| Great Expectations [1998] | ![Great Expectations [1998]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51SBTQE7YSL._SL160_.jpg)
 enlarge | Director: Alfonso Cuaron
Actors: Ethan Hawke, Gwyneth Paltrow, Hank Azaria, Chris Cooper, Anne Bancroft
Studio: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
Category: DVD
List Price: £12.99
Buy New: £4.98
You Save: £8.01 (62%)
New (18) from £2.66
Avg. Customer Rating:  8 reviews
Sales Rank: 4158
Format: Anamorphic, Pal, Widescreen
Languages: English (Original Language), French (Original Language)
Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
Running Time: 107 minutes
Number Of Items: 1
Discs: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
EAN: 5039036008112
ASIN: B00005UWN4
Theatrical Release Date: January 30, 1998
Release Date: February 4, 2002
Availability: Usually dispatched within 5 to 9 days
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.co.uk Review
The key ingredient in this modern-day version of Charles Dickens's classic is director Alfonso Cuaron, who made the glowing, estimable A Little Princess. If you saw that (and you should), understand that Expectations has those ingredients (great sense of time, place, and timing) but adds modern music and sex appeal; the latter personified by the long-legged Gwyneth Paltrow. Finnegan Bell (Ethan Hawke as an adult, Jeremy James Kissner at age 10) is the new version of Dickens's Pip. He's a child wise beyond his years, befriending an escaped convict (Robert De Niro) in the warm waters of Florida's Gulf Coast. Finn is also the plaything for Estella (Paltrow as an adult, Raquel Beaudene at age 10), the niece of the coast's richest and most eccentric lady, Ms. Dinsmoor (a fun and flamboyant Anne Bancroft). The prudish Estella likes Finn (catch the best first kiss scene in many a moon) but has been brought up to disdain men; she'll break hearts. As the object of Finn's desires, Estella unfortunately is a one-dimensional character, yet what a dimension! Clad in Donna Karan dresses and her long, sun-kissed hair, Paltrow is luminous. She and Hawke make a very sexy couple. Mitch Glazer's script does better by Finn. He's a blue-collar worker with a gift for drawing (artwork by Francesco Clemente). Following his Uncle Joe's (Chris Cooper) honest ways, Finn grows up as a fisherman, thoughts of Estella and art drifting away in the hard work. When a mysterious benefactor allows him to follow his dream, Finn finds himself in New York, preparing for a once-in-a-lifetime art exhibit--and in the arms of the engaged Estella. Filled with cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki's golden-drenched light, the film has an irresistible, wildly romantic look. Dinsmoor's place is certainly gothic, Estella and Finn's longing encounters glamorous. Cuaron uses an MTV-friendly soundtrack with a confident touch. Songs by Tori Amos and the band Pulp--along with Patrick Doyle's silky score--create passionate scenes. It all ends far too swiftly with a seemingly tacked-on ending (reflecting the book, as it happens) but the film is splendid storytelling. It's a stylish, sweet valentine. --Doug Thomas
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| Customer Reviews: Read 3 more reviews...
 A successful adaption October 1, 2008
I am not usually one for adaptions. Something invariably gets lost, and the result is either too clever, too irrelevant, or too wooden, as if an attempt to re-image a classic requires it to be either ignored, or followed too slavishly. I still wince, for example, over Toya Wilcox in The Tempest, and Jarman's Edward II. Here, however, the adaption of Dicken's gothic rags to riches story is lovingly, almost whimisically transported to the Gulf of Mexico and the 1980s. Assisted by a deft use of the camera, and a cast that includes Bancroft, Hawke, DeNiro and Paltrow, this is a beautiful film. The children who play their adult counterparts are also brilliant, and although there are some odd moments - the sound track IS a little suspect - the essence of Dickens is perfectly rendered here. DeNiro IS a modern Magwitch, the final scene with him (held, dying by Hawke) perfectly sublimates the death of Magwitch in the Thames, secure in the knowledge that Pip (Finn) is now a gentleman. The subplot with Stella as Magwitch's daughter has been dropped, but Bancroft as Miss Haversham is hammy and operatic, perfect - the crumbling out door wedding feast beautifully nuanced, the ruined house and garden excellently executed. Hawke is perfect here, perhaps too vulnerable, sometimes perhaps too clueless. But what some reviewers here saw as wooden is more a desire, I think, to show the relationship between Stella and Finn as allegorical: it isn't real, like the landscape, the kent marshes morphed into brilliant tropical seascapes and the cries of gulls, this is not a love story, its a story of expectation, of illusion, of disappoinment and stocism. I defy any critic to compare the scene where DeNiro reveals himself to Hawke in the studio apartment with the original, the young Guiness as a lawyer, and not be impressed. And as for what Dicken's would have thought - we will never know. He was a reformer and a bit of a modern - I think he would have been touched.
