Two New Great Expectations... Two New Miss Havishams

 You may have heard that there are going to be not just one, but two new adaptations of Great Expectations. And you may have also heard that two period drama actresses, Helena Bonham Carter (The King's Speech) and Gillian Anderson (Bleak House), are both to play Miss Havisham. But have you seen the pictures of their Miss Havisham's yet?

Helena Bonham Carter

Gillian Anderson

I noticed that Helena Bonham Carter's Miss Havisham is wearing Georgian Fashions (notice the heavily trimmed sleeves), while Gillian Anderson's is wearing Regency fashions. If the story starts around 1812, Helena Bonham Carter's Miss Havisham will have fashions that are at least fifteen years old and Gillian Anderson's would have more current fashions for the time. Would Gillian Anderson's Miss Havisham be portrayed as being much younger than how some of us might picture Miss Havisham? Of course, I've never read Great Expectations, so I can't really say which is more accurate to the story.

I also heard that one of the versions will have a different ending than the book...

What do you think? Who do you think will be the better Miss Havisham?

God Bless,
 

Review: The Young Victoria

I've heard quite a bit about The Young Victoria around the blogging world. I kind of wanted to see it, but never bought the DVD or seen it on TV. When I came home one day, I saw that it was on one of the movie channels. I missed the first couple of minutes of it, but I got to see the rest of it.

DVD Box Art

Synopsis

The Young Victoria follows the life of Princess Victoria, who eventually becomes Queen Victoria, and how she met Prince Albert and fell in love with him. She became queen at age 18 and was seen by many as inexperienced and not ready for the job.


Characters
There are a couple of actors/actresses that you may recognize in The Young Victoria. Emily Blunt has recently come into the limelight, but also there is Rupert Friend (Pride and Prejudice 2005) as Prince Albert, Mark Strong (Emma 1997) was Sir John Conroy, Harriet Walter (Sense and Sensibility 1995, Little Dorrit 2008) was Queen Adelaide, and Morven Christie (Lost in Austen) was the servant Watson. The screenplay was written by Julian Fellowes, who also created Downton Abbey.

Overall, I thought the cast did a very good job. Emily Blunt I thought was a good Queen Victoria. I don't know very much about Victoria's life, but I found her likable in this movie. A little rebellious, but likable. I found that Emily Blunt acted well in her role, though there were a couple of spots where I thought she acted a little silly as a queen and for the time period, but overall she did a good job. I also enjoyed Rupert Friend's Price Albert, though I was a little skeptical of his German accent (something about it didn't seem perfectly right, but not bad).

I did have a hard time with remembering all the members of the royal family, but that could be due to my missing the first couple of minutes of the movie. When I rewatch this movie, I may have to pay closer attention to the characters with titles.


Scenery
A feast for the eyes! Between the gorgeous houses and the outdoor scenery, there cannot be want of pretty scenes. The colors are very lively and bright.


Costuming

Wow... This must be some of the best costuming I've seen. The dresses are very lively and bright (except for the mourning dresses, of course). There were a number of lovely dresses that Victoria wore. And the bonnets! A number of them had sheer fabric on them, which made them interesting. The dresses were from the 1830s and a little into the 1840s.


Overall: 4/5
Overall, I liked it. There were a couple of scenes that you may want to skip after Victoria and Albert get married (two or three scenes, but they are very close together), but other than that, I don't believe there was anything bad in there. There were two assassination attempts made on Queen Victoria, one which no one was hurt (though many were shocked) and the second where someone was injured, but nothing is shown. I think I would watch this again to pick up on some of the smaller details, though I've read that there are some historical inaccuracies, but that's not unusual for biopics.

The Young Victoria is available on DVD and Blu-Ray. It is rated PG and runs for 105 minutes.

Queen Victoria and Prince Albert

Review: Little Women (1994)

Little Women was one of those movies that I kind of wanted to watch, but didn't really want to buy the DVD. Luckily, it was on TV one day, solving my problem. I really didn't know much about the story of Little Women and had never read the book. So I was watching Little Women with very little knowledge of the story.

