Nicholas Nickleby (Special Edition)
|
List Price: Our Price: $10.47 You Save: $4.51 (30%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $2.57 (click here) Category: DVD See more DVD releases |
|---|
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
Movie Reviews of Nicholas Nickleby (Special Edition)
Movie Review: Good Triumphs Over Evil
Summary: 5 Stars
Stunning photography, outrageous characters and a powerful, emotional story: that's Nicholas Nickleby, the 2002 adaptation from the famous book by Charles Dickens. I have not read that book, so this story was new to me and I couldn't help but be impressed.
Hopefully, most people are still satisfied to see good people triumph in the end. With a Dickens story, you know there will be a lot to overcome, too, and lots of suffering and heartache along the way to a happy ending.
Douglas McGrath-did a fine job directing this film. Dick Pope, director of photography (cinematographer) made England look as beautiful as any Merchant-Ivory film I've seen. Start-to-finish the landscape of England never looked prettier. Pope performed the same kind of magic two years later in "The Illusionist," a gorgeous-looking movie. Kudos to Rachel Portman for a magnificent score, too, with a beautiful, sweeping theme song. This movie is a treat for the ears, as well.
Charlie Hunnam as Nicholas Nickleby was adequate; Christopher Plummer as his Uncle Ralph was very good and Jamie Bell as the unforgettable "Smike" was excellent. It's hard to believe he's the same kid who played "Billy Elliott" just a couple of years ago.
Jim Broadbent and Juliet Stevens as the wicked, evil husband-and-wife-team who run DotheBoys Hall, a boys boarding school, were also memorable. Dickens also had cruel people mistreating little boys and these two personify cruelty.
Two beautiful women: Anne Hathaway's as Nicholas' love "Madeline Bray" and Romola Garai as his sister "Kate" were both pleasant and easy on the eyes. As for supporting actors, I enjoyed them all as well, getting an extra smile from Timothy Spall and Gerald Horan and "Charles and Ned Cherryble" The same can be said for Nathan Lane and Alan Cumming, who provide much-needed comic relief and whimsey.
One other thing that was fun to observe in this film: everyone's vocabulary! I loved how they expressed themselves, the good and the bad people
Of the many well-put sentences delivered in this well-intentioned and high-minded film, I remember Nickleby saying near the end, "Weakness is tiring, but strength is exhausting."
Movie Review: Elegant, fast-paced version of the Dickens novel
Summary: 5 Stars
Charles Dickens was both a great storyteller and a witty commentator on the social injustices of mid-19th Century England.150 years later, the class struggles in Great Britain are of interest mainly to historians. Dickens, the storyteller, however, is still a great deal of fun in the right hands. Many of us are familiar with the numerous film versions of A Christmas Carol, David Copperfield, Oliver Twist, A Tale of Two Cities and Great Expectations. Dickens lesser known and very long Nicolas Nickleby is a hard book to tackle by any standards. Writer/director Douglas McGrath has done an admirable job of turning this ponderous tome into a sumptuous, entertaining movie that runs just over two hours. Sadly, the film, released last Christmas, fell under the radar, and very few people saw it. Perhaps on video and DVD it will find a wider audience. Nickleby [Charlie Hunnan] is a young man whose loving father has recently died in poverty, leaving Nickleby in charge of providing for his sister and mother. They journey to London to seek the help of their only other living relative, Ralph [Christopher Plummer], the dead fathers brother. Ralph is a rich, conniving, unscrupulous entrepreneur, who makes his money by convincing rich Londoners to invest in various schemes. He has scant interest in his family. He provides in a small way for the mother and daughter, but sends Nicholas off to the country to work in a dreadful boys school run by the wicked Wackford Sqeers [Jim Broadbent] and his hideous wife [Juliet Stevenson]. Though appalled by conditions at the school, Nicholas tries hard to do a good job. He befriends a poor lad named Smike [Jamie Bell], who was once a student but is now virtually the Squeers slave. Eventually, Nicholas and Smike leave the school, and Nicholas sets out to right the wrongs done to his family and to Smike.
Wisely, McGrath injects much energy and humor into the movie. The tale may be dark, but the telling is not. The cast is uniformly excellent, and the supporting cast includes such great performers as Edward Fox, Tom Courtney, Nathan Lane, Alan Cumming, and even Barry Humphries, better know as Dame Edna.
All in all, one of the better British imports in the last few years.
Movie Review: Virtue - and audiences - rewarded
Summary: 5 Stars
Despite being overlooked on release, Douglas McGrath's wonderful 2002 version of Dickens' tale of good rewarded captures both the feel and the sound of Dickens remarkably well. This world is indeed lived in, and the characters are vividly realised. The underplayed theatricality of Nathan Lane's opening and closing narration, allied to a strong sense of the cinematic sets the perfect tone right from the start, and its reprise at the ending is almost a well-deserved bow from the filmmakers.
