Surprisingly superior to the famous BBC series

Rating: 9/10 (16 September 2005)

A superb supporting cast and stunning locations added to nuanced (MacFadyen) and engaging (Knightley) performances in the lead roles easily overcome a few directorial over-indulgences, making this a very good film indeed.
Not afraid to challenge the BBC on their own ground, in particular in the opening extended ballroom sequences where music, dancing and dialogue all work together to draw you in to the period, this is not a slavish imitation either (no, there's no wet t-shirt scene), indeed this film keeps perhaps more close to the book than did the BBC, most notably in a much less cringe-making portrayal of the mother (Blethyn).
Although only the central pair are actually much beyond caricatures, that's really the fault of the book, and the film succeeds precisely because those two really do engage you believably in their respective struggles to overcome, well, yes, pride and prejudice.