A Great Movie With Character Development

Rating: 10/10 (31 December 2005)

I admit I was skeptical about how this movie would turn out, as the book has so much rich material, and 2 hours and 7 minutes demands a lot of adaptation to cover the essence of the story; which is the problems which arise between people who pre-judge others or jump to conclusions and then proceed to characterize everything that comes later in a bad light. What a tangled mess it becomes; but what a great story watching the emotional growth of the lead characters.
I thought the casting was absolutely wonderful. I have been so hooked on Colin Firth since seeing the 1995 series, that I was certain I would not like MacFadyen's character as much. But, I was wrong. He was up to the task and brought a new dimension to Darcy, that of a proud man who was socially a bit inept due to taking on a huge burden at an early age.
Keira Knightly was also excellent as Lizzie Bennet. I actually liked the pairing of Knightly and MacFadyen better than Ehle and Firth. Although Jennifer Ehle was an excellent actress in the 1995 version, she appeared too old to be 20 years old and too matronly in some of her dresses to give credibility to the restrained passion of the story. I guess I preferred the youthful casting which seemed more like the book.
The music score was outstanding in this version, and the dance scenes at the opening assembly were terrific.
I highly recommend this version as an addition to your P&P library. Of course, I still will watch the 5 hour BBC-A&E version when I want to see the entire story and characters, plus to get refueled for my Firth addition.