Here's something you won't see often on Books. Lists. Life.- a movie review. I'm not a big movie watcher. I always feel like there is something else that I could be doing with my time and I absolutely hate to pick a movie up in the middle (my husband has no problem channel surfing right into a movie.) However, one of our good habits is to do all the laundry on Sunday and my part of it is putting it away. (Mike usually does the all day long running up and down stairs to swap laundry.) For the last 5 months, I've been watching Idol Recap on the TV Guide channel while I folded clothes, but Idol is over now so I had to find something else to watch. When I finished Persuasion a few weeks ago, I knew I wanted to watch a movie version. I had to see that last scene played out on screen. So I put a library hold on the movie and for good measure added Pride & Prejudice AND Sense & Sensibility. Sunday night I put Persuasion into the Playstation (what? you don't watch all your DVDs on a Playstation??) and.... nothing. It didn't work. So I watched Pride & Prejudice.My library didn't have the 1995 A&E/ Colin Firth version of P&P, so I had to make do with the 2005 Keira Knightly version. (I am still on the lookout for the longer one, but I don't want to buy it.) This version was still 2.5 hours long and it doesn't take me quite that long to do laundry, but by the time I was done I was hooked. It's been a couple of years since I read the book now, but it seemed like it followed the plot pretty well. It mostly glossed over the bits with Lydia and Wickham and the parts with Mr. Collins, but I wasn't really bothered by that. I think it is possible that Keira Knightly did a good job as Elizabeth Bennett, but I was completely distracted by her previous role as another Elizabeth, in which she uses the same accent. It is possible that if you hadn't seen her previous work hundreds of times, you might not notice. (There is a reason I call my son "The Pirate".) I was annoyed by her giant grin and I didn't completely buy that she'd fallen for Darcy.
There seems to be unanimous agreement that Colin Firth is THE perfect Mr. Darcy, but I have to say, Matthew Macfadyen does a pretty good job. He does a great job of being misunderstood and a fairly decent job of being in love with Elizabeth. He wasn't hard to look at either.
I think the longer one would be better because it would give the characters more of an opportunity to show the slow falling in love. Despite being over two hours, I don't think it was long enough to really show their early dislike or their change of heart. Overall, a good movie, but not the best it could be either.
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We watch DVD's on the XBox 360 sometimes. :-)
ReplyDeleteI am glad you enjoyed Pride and Prejudice, Lisa. Although I prefer the BBC/A&E version, I did enjoy the Hollywood version as well.
Men and their channel surfing can drive you crazy. I rarely watch movies at home - I prefer the theater. I don't think I've seen either version of this movie. Glad you enjoyed it.
ReplyDeleteI cannot stand Keira Knightley!! I'm not sure what it is about ther that bugs me so much (waifish body, smug smirk, that fact that she plays the same character over and over again) but she does! I don't think that I could tolerate an entire movie with her in it.
ReplyDeleteBTW..I watch movies on my laptop while I put clothes away. I thought I was the only one that did that.
I think this is quite a good version, although definitely not as good as the long one. Can't wait to hear what you think of the REAL one :)
ReplyDeleteOh yeah. I've seen this one and it's pretty good but definitely not as good as the one with Colin Firth. Seriously find and rent that one. :)
ReplyDeletei broke down and purchased the colin firth one...then i planted my butt and watched it straight through. *sigh* :) i'll have to pull it out again...it's been a while.
ReplyDeleteOk, now that every comment says the same thing, I might have to buy it. Is it really THAT good?
ReplyDeleteOk my dear--I'm here to set you straight. Well, maybe not since I seem to be in a slim minority. My best friend and I have tried to watch the BBC P&P on two different nights and we still aren't finished! It is cheesy and really, I don't like Collin Firth (well, I do, but not as Mr. Darcy). I think going from the BBC to the new version is easier and most will prefer the BBC, but I saw the new one first and have NO desire to finish the BBC version (probably still have another hour left!!).
ReplyDeleteBrian Macfadyen is yum in this movie even though I don't think he's particularly attractive otherwise. Why is Kiera Knightley always covering her mouth? Her mouth in general annoys me. But that part when they're in the field and he tells her "You've bewitched me body and soul and I love I love I love you" and she said, "well then, your hands are cold." Really???? Ha! I think I might watch it tonight for the billionth time. :)
I enjoy this adaptation, but I LOVE the Colin Firth version. I own it on DVD and watch it frequently. Our PBS station played it over and over last year and I always sat down to watch it even though I had the DVD version. It's going to be one of the first Blu-Ray DVD's that I buy since my new laptop has a Blu-Ray player in it (and I've pretty much worn out my original DVD!).
ReplyDeleteI really adore both versions, but the one I watch over and over is the 2005 version with Keira. I think they have more chemistry, and Matthew is a really good Darcy.
ReplyDeleteIt is nice that the BBC version is so completely true to the book. I actually first read the book in high school and read a chunk of the book, then watched up to that point of the BBC version. It was a lovely way to first read/watch them.
One thing last thing I will say - I appreciate that in the 2005 version Jane is actually beautiful, and you can see how she's viewed as "the beauty." In my opinion the BBC Jane is not believable. :)
Oh Lisa. Seriously now, buy the Colin Firth version. You won't regret it. I watch it all the time, just over and over again. My husband rolls his eyes everytime he finds one of my P&P discs in the DVD player (ha! the playstation!)
ReplyDeleteI watched the movie, it was OK. It lacked something and I'm not sure what it was. Apparently the Netherfield scenes were filmed nearby but whatever. I liked Keira Knightley in Bend It Like Beckham and then nothing much since then.
N and I are trying to sort out a movie night once a week after my Doing Things Differently thing. It didn't happen for quite some time but we've managed two weeks in a row so far (AND! We went to the cinema awhile back) It's nice to watch a movie now and then..