Friday, July 11, 2014

Great Expectations (Movie 2012)




     I have never read Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, nor have I seen any other movie versions, so I have nothing to compare this movie to. That being said I really liked this movie.

     Like most Dickens movies they did a really good job at showing the grittier and less romanticized side of Victorian England. The whole movie had a dark tone to it and, like many Dickens stories, there were plenty of plot twists and unknown connections between the characters.

     The thing that really made this movie enjoyable was all of the side characters that revolve around Pip, like his brother-in-law Joe and the creepy Miss Havisham. Miss Havisham is my favorite character. Helena Bonham-Carter did a magnificent job playing this sad and disturbed woman, and it wasn’t over the top crazy like it could have been. Pip was a good main character, but he was annoying at times due to his new found wealth and place in society. I couldn’t completely like him because of it, but it was certainly realistic and in the end he did become a character I could respect.

     It’s hard to fit a complex book into 2 hours of film. While it is a good movie you can tell that there’s plenty missing, whether it be the finer details of the characters and their relationships, or what seems like time gaps. It does the best that it can with the time that it has.

     This movie acts as an introduction to the characters and plot of Great Expectations and I’m looking forward to reading the novel someday.
               -Christina

1 comment:

  1. Haven't read (or watched) it either, so glad you enjoyed it. :) And Helena Bonham-Carter is great at whatever she does. Well, with what I've seen her in anyway. And yeah, it's hard to fit everything within a two hour limit, that's mainly why I prefer the books rather the films. Except for Harry Potter, I love them both. :)

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