Great Expectations

The umpteenth dramatization of Charles Dickens' novel of a country orphan raised to the gentry by a secret benefactor arrives from writer David Nicholls and director Mike Newell. David Lean's 1946 version remains peerless and untouchable, but this one is quite respectable, hampered only by Nicholls' occasional struggle (especially in the last act) to juggle Dickens' complicated plot. Newell's pacing is brisk, and the look and sound of 19th century rural and urban England is spot-on. Star turns from Ralph Fiennes (as Magwich), Helena Bonham Carter (slightly miscast but still effective as Miss Havisham) and Robbie Coltrane (ideal as lawyer Jaggers) bolster a corps of well-cast unknowns including Jeremy Irvine as Pip, Holliday Grainger as Estella, Olly Alexander as Herbert Pocket and Jason Flemyng as Joe Gargery.