Excellent, magically romantic rendition.

Rating: 10/10 (25 January 2006)

I have over the past few months read many comments about the 2005 rendition of Pride and Prejudice. I confess that I only read the book after seeing the 2005 version of the movie and only watched the 5/6 hour mini series after seeing the movie and my take on it is that Joe Wright and the entire cast of the 2005 movie has delivered a Platinum performance.
I have watched both the A&E series and the 2005 movie multiple times and this evening after watching both again, the movie at the local theater and the TV series on DVD this evening, the realization struck me so clearly as to why I LOVE the 2005 movie so much more than the TV series.
It all comes down to the very tangible emotion in the movie. Both Keira and Matthew just ooze with that incredible emotion/feeling  you can see it in their faces, in their body language, the way they speak, expressions, it's all there! And let's not throw away or forget about the supporting cast. I just love Donald Sutherland as Mr. Bennet, and Brenda Blethyn makes Mrs. Bennet so believable without making the character a whiny really irritating entity. She is fun to watch and she is so good. And the three younger sisters were cast so well  Kitty and Lydia are so much fun you cannot help giggling along with them! There is also the sisterly love between Jane and Lizzie that is almost tangible. It is real and when I watched the affection between them I missed my own sister so very much.
When I watched the TV series that is what I found so lacking and maybe that is more true to the time that the book is based in but the movie still just wins hands down.
A good romance is said to have intense conflict and then intense resolution and we have that in the movie but I feel not in the TV series. Colin Firth is good and though Jennifer Ehle is pretty to a degree, her portrayal of Elizabeth Bennet held nothing for me  I found her portrayal of the character bland and somewhat patched, lacking the spirit and fire that Keira Knightley brought to Lizzie, Jennifer Ehle for me by no means brings the kind of fire to the screen that Keira did. Keira in my opinion is the most like the Elizabeth Bennet I imagined when I read the book. And together Keira and Matthew brought Lizzie and Darcy to life, and as Joe Wright said, "when he was as Darcy and she was Lizzie, something happened and they were just perfect together." That is what I felt when I watched the movie, each time I watched and I have seen it probably about a dozen times now.
I love romantic stories and I loved this one  the direction was excellent. Joe Wright seems young for a director with such vision, so a job well done, I believe. The cinematography was fantastic  different and beautiful.
It is well to remember that every movie cannot please every individual who watches it, and if I did not like the kind of romantic tales that just melt your heart and make you appreciate the romance you have with your own partner, then I would still rate this movie as excellent for a great story, well told, and beautifully presented.
I learned that the UK has some really beautiful scenery and it was wonderful to get a glimpse inside the elegant homes that one mostly just hear of.
All in all for me the best movie of 2005!