Shriek heard 'round the world

[jedishampoo]

We went all over Hell's Half-Acre (OK, the west side of Las Vegas) looking for the new Pride and Prejudice. Finally purchased it at Borders, last copy. Watched it. Have to say:

Aiiieeee! WTF? Barely tolerable until the last fifteen minutes or so, when it made us almost ill. Regency people visiting people of the opposite sex in the middle of the night/walking into bedrooms? Huh? And Best Actress? WTF? Now I like Keira. But the woman acted with her teeth. Every dress she wore was a complete sack. (Swore we'd make no comparisons between BBC P&P and this, but whoda thunk that Brit TV would have better costuming than Hollywood?)

And Darcy? sharpeslass and I agree: No sex appeal despite being wet and having the voice of Ciaran Hinds, which should by all means be un-possible. Why, oh why, did no one tailor this man's jackets? See earlier comment re: costuming. Wickham was cute for the TEN SECONDS he was in it. And could live with Brenda Blethyn and Judi Dench. Even they couldn't save this movie.

Am returning to Borders for store credit ASAP. Hey, it pixellated, too. Brand new DVD, even.

Comments

[beellegee.livejournal.com]

well, you just saved me a trip to the video store....

[jedishampoo.livejournal.com]

LOL! Well, if you're going to the video store anyway... might as well see it as not. ;) It appears some people liked it, at least... We were actively pissed, however, when we'd expected to be "meh" at most. Arrgh!

[hlynn.livejournal.com]

Aww, I liked it. :( No, it's not totally accurate, but with only two hours to work with, it couldn't be. And there's plenty of moodiness and inappropriate Regency behavior, like Jane Austen was crossed with the Brontes. I liked the casting (sans Darcy, although he grew on me) and the set design is really something to behold.

I also liked how affectionate they made the Bennetts (both the family and the parents), and the change of the scene where Darcy's aunt visits them in the middle of the night instead of during the day. It gave a sense of how urgent her dislike was, and how little she thought of them (because she wouldn't have done the same thing to a family of higher regard).

I hope you get something better in the trade, though. :)

[nmissi.livejournal.com]

And I was so devastated that all the copies of P and P were gone at Blockbuster, that we're rewatching "A Series of Unfortunate Events" again.

Thank you for making me feel much better!

Think I'll watch my BBC Box set later tonight to celebrate my narrow escape...

[rosiewook.livejournal.com]

Now, I thought it was pleasant enough. I was horribly disappointed in the picture quality. WHO burned that DVD?!

But Darcy? I was hooked by his eyes. Lovely eyes....

And I liked that it had a bit more of an earthy quality to it.

Purists will probably not enjoy it. But I did.

[jedishampoo.livejournal.com]

We've decided that we need to watch the BBC version again just to erase the memory. ;) You'll have to let me know what you think when you finally do get to see it!

[jedishampoo.livejournal.com]

I don't really think of myself as a purist, though I've probably read Austen (and watched Austen movies) more times than is healthy! I lo-o-ove Emma Thompson/Ang Lee's "Sense and Sensibility" and it took plenty of liberties. I will admit that P&P did well with condensing the story into two hours-- some of the scene combinations made sense. :) But overall, I was just disappointed considering the critical acclaim the thing received. Really, the costumes... could they have made Keira Knightley look any less attractive or more flat-chested? The red-coats looked pretty good but that's about it. Oh well, I know lots of people that like it, but I think like "Sideways" and "Brokeback Mountain" it was over-hyped and I was expecting too much!

As for picture quality, I had wondered if it was a bad DVD or what, with all the pixellation... maybe it was the burn?

[jedishampoo.livejournal.com]

Well, if there are comparisons, I'll say that Brenda B. as Mrs. Bennet was infinitely preferable to the Mrs. Bennet in the BBC version, and they sure treated poor Mary better. :) I don't think I could ever watch it again, though.