Great Expectations
As Reviewed by James Brundage
I swear, if I weren't such an incurable romantic I would hate all the movies out there. Yes, I'll admit I loved "The English Patient" more than life itself, and yes, I would see a romantic comedy over a B-rate action flick any day of the week. Those are the reasons I forgave the shortcomings of Great Expectations.
The movie in and of itself is an attempt to be artsy, a loose modernization/ adaptation of the Dickens classic (which I hate), with almost every character re-named and remoded into whatever fits. With Pip renamed as Finn and re-casted as an artist and Robert de Niro taking on the role of the felon Magwitch, re-dubbed Lusting. The only thing seemingly kept the same is the basics, the name Estella for Finn's lifelong love, and the basic Marxist theme to the entirety of it.
It basically succeeds as an artsy film, making a appealing version of the classic, but the re-naming of the characters, the choppy dialogue and the write-your-script-in-a-three-day-weekend contest winner script make a complete lack of appeal. Go ahead and see it, you probably will find yourself enjoying the movie. But, whatever you do, don't try to watch the movie to do that book report.
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