But disappointed was the watchword for other critics including Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times who found, the film is weighed down by its splendor. There are scenes where the costumes are so sumptuous, the sets so vast, the music so insistent, that we lose sight of the humans behind the dazzle of the production. Unlike 'Elizabeth' by the same director, Shekhar Kapur , this film rides low in the water, its cargo of opulence too much to carry.
He says, that's despite the return of the remarkable Cate Blanchett in the title role. Who else would be so tall, regal, assured and convincing that these surroundings would not diminish her? We believe she is a queen.
We simply cannot care enough about this queen. That Blanchett could appear in the same Toronto Film Festival playing Elizabeth and Bob Dylan , both splendidly, is a wonder of acting. But the film's screenplay, by Michael Hirst and William Nicholson , places her in the center of history that is baldly simplified, shameless altered, and pumped up with romance and action.
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