It's even good enough to overcome the void at its center that is Charlie Hunnam, clearly cast for his looks since acting isn't a strong point. Indeed, it's bizarre that in a film with so many Americans, Canadians and Australians in its cast, the most unconvincing accent comes from a Brit, but Geordie Hunnam's curiously Scouse accent sticks out like a sore thumb, not only at odds with the rest of his family but also making him sound like a bored Beatle throughout - a kind of benign George Harrison without the `tache or the personality.
Thankfully his blandness is more than compensated for by some excellent work by Christopher Plummer's villainous uncle, avoiding the usual caricature the role inspires, and Jim Broadbent, Juliet Stevenson and Heather Goldenhersch (boasting such a perfect English accent I was surprised to find she was American) as the hideous Squeers family, embracing it and pulling it off magnificently, while Nathan Lane and Dame Edna Everidge are truly inspired casting as the open-hearted but financially challenged theatricals Mr and Mrs Crummles. There's fine work from Timothy Spall, Tom Courtenay, Phil Davis and, most surprising of all, even Edward Fox as well. It doesn't avoid the sentimentality but manages to turn it into genuine emotion, not least because no-one falls into the trap of wildly overplaying - even Dame Edna.
All in all an unexpectedly delightful, genuinely likeable, sincerely heartwarming film that deserved more success than it found - but as Mrs Crummles notes, in the great struggle between "those aged combatants art and commerce... art, it would appear from the receipts, is in its usual position of jeopardy."
Movie Review: All in all, a top notch Dickens adaptation
Summary: 5 Stars
Let me start off by saying that I never read the book upon which this film is based. But it must have been a difficult one for Douglas McGrath to pare down to a sizable feature. He pulls it off with visual flair and elegant character acting. The film is as sumptious and enjoyable as McGrath's other adaptation 'Emma' from 1996 with Gwyneth Paltrow. Charlie Hunnam, whom I had only seen on the short lived Fox series 'Undeclared', gives an honorable performance as Nicholas Nickleby, the lead character in this ensemble piece. Nicholas unwittingly becomes head of his family at age 19 when his Father passes, leaving his family with little money. They travel to London to seek the help of their sinister Uncle Ralph (Christopher Plummer in an amazingly cold performance) who gets Nicholas a job at a frightening school run by the cruel Mr. and Mrs. Squeers (Jim Broadbent and Juliet Stevenson, both almost stealing the show). There he meets the crippled Smike (Jamie Bell from 'Billy Elliot') whom he promises to protect. There's tons more but I'll leave the rest for you to discover should you decide to see the film. Just about every actor on screen is magnificent. Hunnam, Plummer, Broadbent, Stevenson, even Nathan Lane(!) bring such life to the screen. But my favorite performance was from 17-year-old Bell with the difficult role of Smike. He pulled it off masterfully and is sure to become a huge star in years to come. The one qualm I had with the picture was that Anne Hathaway as Nickleby's love interest had so little to do that her character was hardly of interest to me. Admittedly some things must be sacrificed when adapting from Dickens and I think it was much better on McGrath's part to focus on the relationship between Nickleby and Smike. McGrath himself does a great job directing. The film is perfectly set with glorious landscapes and colors. It is interesting how the scenes in the school house have hardly any color at all but once Nickelby and Smike escape, things start becoming bright again. All in all, it's a beautiful picture that definately deserves to be watched again and again. See it, especially if you love period films.
Movie Review: Almost perfect Nicholas Nickleby
Summary: 5 Stars
This came as a bit of a surprise, suffice it to say, due to the photo used on the cover. I expected less but was so pleasantly surprised!
I read Nicholas Nickleby years ago and have no plans to read it in the near future. That said, I had forgotten much of the story. It is obvious, though, that even without remembering much of the book nor the story, there is much that has been left out of the movie. No matter. What is left here is perfect. Although we may never know why Ralph Nickleby lost his ten thousand pounds just by watching the film, we understand that there must have been some behind-the-scenes scheming going on and that's perfectly fine.
Although definitely a drama, the comedic elements work so well here to lighten the desperate dark Dickensian times.
The film is perfectly cast. Charlie Hunnam as Nicholas is delightful-- moral, upright, brave. Christopher Plummer was unbelievable. Although he's not seen too much of late, it's great to see him in such a plumb role here. He's marvelous-- nasty and cruel with a small amount of humanity left in him (very small and easy to dismiss) to make him extremely complex rather than a caricature. Nathan Lane was a scene stealer and added a large dose of much needed relief from the darkness. And Jim Broadbent and Juliet Stevenson were incredible-- Juliet Stevenson especially. She delivered each of her lines with perfection. At one point, her husband, the evil Mr. Squeers, tells her that she alone could take away any man's pride more quickly than anyone else in England. Recognizing the statement for the compliment it was meant to be, she responds adoringly.
I cannot recommend this highly enough. Highly watchable! And, for younger viewers (not too young, maybe 10 and up), this is a great intro to Dickens, too.