Grandes Esperanças

How many retellings of the same Dickens story do we really need? Especially since none of these new adaptations do anything that David Lean's version couldn't. I'll still watch them though in the hope that they do one that does the great classic tale proud or surpasses the 1946 version.

Great Expectations (2012) comes hot off the heels of the BBC's praised 2011 three-part miniseries. This one starring Jeremy Irvine, Ralph Fiennes, Robbie Coltrane, Holliday Grainger and Helena Bonham Carter. I actually watched this mistakenly thinking it was staring Ray Winstone but was pleasantly surprised to see Fiennes in the role instead. This version got a bit of a poor reception from what I remembered so I wasn't expecting too much to be honest, but to my surprise it was alright.

A decent effort with some moments that Lean's version didn't even include from the novel but there's something about the whole film that seems a bit made for tv movie. The acting in particular from Jeremy Irvine and Holliday Grainger is just very flat and devoid of life. Very boring performances. Helena Bonham Carter in a role that seemed almost made for her. I was sure she would impress here but didn't. She wasn't bad by any means but she didn't add anything to the Miss Havisham character. It could've been anyone else in the role and it wouldn't have made a difference.

Ralph Fiennes was excellent as expected, as always. Robbie Coltrane was a great choice for Jaggers and played the part well. Ewan Bremner shines as Wemmick. Real shame this wasn't better.

Rather so-so.

Great Expectations is one of my favorite novels and I have seen every screen adaptation to date. None has made more impact on me than the David Lean version. I was so looking forward to Mike Newell's version which seemed to have the perfect casting. I was though quite disappointed. Granted that it is very difficult to tell this story in a couple of hours of screen time, but that is no excuse for making a film which rushes through the events in the book without providing sufficient depth of the characters and motivation for their actions for the audience to feel empathy with them. Such a story deserves a longer screen time or alternatively cut out some of the secondary characters and provide more focus on the main characters. The film has a very "Harry Pottery" look which is no surprise since Newell made one of the films in that series. Performances are generally fine, with Ralph Fiennes and Helena Bonham Carter predictably stealing the main honors.

Far from a terrible film but rather disappointing too, seeing as this did have a lot going for it. Plus the trailer actually looked really good. There are certainly some good things, even when a film or series doesn't quite work there are not many times where there is nothing redeeming about it. This Great Expectations does have a fair few merits and the best of these merits actually come off quite well. The costumes and sets are both beautiful and evocative, and the reuniting of Pip and Estella has some very clever lighting, there is great atmosphere and poetry in this moment. The music is haunting, is fitting for the tone of the film and doesn't overbear things too much. The opening scene is very atmospherically effective also, though the adaptation that did this scene best and quite possibly without equal is David Lean's.

And while the acting is inconsistent, there are some very good performances, and actually most of the performances fall into the very good category. The star was Ralph Fiennes, his Magwitch was both creepy and tragic, in the earlier scenes Fiennes is chilling but later on he is very likable and you feel pity for the character. Helena Bonham Carter really gives her all to Miss Havisham, wonderfully bitter and dramatic, if physically a little too on the voluptuous side for a character that is described the complete opposite in the book. Jason Flemying is an excellent and dignified Joe, Robbie Coltrane is firm and somewhat larger than life as Jaggers and Olly Alexander's Herbert Pocket is eccentric and quaint as well as earnest and upbeat, a very engaging performance of a potentially dull character.

Jeremy Irvine looks the part for Pip but his acting style came across as too overwrought and too innocent, while Holly Grainger looks radiant but not cold enough for Estella. They are marginally better than the miscast leads in the respectable but flawed 2011 BBC adaptation, but only just. David Walliams mugs his way through the role of Uncle Pumblechook and painfully so, it may work for Little Britain but it is completely wrong here. Toby Irvine and Helena Barlow are very competent and work well together, if lacking that extra spark to make them truly memorable, Barlow also could have a little more spiteful.

Aside from these problematic casting choices there are other reasons why this adaptation of Great Expectations fell short. It is a very difficult story to adapt, Dickens generally is difficult to adapt, but the story is not very engaging here, though there are some bright spots like the opening scene. The pacing can get tedious while some of the details are rushed through and under-explained, the Pip, Estella and Miss Havisham scenes veer towards the absurd rather than the tense and the scenes between Irvine and Holliday don't have that much pulse. The ending is also very badly bungled.

