good but not great (as compared to the BBC version)

Rating: 7/10 (30 November 2005)

Overall the movie looked beautiful and was quite well (not very well - quite well) acted, although it seemed to be rushed and may not have been perfectly cast. I did think that Mrs. Bennett and also Judi dench, of course - of course, did particularly excellent jobs. Even before i saw the movie, though, i couldn't quite accept keira as Elizabeth Bennett, she strikes me as being too anorexic to be a Jane Austen heroine but still she did do her best in her role. I think like most other fans of P&P, i may be prejudiced by the BBC version, since that certainly was a longer, more extended, and therefore more faithful version of the novel. The new movie version may have had a larger budget and a more recognizable star roster to it, but as i said before i felt it edited out too much of the book and did not contribute as much character development (even for minor characters) as i would have liked. This actually just may be a problem for all movie versions of great novels, although i did not think this of Emma Thompson's sense & sensibility or the adaption of persuasion. However, the cinematography, costumes, locations, etc. were all great to look at and i did admire the camera work particularly in the ball scenes, which were perhaps better done than in the quieter, more stage-like BBC version. Still the BBC version did have a greater Elizabeth and Darcy, so as I have said before the new version has a lot of prejudice to overcome.