 STOP PRESS!!! Dicken's Turns Over in his Grave!!!! August 8, 2008
This is possibly the worst film I have ever seen. I wish I had saved my money. I am giving one star for Anne Bancroft's bravura performance alone as the two leads, Ethan Hawke and Gwyneth Paltrow are completetly unbelievable, wooden, lacking "chemistry" and are quite vacuous and unengaging. The soundtrack music has got to be the most cringe-inducing load of cheesy kitsch I have heard in a long time. It almost becomes laughable with its obvious, predictable crescendos which underpin the pathetic attempts at portraying,depicting or conveying faux emotion.The director simply has no idea what kind of film he wants to make and the result is a hotch-potch of style and cliche. The biggest crime is in the complete annihilation of the spirit of Dicken's novel. There is no dramatic tension and the liberties which are taken with the basic narrative simply add up to a frustrating, disappointing evening's viewing.I am quite amazed that other reviewers had anything good to say about this turkey. If you want a clear insight into the narrative skill of Charles Dickens then please save your money. Forget this and rent the David Lean version on Blu-Ray instead.
Brilliant reworking of this classic tale. October 1, 2007
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
I didn't really expect much from this remake, but was pleasantly suprised.
Knowing the story quite well, I knew all the different story lines that would crop up, but I found the story cleverly remade for a modern audience. Robert De Niro as the convict was an excellent bit of casting, shame we couldn't have seen more of him. Anne Bancroft as the Miss Haversham character was just right, she didn't ham it up as so many would have done. Don't expect the film to follow the book through every story line, book to film adaptations rarely manage this anyway. In all I thought this film did capture the essence of the original story. Would recommend for nice rainy afternoon, not with the kids though as I nearly did, it is a 15 and does contain some mild sex/nudity scenes and a bit of swearing. Gran may not like it but I'm sure Auntie would.
transforming a classic in the right way February 16, 2007
5 out of 7 found this review helpful
'Great Expectations' is a wonderful novel, and the 1946 David Lean film is excellent and justly admired. This fairly recent adaptation attempts and achieves the very difficult task of providing something true to the spirit of these but significantly different from the letter. It is watchable from start to finish, beautifully cast, wonderfully filmed and full of memorable moments. It succeeds in working in its own right, and while it is never difficult to relate any scene to its equivalent in the book or the 1946 film, you don't want to do that ; it exists in its own right and is excellent.
"Somebody wants to turn this frog into a prince.", November 4, 2004
27 out of 30 found this review helpful
With a sensational cast, haunting music, and great cinematography, this modern adaptation of Dickens's novel is far more fun and far more provocative than the original, however much one might like that novel. Set in a contemporary Gulf Coast village in Florida, Finnegan Bell (Ethan Hawke) is brought up by Joe (Chris Cooper), the lover of his sister, who has abandoned them both. A working class boy with a love of fishing and a gift for artwork, Finn is ten when escaped murderer Arthur Lustig (Robert DeNiro) surfaces one day while Finn is out exploring tidal pools. After helping him, Finn later forgets him. Finn eventually meets Nora Dinsmore (Anne Bancroft), the richest woman in town, and her niece Estella (Gwyneth Paltrow), whom he has been hired to visit every Saturday. When Estella goes away to school, Finn loses touch with both of them, until, years later, he is suddenly invited to New York to show his artwork. A mysterious trust supports him, and he reconnects with Estella and all the other characters from the past. Director Alfonso Cuaron and screenwriter Mitch Glazer have created a modern story of obsession and revenge. Nora Dinsmore, who was jilted on the day of her wedding, thirty years before, has been training Estella, over the years, to tease and then destroy the men who love her. Anne Bancroft plays Nora to the hilt as a funky and exotic caricature, heavily made up, carrying a cigarette holder and martini glass, while gyrating to erotic music and chanting "Chick-a-boom." DeNiro is a vicious Lustig, and his first appearance is a shocker. Ethan Hawke, as Finn, does a good job, though he is hard pressed to hold his own when the rest of the cast is camping it up. Paltrow, as Estella, is coldly calculating in her sexual teasing, and lacking the vulnerability one expects. Chris Cooper, as the sympathetic Joe, provides the perfect foil for the other characters at key points in the film. The lush cinematography (Emmanuel Lubezky) features Spanish moss, the eerie and dilapidated old house of Nora Dinsmore, lovely scenes of tidal pools and wild nature, and the hot New York art and cafe world. The director and producers have chosen nine different composers, ranging from Tory Amos to Iggy Pop, to create appropriate music for a succession of very different scenes, and they succeed in creating a haunting mood and atmosphere. Though the ending is abrupt and trite, the cast is terrific, and the film is great fun, especially in its contrasts to the Dickens novel. Mary Whipple
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