The script can get rather trite and wordy with some awkward tonal shifts. And while the period detail is great and there are moments where the lighting is clever, the way the film looks is rather too grim, too much of the Harry Potter and Tim-Burton-at-his-most-Gothic vibe. Mike Newell does deserve some credit for bringing out the story's dark approach but too often it is too emphasised so the film generally lacks life, and consequently the dark obsession that is at the heart of this great story comes across as rather flat. Overall, a long way from bad but not as great as it could have been, personally this was a mixed feelings sort of reaction towards the film. 5/10 Bethany Cox

Acceptable translation of classic Dickens book with a competent direction by Mike Newell . The movie deals with an orphan child called Pip (Jeremy Irvine, though Alex Pettyfer turned down the role) meets on the dark moor an escaped convict hiding out in the Victorian English countryside called Magwitch (Ralph Fiennes) and helps him . A kindness that will change the course of Pip's life , though he doesn't realize it . Magwitch escapes and is aided by young orphan Pip ; then Magwitch discovers a fortune , which he decides to use to make him into a gentleman . Later on , at a musty mansion Pip meets an old woman , Miss Havershan (Helena Bonham Carter , though Meryl Streep was approached for the role, but turned it down due to scheduling conflicts), and a beautiful girl called Stella (grown-up, a haughty beauty Holliday Grangier , though Rooney Mara turned down the role) who has been raised by the eccentric Miss Havershan . Pit suddenly becomes a gentleman with the support of an unknown benefactor and his advocate (Robbie Coltrane) . But his enemies would like to get Pip's inheritance for themselves . Meanwhile , Pip befriends Herbert Pocket (Olly Alexander) and Pip's likable flatmate .

The film is an alright adaptation based on Charles Dickens's novel , being pretty well directed by the nice director Mike Newell . In the movie there is intense drama , a love story , emotion , tragedies and is pretty entertaining , though has more style than substance . Although the images and settings are compelling , the filmmaker should have learned that beauty on the surface isn't all essential . This is a respectable but sometimes dull recounting about notorious novel , being finely performed , splendidly staged with adequate sets , stunning visuals and interesting drama of a well known story . Newell's professional retelling of Dickens tone but easily dwarfed by the classic 1946 David Lean's version . Well-acted by all , but especially by Helena Bonham Carter's slightly pathetic and mad Miss Havishan decided to wreak havoc on the male gender ; Helena stated in an interview that she wore only one shoe for the shooting , as Dickens described Miss Havisham as wearing only one shoe . Jeremy Irvine's enjoyable acting as starring , he's romantic , sympathetic , attractive but also vulnerable and memorable . Robbie Coltrane as the agreeable lawyer is top notch , and secondary cast as Ewen Bremner , Olly Alexander , Sally Hawkes , Jason Fleming , among others , are excellent . Special mention to Ralph Fiennes as the unknown benefactor who becomes Pit into a well-heeled gentleman . Atmospheric as well as colorful cinematography by John Mathieson . Evocative and sensitive musical score by Richard Hartley . Rating : Above Average . Well worth seeing for Charles Dickens lovers .

There are many adaptations about this famous novel , they result to be the followings : ¨Great expectations¨ (1943) by Stuart Walker with Phillips Holmes , Henry Hull , Jane Wyatt , Francis L Sullivan ; ¨Great expectations¨ (1946) by David Lean , considered to be the greatest version of the Charles Dickens novel with John Mills , Finlay Currie , Martita Hunt , Valerie Hobson , Alec Guinnes , Jean Simmons , Francis L Sullivan , possibly the best Dickens on film . The modern rendition by Afonso Cuaron featured by Ethan Hawke as Pit , Gwyneth Paltrow as Stella and Anne Bancroft as Miss Havershan is deemed average . And several TV adaptations and miniseries such as : 1981 with Bratford Jones and John Hickson ; 1987 The untold story with John Stanton , Sigrid Thornton , Anne Louise Lambert , 1989 by Kevin Connor with Anthony Hopkins , Jean Simmons , John Rhys Davies , 1999 by Julian Jarrold with Ioan Gruffud , Justine Waddell , Charlotte Rampling and Bernard Hill .

Before the review starts I must say that it might be a little biased. Coming from another country, before I saw the movie I had never heard of the book (maybe the title once or twice in a different translation) or any of the movie adaptations. For everyone else I suspect it wasn't as interesting as it was to me.

The movie is about a boy, Pip, who gets in the possession of some money and coming from a poor background, goes on to become a gentleman in London.

The movie is filled with a very well-known cast, e.g. Helena Bonham Carter and Jeremy Irvine, and directed by Mike Newell (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire). As seen from previous movies, everyone delivers a remarkable performance, especially Carter with the wounded character of Miss Havisham (there's a good twist around the end involving her). Another great stand out was Holliday Grainger in the role of Estella. I loved her, and will be definitely looking at what projects she chooses in the future. It was a nice surprise when she appeared in Anna Karenina (2012), and although just for a couple of seconds, she played her part there very well too.

The story, although I've never heard of it, is a classic. It's handled very well, and the love story too. Two people that were never meant to be together. Even though Estella is trying to push Pip away, Pip always comes back. There is definitely chemistry between the two.

The sets and costumes were another high point of the movie. The women's wear in particular worked very well for the time period in which the story is set. The depiction of 1980s London was very graphic and very well done. Nothing seemed CGI, and all the sets looked very realistic.

Every movie has a flaw, and nearly every time it's the pace. The movie did slow down around the middle, after Pip arrives in London and settles down. Not much happened.

I recommend this to most movie fans looking for a good drama. Fans of the story will probably dig the new adaptation too. Enjoy.

Acting - 10/10 Costumes - 10/10 Pace - 8/10 Sets - 10/10

Overall - 9/10