some good things but overall They cut and change Austen's dialogue --rarely for the better

Rating: 4/10 (17 May 2009)

In some of its secondary features, it had some advantage over the A&E version which is, to me, excellent. The everyday life was more gritty and real in this latest version. Charlotte Lucas's character I found appealing and very real --as a woman of no great beauty whose prospects for marriage were limited. And it must be said that it more difficult to tell this story in two hours as it is in 6, like the A&E series.
but in some of the ESSENTIALS the writer inexplicably ELIMINATED and CHANGED the excellent dialogue of Austen. (Why?)
The most egregious examples of this are:
(1) A central theme of the book is PRIDE, most notably Darcy's, who possesses it both in its good and bad forms. And one of the great movements of the story is Darcy's coming to see a prideful and self-centered side of himself, which is manifest in his initial proposal to Elizabeth.
Through her rejection of this proposal and the reasons given, Darcy is stung, and eventually sees his fault. He then works to overcome this. You would never know this from watching this movie. Firstly, the Darcy of this film does not seem very proud, just shy and taciturn. And so there is no movement.
Toward the end of the book, Darcy, after having ascertained that Elizabeth's feelings have changed toward him, proceeds to explain to her this movement in himself and how it was she who brought it about. (It is a good 2-3 pages of explanation in the book). In this movie, after he ascertains that her feelings have changed toward him, they kiss and are married.
So they leave out A MAJOR THEME OF THE BOOK. It reminded me of your basic Hollywood love story. boy and girl are attracted to each other and that is all that counts, and it ends happy if their desires match.
But, Austens story is more than that. She emphasized the character of each that went beyond their outward appearances. It was hard, in this film, to see that Elizabeth was any more or less sensible than any of the other sisters, or that Darcy changed in the least from the start to the last.
Other unfortunate changes
(2) the great repartee between Lady Catherine and Elizabeth when the former wants to prevent the potential engagement between D and E----THIS CLASSIC SCENE WAS CUT IN HALF --and as well, happened in the MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT, instead of early morning in the book.
(3) and --the funniest line in the book is the one where, upon Mrs Bennet insisting that Elizabeth marry Mr Collins, Mr Bennet makes his quip about how Lizzy "must become a stranger to one of her parents",-- ...Southerlands Mr. Bennet delivered these lines in a serious manne:--no deadpan, no sparkle in the eye, no tongue in cheek like the book has.
It was not a bad movie in and of itself, but I think it was made to appeal to the mass of young movie-goers, at the expense of true-ness to the book. I do not think the writer/Director trusted the audience with the wit and intelligence of original work.