Hamlet (Shakespeare: the Animated Tales)
1992: Natalya Orlova, Dave Edwards

This is one of a series of reduced versions of Shakespeare plays set to a variety of animations. They are far too abridged to be considered regular versions of the plays; they are seldom longer than half an hour. At the same time, the language is all Shakespeare’s, and the animation is generally supportive of what’s going on. The animation styles represented in the series are extremely varied.

None of these runs over half an hour, and of course with a play like Hamlet, that’s a degree of truncation that makes a very different matter of the play. Still, the main speeches are represented, and the text (such as there is) is still Shakespeare’s own.

The animation for this one is dominantly black and white, and while the art itself is fairly successful, the animation is rather stilted. The voice acting is quite successful.

Buy the series Shakespeare, the Animated Tales at Amazon. This series contains brief (about 25 minutes) animated versions of: The Tempest, A Midsummer Night's Dream, As You Like It, Hamlet, Julius Caesar, King Richard III, Romeo and Juliet, Othello, The Winter's Tale, Macbeth, The Taming of the Shrew, andTwelfth Night.