Very Disappointing: Recommend you pass it.

Rating: 4/10 (19 April 2007)

There are quite a few versions of Jane Austen's masterpiece now, and while no dramatization can completely capture the miracle of Austen's prose, this particular film seems to miss the spirit of the story completely, and offers nothing to compensate for the loss.
I suppose the success of the 1995 version is simply that in five hours, rather than two, the screenplay authors had SOME hope of developing the complex emotional and psychological investment that gives the story its depth, as well as having the luxury of using much of Austen's own dialogue, rather than inventing new words for everyone.
I think that my greatest disappointment is that this film lacks all of the FUN that Jane Austen builds into her work, the satirical, teasing wit that is so subtle that even the most discerning readers may miss a particular quip until the fourth or fifth reading: all of that delicious winking and tongue-in-cheek humor is utterly absent from the film.
It is very hard, for example, to imagine the angry confrontation between Lady Catherine and Elizabeth presented in such a way that we don't at least smile--and yet, in this film, all the deliciously nasty swipes that the two take at each other get lost in a confrontation that leaves us puzzled and unhappy. The film even has it taking place indoors, in a gloomy, ill-lit room, instead of as a walk in the "wilderness" beside Elizabeth's house, and Lady Catherine's hilarious exit line about taking no leave and deserving no such attention...all that is simply lost, lost, lost...and for Austen-lovers who are SO looking forward to hearing the immortal "I am seriously displeased!"--there's nothing.
And in a similar fashion, the film loses ALL of the emotional content of the novel. There's no hope of the "You are too generous to trifle with me" scene bringing tears to your eyes--come, admit it: if you're a TRUE fan of Austen, you have never once read that scene without tears welling up in your eyes!--we feel none of the quiet refinement of the Gardiners and their special relationship with their niece, we perceive none of the changes and growing up that take place in the two main characters, and, as another commenter pointed out, the sets and costumes and directorial choices are out-of-keeping with the period.
Another gratuitous mistake that serves as an excellent example of how egregiously the film misses it is a brief scene showing Mr. and Mrs. Bennett talking to one another tenderly in bed, in total disregard of the huge and deeply disturbing revelations that her relations with Darcy cause Elizabeth to experience as she matures and begins to recognize how ill her father has behaved in exposing his wife to the ridicule of his daughters--and how just Mr. Darcy is in recognizing the man's lack of good character, in spite of her love for her father. Donald Sutherland is an actor of enormous power and judgement, and I fault the director and screenwriters more for this--he cannot fight the script here, although I see glimpses of him being one of the few in the cast who brought something fresh to the characters of Austen's novel.
In general, I just can't recommend this film at all--I found it a rather boring mistreatment of the novel, and even the old Garson-Olivier version, with all its faults, captures more of the fun of the novel than this modern treatment.
So my verdict is: FIRST get the novel and read it over and over a few times. And then, enjoy the old Garson-Olivier, if only to howl at Edna Mae Oliver and sip the delicious Caroline in that version. And then treat yourself to the BBC/A&E 1995 version, to see how one CAN do a reasonable dramatization without going too far overboard (although I'd recommend you close your eyes while Darcy takes a plunge in the pool--I still don't know why they did that!) And just pass this one by; it's not worth the time.