Pride and Prejudice

Pride and Prejudice is perhaps Jane Austen's most beloved novel, with its tale of unlikely love between stubborn Elizabeth Bennet and the aloof Mr. Darcy. So while the book was adapted to the fantastic BBC miniseries starring Colin Firth a decade ago and reinterpreted as the Bollywood musical Bride and Prejudice just last year, a new adaptation is certainly welcome, especially to the legions of Austen's rabid admirers (who most recently flocked to the bookstores to buy The Jane Austen Book Club).

As is expected from a good period movie, the scenery, costumes and scoring are all exquisitely beautiful. The lovable Keira Knightley, who brought such fire and spunk to her roles in Bend it like Beckham and The Pirates of the Caribbean continues to impress as Elizabeth Bennet. She is just the right amount of obstinacy, pride and giggles to make her portrayal perfect. The impestuous youngest Bennet sister, Lydia, is played to great effect by Jena Malone, who is actually four months older than the 20-year-old Knightley. Although Colin Firth is a tough act to follow, relative newcomer Matthew MacFadyen is a fine Darcy, perfectly balancing rude with rakish. Judi Dench, though she is far too old for her role, does her usual Judi Dench thing, bringing lots of gravitas and drama to a fiery supporting role.

The movie gets so many things right that it is hard to criticize it for the things it does wrong. In condensing the movie to only 127 minutes (the miniseries was five hours), it is not surprising that some of the nuances of Austen's book are gone. If a viewer was not intimately familiar with the original text, it may become hard to follow who exactly the ball is for, and where it is being held and for what purpose. But no matter, that's hardly the point, and you don't need to understand every detail to get the gist of the film's broader plot of marriage, money and social class.

This version may not bring much new to the table of rich adaptations of this book (there are nearly a dozen versions), but that's hardly the point either. Austen fans hunger for more, and they will undoubtedly be pleased.