Box Art

Synopsis
Little Women revolves around the lives of four sisters, Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy March, and their mother, Mrs. March. Mr. March, Mrs. March's husband and Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy's father, is off fighting in the Civil War. Jo March, the main protagonist, becomes quick friends with Theodore "Laurie" Laurence who falls in love with her.


Characters
There are some members of the cast that are famous, though I really don't know many of them from period dramas. These actors/actresses include Winona Ryder (Jo March), Susan Sarandon (Mrs. March), Kirsten Dunst (young Amy March), and Christian Bale (Laurie).

Left to Right: Amy March, Jo March, Beth March, and Meg March

The March sisters were okay. Jo I had to get used to a little bit, but I grew to like her. Beth was sympathetic especially after she caught scarlet fever. Meg seemed alright, but I wanted to see more of her on the screen: I feel like I didn't get her whole character very much. But honestly, I did not like Amy March. I think it was because I only really saw her during the first half of the movie where she was young and selfish. She was there on screen a little bit as an adult, but I don't think that she was there enough for my opinion of her to improve.

There was something unsatisfactory about the ending. I didn't think that Laurie should have ended up with Amy. I also thought that Professor Bhear looked too old for Jo. I've heard that people wish that Laurie and Jo had gotten married, and I think I have to agree with them. I didn't hate Professor Bhear, but I still thought that he was too old for Jo. Plus, Laurie seemed to change after he went to France: suddenly, I couldn't trust his character very much. Oh well...


Scenery
There were some very nice colors used for the scenery. The part that sticks out in my mind was when Jo was in the forest picking flowers: everything looked so green and fresh! But in short, the scenery was very colorful and pleasant to look at.


Costuming

Jo and Professor Bhear

The story takes place in the 1860's (and maybe very early 1870's?). There is a wide range of costumes. The Marches, due to their poverty, have poor clothes and, for the most part, go without the crinoline most of the time. Jo does wear a crinoline and fashionable clothing for a coming-out party, but hated it, so that was the end of that. I say maybe 1870s because when Amy was in France, she was wearing a bustle, which didn't come into fashion until about 1869 and stayed in fashion until 1875. You also get to see what mourning fashion was like during the 1860s. Whatever the fashion used, everything looked very nice.


Overall: 3/5
I didn't hate it, but I didn't love it either. I liked it... kind of... I guess it was okay. I probably wouldn't watch it again on my own, but if someone wanted to see it, I wouldn't object to watching it again. There is a bit of nice scenery and the costumes are nice to look at. The plot and characters were just okay, though: not really in my top favorite plots and characters, but not in my bottom either.

Little Women is available on DVD. It is rated PG for two uses of mild language and runs for 115 minutes.

Review: A Doll's House (1973)

I had to read this play for school a couple of years ago. While I was reading it, it was tolerable, but then once I got to the end it was very disappointing. I happened to see that this was on Netflix's Instant Streaming, and, having nothing better to really watch at the moment, I thought I would try to watch this even though I was not fond of the play. I also happened to see that Anna Massey was in this movie, so I thought "maybe this will be interesting..."

Note: Unfortunately, I couldn't find screenshots of the movie. Sorry about that.

DVD Box Art

Synopsis
After years of being poor, Torvald and Nora Helmer finally have plenty of money to have a very nice Christmas. But when Torvald's coworker threatens to reveal that Nora forged her father's signiture on a loan to get money for a trip for Torvald's health, Nora tries to hide that fact from Torvald.

Characters
You might recognize a couple of characters in here. As Torvald, you will notice a young Anthony Hopkins. Claire Bloom (Nora) was also in The King's Speech as Queen Mary. And also, Anna Massey (Kristine Linde) was also in He Knew He Was Right as Miss/Aunt Stanbury.

