Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

The movie is wonderful and true, an act of love in all its contradictions and complexity

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

I watched the film in Russian, as I'm a Russian speaker. The film focuses less on the characters and the people, and mostly focuses on patriotic issues, such as showing how Napoleon and the French are cruel, showing how the Russians are brave and how they protect their motherland and "sacred Moscow". The story telling is very outdated. There are jumps within the story between scenes. Scenes with potential emotions and empathy are cut short, just when they get interesting, and sometimes the narrator just tells you what happened instead of showing it. You can count the emotional scenes on 1 hand. You just can't get any connection to the characters. The battle scenes are impressive, with many participants and extras, and are done in a very large scale. But they are too long and tiring. After you get impressed from the first minutes, you just get bored and wait for the lengthy scenes to finish. The too long and outdated effects and the lengthy many philosophical texts also do not contribute to the viewing experience. And add to everything the length of these film-series... I was very disappointed, after having high expectations due to the good reviews on IMDB. Recently I watched a much newer version made by BBC. It was much much better and interesting - it captured all the key moments and developments, but added a lot of emotion and empathy to them.

I should start by saying that I've never read Leo Tolstoy's epic novel (and it sounds like a challenge to read, considering how long it is). Nonetheless, Sergey Bondarchuk's adaptation thereof has to be seen to be believed. Lasting almost seven hours, "Voyna i mir" ("War and Peace" in English) is a lot to take in but leaves the viewer feeling fulfilled. The whole sequence showing the Battle of Borodino has to be one of the most impressive things ever filmed. The movie became the first Russian-language movie ever to win Best Foreign Language Film at the Academy Awards.All in all, one fine movie. Having watched this version, I doubt that I'll be impressed by any other version.

This Russian version is not going to appeal to everybody, it is incredibly long to the extent that viewing the whole film in one sitting is unlikely to happen for most and non-Russian speakers who are not familiar with the story will find themselves confused as to what's going on. For this viewer though, apart from some over-histrionic acting in places including from Sergei Bondarchuk's Pierre, the film was a towering achievement and the best version of Tolstoy's masterpiece alongside the 1972 mini-series.War and Peace (1966) is a visual stunner, the scenery and period detail is spectacular and gives a sense of time and place far better than any other version of War and Peace and the cinematography is inventive and enough to take the breath away. The film and visuals especially stood out in the ballroom scenes, which were gorgeously romantic and on par with those of Visconti's The Leopard, and in the enormous in scope and incredibly gut-wrenching battle scenes, aided even further by the chilling music score. The duel is similarly unforgettable and is quite heart-wrenching. The music was another asset that worked phenomenally, the mix of songs, marches, chants and waltzes made for not only music that was emotionally powerful and beautiful to listen to but also gave a sense that the story was set in Russia in the way that few of the other versions managed to achieve, even Nino Rota's truly excellent score for the 1956 film. The music score fits amazingly and is a large part as to why the battle scenes are so memorable.The script is rich in detail, thoughtful and mostly true to Tolstoy's style (if lacking though in the savage satirical bite that Tolstoy sometimes adopts, making the tone a touch sullen), though those unfamiliar with the story or the Russian language are likely to find themselves easily themselves, especially with the English-edited dubbed version being as poorly done as it is. The story makes the most of its length, so that the nearly seven hour length doesn't feel overlong (which it was never going to be, War and Peace needs a long length to do the story justice). Fans of the book will be thrilled to find as many of the key scenes, themes and characters kept intact as much as possible and with the full impact they should do, the film wisely doesn't spend too long on the human drama scenes and paces them tightly, giving them genuine poignancy. Characters are compellingly real, even potential caricatures such as Napoleon and Kutuzov, and Bondarchuk's direction is remarkable, his task was monumental and he succeeded in making it completely fascinating. And despite what I said before about the acting, most of it works fine with a lot of living the drama in alternative to just acting it.In conclusion, one of the best versions of War and Peace and a flawed but towering achievement. 9/10 Bethany Cox

I'm probably not giving this movie a fair shake, as I was unable to watch all of it. Perhaps if I'd seen it in a theater, in its original presentation, I might have appreciated it, but it's far too slow-moving for me.I read the book some 25 years ago and the details of the plot have faded from memory. This did not help the film, as it's something less than vivid and clear in its presentation of events.This is really four linked films, or a film in four parts, and was, I believe, intended to be seen over four nights in a theatrical presentation. I found Part I to be enjoyable enough, but it was all I could do to sit through Part II, which drags interminably. Reading Tolstoy's philosophizing is one thing. If you get a good translation or can read it in the original, his brilliant writing far outweighs any issues one might have with the pace of the story. On film, however, it's hard to reproduce without being ponderous.I have other issues with the parts of the film that I saw. It's very splashy, with a lot of hey-ma-look-at-this camera work that calls attention to itself, instead of serving to advance the story.Clearly, I'm missing something, but I just couldn't summon the enthusiasm to crank up parts III and IV.