. Here Orlando encounters Rosalind disguised as a boy named Ganymede, who offers to "help" him court Rosalind by giving him advice (needless to say, since she is really helping him to woo her, she enjoys every minute of it, all the while trying hard to maintain her disguise).

The other roles are filled by a distinguished cast - Kevin Kline as Jaques (who gets to deliver the play's most famous speech "All the world's a stage/ And all the men and women merely players"), Alfred Molina as the jester Touchstone, and Janet McTeer as what is described as "the country wench", Audrey, with whom Touchstone falls in love. Kenneth Branagh himself does not appear in the film, except as an offscreen voice right after Bryce Dallas Howard's final speech - be sure to watch all of the closing credits or you will miss the very end of the play.

Kenneth Branagh nearly always re-imagines his Shakespeare adaptations in unusual settings, and he gives "As You Like It" a 19th century Japanese-like one; however, the setting never overwhelms the play, as some modernized adaptations do. This means that although we get to see kimonos and Kabuki drama, we do not hear the King's English spoken with an Oriental accent. Only a few Japanese actors actually appear, and those that do still speak with a British accent. No real reason is given for the setting, but a written prologue to the film states that during the 19th century there were many European merchants traveling to, as well as staying in Japan, so we may assume that the characters in this version of the play are supposed to be mostly merchants. The photography is ravishingly beautiful, as is the music score by Branagh's long-time collaborator, Patrick Doyle.

The performances are all excellent, and if you judge Bryce Dallas Howard (Ron Howard's daughter) by her appearances in "Lady in the Water" or "Spider Man 3", you are in for a surprise. She is a fine Rosalind.

"As You Like It", although made for movie theatres, was shamefully sent straight to cable television in the U.S. after playing in theatres in Europe. This may be due to the fact that Branagh's reputation with Shakespeare had recently slid downhill, but he certainly restores it with this film. Do not shy away from it thinking that it's just an evening of culture - it is an excellent, enjoyable motion picture.