Pride & Prejudice

Ah, I guess its time to begin my review! *Flexes writing muscles*

The movie I'm going to rave about is Pride and Prejudice (or "Maruah dan Prejudis" as dubbed by our cinemas...lol.) which is an adaptation of the novel of the same name by Jane Austen. As I mentioned in a post, it is very rare to find a good movie which is an adaptation of an equallly good book. But I think this movie takes the cake! :D

I love it for a few reasons. They are:

1. It stays quite true to the original novel compared to other movies which I wouldn't care to name. But since you asked for it, okla. For example, the Harry Potter movies seem to be going farther and farther away from the original sentiments of the books. Which brings outrage to fans like me. Rant available here. Ok, point made.

2. Besides, staying true to the plot, it also uses a lot of the original dialogue used in the book. Which is very good, since the original dialogue is very beautiful itself. It's the lovely dialogue that gives the book its own aura. :D Thumbs up! I think the main reason, why many scripts for movies go awry is because the writer wants to prove him/herself, therefore they go out of their way to change the dialogue, making it as vastly different from the original source (e.g. book) as possible. Which is a big no-no in my book (pun unintended). Coz dialogue is one of the defining features of a book/movie.

3. The acting of the characters are marvellous. Keira Knightly practically shone as Elizabeth "Lizzie" Bennett, giving an excellent representation of the character. She embodied the spirit of the outspoken character with much ado. I love it! :) Mr. Darcy played by Matthew MacFayden was wonderful too. His expressions on his face are just spot on! The looks on his face were so tender! :P Besides, I can see thru his face the emotional struggles that he goes thru to declare his love for dear Lizzie. And he's kinda cute too! lol.

4. Mrs. Bennett is also an amusing character. She is one flustered lady, whose only business in life is to get her 5 daughters well-married. But the woman who played her was her to the life! Great! The girl who played Lydia Bennett (Haha. Same name as you, Lyd! :P) was also quite funny... She played her character well, maybe a little too well, which became abit annoying soon. I didn't think that she was that flirty in the book. Hmm.

5. The man who plays Mr. Bennett is also rather good as the father. We could sense his chemistry with his fav daughter (Lizzie) in one of the last scences. Yay! That was quite like the book. :) Well, the guy who played Mr. Bingley was just average if you ask me, but do you know who he reminds me of? Ron, from Harry Potter! I didn't know that the former was a redhead btw.

6. The guy who plays Mr. Collins was quite funny too, with his pretensious airs, which is quite like the book! The man playing Mr. Wickham is quitely aptly chosen too, he seems just flamboyant enough for the role! I must commend on whoever's in charge of casting, coz he/she did a brilliant job!

7. Anyway, the thing that makes this movie click is the fact that the characters are rather like what I imagined them to be when I first read the book years ago. (So unlike HPGOF!) This is very important coz if it's the opposite (meaning you can't fathom whether you're watching the right film onot), then one tend to rejects the film innately, especially if you're a fan of the book in the first place. :T

8. There are quite a few hilarious and light moments in this film, some contrived from the imagination (but still fitting enough for the plot) while some are changed slightly to make it work. I'm aware that films are rather different mediums from books, so sometimes plots have to be twisted slightly to fit it in. Which is ok with me. But I do mean slightly, when I say it.

9. Btw, I rather enjoyed the beautiful backgrounds filmed. Mr. Darcy's home is so pretty! Especially liked the many statues in it! The costumes were very pretty too. Of coz, poor Keira did not get to wear many beautiful dresses (except during balls) becoz in a gunny-sack of a dress, she is already so pretty! Which is not right, coz the eldest sister, Jane is supposed to be the prettiest. A bit different from the book in this aspect, but you can't have everything I guess.

10. I've decided that I'm not very good at writing film reviews for GREAT movies! Haha. Only good at negative critisism, I guess. :P So click here for more in depth reviews.

Okla, since you can read much better reviews from the links, its time to stop raving la. I don't welcome smelly eggs or rotten veggies thrown at me... coz they're smelly and rotten! lol.

So that's all. I think next time I won't review good movies ade la, must review only lousy movies. I tend to have more to write. Right, bye!

PS :: I hope that the ppl who saw the movie with us (which was very few btw, ah Malaysians!) were not annoyed by my whispered chatter with Lydia during the movie. We're intent on discussing on which character is like the book and when is what going to happen la. That happens when you watch a movie adapted from a book AND you had read the book. No element of suspense la. Haha.