Fun, underrated adventure movie with wildly uneven casting

Last night I finally got around to watching the Disney edition of The Three Musketeers. I have to say, I'm glad I did, because I found the movie to be a lot of fun.

I avoided the film for many years because I thought it would be too Disney-fied, and comedic, and watered down. But I actually found it to be a surprisingly dark and violent movie for a Disney product. Despite an occasionally clunky script that felt like it needed a bit more work, it has a fun story, great locations and cinematography, good action, and an altogether enojoyable adventurous spirit.

Perhaps the thing that stands out the most is the casting: It simultaneously has some of the best, most inspired casting I've ever seen, and also some of the worst. Furthermore, the quality of the casting seems to cut across the lines of heroes and villains. Tim Curry as Cardinal Richeliu is AMAZING and an absolute joy to watch, Michael Wincott is excellent as Rochefort, and Rebecca De Mornay does a fine job as Milady. On the other hand, while I thought that Keifer Sutherland was passable as a Musketeer, Oliver Platt seemed out of place, Chris O'Donnell felt like a junior league actor who was out of his depth, and Charlie Sheen's inclusion felt downright criminal. (Seriously, what the hell is Charlie Sheen doing in this movie?)

Overall, I liked the film a lot more than I thought I would, and with the film only having a 30% critics score on RT and a 62% audience score, I feel like it's underrated and hasn't gotten the credit it deserves.