David Copperfield

The 1999 adaptation was absolutely sublime, you cannot do better than Ian McKellan, Maggie Smith and Bob Hoskins all of whom did brilliantly in their roles. This 2000 adaptation is inferior, but in my opinion it is good on its own merits. Now I admit I haven't read the book for a while, but I do remember that the 1999 adaptation was more faithful. The adaptation looks amazing, with lavish costumes, lovely camera work in general(though the last ten minutes were unfocused) splendid scenery and realistic-looking sets. The music is beautiful, and it was delight especially to hear Mendelssohn's Octet playing as background music in one scene. The script is mostly good with a lot of Dickens elements in it,and there are many memorable scenes like the whipping of young David. The performances in general were very good, save one or two exceptions. Hugh Dancy especially was perfect as adult David, and while I found Daniel Radcliife absolutely adorable in the 1999 adaptation, Max Doleby was believable as the younger half of the character. Antony Andrews is suitably nasty as Mr Murdstone and Eileen Atkins turns in a solid performance as Jane. And Uriah Heep is a real villain, really slimy and snakelike. I have to say that Frank McCusker played him marvellously. Edward Hardwicke and Freddie Jones also give great turns, and Julie Cox and Emily Hamilton are lovely as Dora and Agnes. However, there are flaws with this adaptation that made it inferior to the 1999 adaptation. The plot, suffering from the deviations from the book, is choppy and even confusing. (I will admit I was confused with what was happening in the first scene) The other flaws I am afraid are to do with some of the casting. I felt that Michael Richards overacted as Mr Micawber, and Sally Field was as another reviewer rightly said not English enough, and I found her screams of "Don-keee" unintentionally funny. As fine an actor as Peter Woodthorpe is, I sadly found him forgettable as Creakle, no matter how hard he tried. He played him with real demeanour, but he wasn't given enough screen time to shine properly. On the whole, despite the major flaws, this is a decent adaptation of Dickens's novel. 7.5/10 Bethany Cox

My first thought was, why another adaptation? The BBC version was pure poetry in motion. Why ruin it's memory with this garbage version? It seems that creativity and research are no longer used in the world of film making. The quest for greed; producers with no experience and/or talent, lend their ugly hand in remake after remake of stories that have been told over and over again. Come on Film World, let's be more original and do what film making is supposed to do: ART and CREATIVITY.

And you can hardly expect a yank to effectively portray a character so intrinsically British as Betsey Trotwood (Bridget Jones was not the norm)... Sally Field's accent was thus naff, and the acting poor, reminiscent of Hepburn as Doolittle.

But sorry I thought that Eileen Atkins was superb as ever, as Miss Murdstone, and Hugh Dancy .... not only is he stunningly beautiful but he played the part of David the elder, magnificently.

David Copperfield, the book, is a relatively large tome, and TV movies do not allow for all minute points to be covered.

I liked it anyway. For what its worth LOL

Well, no matter what anyone else thought, I thought that this adaption was great!!! The costumes were incredible and the acting was brilliant. So who cares what the other people thought of the movie. The love that David Copperfield spoke of for Dora was really believable. Also...Sally Field is in it. What else can I say. She's brilliant. Mrs. Murdsen was, in all honesty, a jerk. I wanted to strangle her. That is good acting!!!!! Hugh Dancy...come to the Americas and stay!! You are fantastic!!!!!

I wished Hugh Dancy had done the BBC's version of David Copperfield....he is the perfect David

the BBC version is the most faithful to the book however I feel they miscasted older David...Hugh Dancy is perfect

the hallmark David Copperfield is not as faithfull to the book in my opinion...Sally Field as Aunt Besty is not all too great...Dame Maggie Smith was better...if Hugh Dancy had been in the BBC version it would have been perfect