The Magical Legend of the Leprechauns (1999)

Plot so thin, it passes unnoticed.

Better Late Then Never

Am I Missing Something?

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

Well first off you should know that "The Magical Legend of the Leprechauns" is a double plot and double love story. The main plot and story is about the fairies ,both solitary(leprechauns)and trooping(fairies). For hundreds of years the leprechauns and trooping fairies have been at war and the Grand Banshee has just given a decree that the fighting is to stop at once, and anyone who continues to fight "will pay the ultimate price"(death- fairies and leprechauns are supposed to be immortal and never die, except for drowning- that gets em). If any of you remember Romeo and Juliet this will set off warning signals. One of the trooping fairies kills a leprechaun, and the leprechaun's friend kills the trooping fairy. It continues on in a Romeo and Juliet fashion(except the lovers don't die and all those who did die are brought back to life by the Grand Banshee - well all but the one trooping fairy who wanted the fighting to go on and who picked the fight with and killed a leprechaun). The other plot and story is about humans. One human saves a leprechaun from drowning and by that one act of kindness gets DRAGGED kicking and screaming in to the world of the leprechauns and the war between the two groups of immortals. While befriending(and helping the leprechauns) he has to figure out what to do about his love interest(and her half-a-dozen,huge,over-baring,hotheaded,overprotective brothers).I'm not going to tell why the Grand Banshee brought the leprechauns and trooping fairies back to life, or what characters had to do what to get her to renounce her punishment on those who disobeyed her. And you will just have to watch to see what happens with the humans of the story. And you should find out what happens at the very, very end of the story. I have alway disliked the story of Romeo and Juliet. This has all the good stuff from Romeo and Juliet and it has a smarter lead couple and a MUCH better ending. But that is just my opinion. Peace out and good viewing. love S

This TV film suffers from being too long, and from playing quite heavily on certain stereotypes of the Irish. Leaving out the 'happy Irish leprechauns doing the Riverdance' scenes would have improved things immensely. The special effects are pretty good for a TV film, and the actors are mostly good in their roles, especially Colm Meaney as Seamus Muldoon. It's unfortunate that Irish legends are so twisted in the story, especially where the Banshee has been turned into some kind of benevolent spirit, played by a very bored-looking Whoopi Goldberg.

I think that this was a great movie. My daughter (4) and I have rented it several times. It makes you want to be a kid again and to believe that there really is a magical world that exists. That this world exists in the here and now.

So I really liked the other Hallmark/NBC presentations I've seen. This was a little erratic. But being a fairly optimistic person I'd rather concentrate on the good parts. Here's a big one: Daniel Betts, who played Mickey (a leprechaun) and is a sort of Irish Brad Pitt. Here's another one: Colm Meany, who played Mickey's father Seamus Muldoon (another leprechaun, duh) and was hilarious. Randy Quaid was stretching it. I like him when he's funny, but when he's attempting to do the Byronic hero I write him off--- luckily he doesn't do that very often. The human plot was definitely boring, especially when compared to that going on in faery-land, but that's okay. The dialogue was frequently bright and sharp, with some laugh-out-loud lines. And if you're planning to watch it--- look out for the Thorn Tree scene. For the romantic part of me, it was the greatest.