Great Expectations

Throughout motion picture history, we have seen many epic, lavish productions about important people and events. They are too numerous to mention all, but a handful include "Gone With the Wind" '39, "Lawrence of Arabia" '62, "Gandhi" '82, "The Last Emperor" '87, "Empire of the Sun" '87, "The Passion of the Christ" '05, last year's "Anna Karenina" '12, and now we have Charles Dickens' "Great Expectations". It is a novel, so even though the characters are fictitious, it is still epic.

This is a story about one young orphan boy named Pip (Toby Irvine) who's raised by his angry aunt (Sally Hawkins) and her affable boyfriend, Joe (Jason Flemyng). During this childhood, Pip is approached by the unruly, Abel Magwitch (Ralph Fiennes) whose presence haunts Pip through his life. After a point, young Pip receives the chance to visit the odd, but curious, Miss Havisham (Helena Bonham Carter) and her precocious and snooty daughter, Estella (Helena Barlow) which Pip falls for. Young Pip's humility impresses both Havisham and young Estella, so after much time when Pip becomes an adult, Jaggers (Robbie Coltrane) approaches his and Joe's blacksmith shop and offers Pip (Jeremy Irvine) a Gentleman's position in London with all the notoriety on two conditions: 1) he never changes his name--Pip and 2) he never knows or inquires the name of the benefactor. He agrees and off he goes to London. Even though Pip goes from poverty to wealth, he soon realizes that all is not a piece of cake as he learns more about his past.

Others to round out the cast are Ewen Bremner as Wemmick, Holliday Grainger as Adult Estella, David Walliams as Mr. Pumblechook, Olly Alexander as Herbert Pocket, Ben Lloyd-Hughes as Bentley Drummie, Daniel Heyman as Arthur Havisham, William Ellis as Compeyson, Tamzin Outhwaite as Molly, and Edward Flemyng as Charles Pocket.

This was directed effortlessly by Britain's veteran, Mike Newell ("The Awakening" '80, "Bad Blood" '82, "Dance With a Stranger" '85, "The Good Father" '85, "Amazing Grace and Chuck" '87, "Soursweet" '88, "Enchanted April" '91, "Into the West" '92, Four Weddings and a Funeral" '94, "Donnie Brasco" '97, "Pushing Tin" '99, "Mona Lisa Smile" '03, "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" '05, "Love in the Time of Cholera" '07, "Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time" '10). The pacing was so expertly done that as these actors moved around on those sets so believably, you'd swear it was filmed back in that era of time. This was effectively written by David Nicholls based on the classic novel by Dickens. This, as with all films based on a Dickens novel, was grim and oppressing, which was the way society was back in his day. Writers typically write about the time in which they live, and Dickens was certainly no exception. Helena Bonham Carter as Havisham and Ralph Fiennes as Magwitch really shined here and could possibly pull off an Oscar nod, otherwise the costumes, makeup, hair, and art direction were incredible.

This is certainly not the first time we've seen this novel as a film and undoubtedly will not be the last--it is a literary classic and deserves to be presented to each generation that comes along. And since we are a society who reads less, seeing a classic on film is needed lest we forget the classic writers of our past.

Out of 4 Stars: 3.5                         Rated: PG-13                          128mins.