Dicken’s classic novel, Great Expectations, is being given another movie re-working by Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire director Mike Newell and today, we have the first UK trailer for the film.
So far, it looks promising enough; there’s curtseying, Helena Bonham Carter being Helena Bonham Carter, Robbie Coltrane saying the title of the film in a line of dialogue to help along the slower audience members and of course, the expected lavish sets and costumes. All sounds good, right?
The cast contains a great collection of British thesps including Ralph Fiennes and Sally Hawkins. In the central role of Pip is Jeremy Irvine, who was last seen in the mediocre and hugely overrated War Horse (which had the year’s most underwhelming plough-related action sequence). Hopefully he’ll get more of a chance to shine in this film with Dicken’s clever prose giving him more to work with.
If you don’t know the story of Great Expectations I assume that you failed English, but I’ll give a recap anyway. It’s the story of a poor, mistreated orphan who comes into some money from a mysterious source. Once he’s settle into his new life in London he pursues the love of a cold heiress, Estella. Along the way he meets the typical Dickensian eccentrics and melodrama and such ensues.
There have been many attempts to adapt Great Expectations on TV and the big screen, some with more success than others and my personal favourite being the South Park episode ‘Pip’.
Newell’s approach seems like a fairly faithful adaptation, especially compared to fellow Harry Potter director Alfonso Cuaron’s 1998 version set in modern-day New York.
Personally, I am quite looking forward to this one and I think that the film could be an enjoyable, if adventurous, take on Dickens’ novel.
Check out the trailer below and let us know what you think.