I found both Torvald and Nora to be very irritating. Between his treating her like a child and the squirrel noises that she makes trying to be cute, they got very irritating quickly. Spoiler As I said in my introduction, I found the ending to be very disappointing. The ending was that Nora, after years of not being taken seriously by Torvald, leaves Torvald and her children. There are many people that applaud her decision, but I cannot. I found that what she did was very selfish: she abandoned her responsibilities, at the very least, to her children to find out who she is. And she also didn't even attempt to work things out with Torvald; she just left him. In this movie, they made it so that Torvald slapped Nora after he found out what she did, but I don't think he did in the play. But even still, she didn't even try to work it out her problems with him, which really bothers me. End of Spoiler

Anna Massey did a great job at acting. I didn't know she was in here when I started to watch the movie, but then I saw her name in the credits and recognized her name. She was probably one of the characters that didn't irritate me. She was level-headed, sensible, and wanted to be of some use after her husband died.

Scenery
The scenery was okay. The entire play is supposed to take place in one or two rooms, but they moved it around more in the movie (which would make sense: if someone wanted to talk to Krogstad, the antagonist, why would they go to the Helmer's residence?).

Costumes
The costuming wasn't the worst that I've seen. It was good overall, but I've seen better. The costumes were from (I would say) around 1875 - 1883, which in the time that the play was published.

Overall: 1/5
Well, I gave it a shot. I never really liked A Doll's House (In fact, I'm not fond of Henrik Ibsen), but I still thought I would give this movie a try. This movie just wasn't good. There is a scene that looks like it could get mature, but it doesn't. There is a little bit of swearing (Nora swearing just because she isn't allowed).

A Doll's House is available on DVD. It runs for 105 minutes and is rated G (though I would say it should be rated PG).

Review: Jane Eyre (1996)

I first read Jane Eyre for summer reading for school one year and this was the first adaptation that I watched (which we coincidentally watched in class). I'm going to warn you now: Jane Eyre is not my favorite book; it's not the most uplifting book that I have read, and, this will be a bit of a spoiler, but I'm not quite sure what Jane sees in Mr. Rochester. But I rewatched this adaptation, and here's what I thought.

Box Art

Synopsis

Young Jane Eyre was sent away from her cruel Aunt Reed to go to school at Lowood school. Ten years later, she gets a job as a governess at Thornfield Hall, which holds many secrets.

Characters

Fans of Persuasion (1995) will recognize Amanda Root as Miss Temple and Samuel West as St. John Rivers. Other than those two, I don't think that there were other actors/actresses that I recognized from other period dramas

Charlotte Gainsbourg's Jane I liked. She was a very pretty Jane, yet she was able to appear plain. She was also able to portray Jane's quiet nature well and with emotion. Overall, I'm satisfied with this Jane; I just don't have too much to say about her other than I liked this version of Jane.

Jane meets Mr. Rochester for the first time.

Overall, Mr. Rochester irritated me, but I think that can be applied to any adaptation I see of Jane Eyre. His character always annoyed me: he was, for lack of a better term, a really big jerk in my opinion and he also very seriously lied; I know there are a lot of fans of his out there, but keep in mind this is just my opinion. As far as accuracy to the novel goes, I don't think William Hurt's portrayal was as accurate as it could have been; he was missing something that was in the novel that just didn't get translated to the movie.

Scenery
The scenery is kind of dark most of the time. Or better yet, I should say that it's not as vibrant as other period dramas that I have seen. Lowood was very dark and dirty, which would be an accurate portrayal. Thornfield Hall itself is very dark, which would be fitting with the story. I didn't really care for the darker scenes, but it was fitting with the story.

Costumes

There isn't much to say about the costuming. On the richer characters, the costumes were nice and pretty, but they weren't there for too long. Jane had very few dresses since she is a plain and humble character. The only thing that bothered me was this: when Jane was an adult, the gowns looked like they were from the 1840's, but ten years ago in Jane's childhood, the costumes did not look like they were from the 1830's, but still the 1840's. That was probably the only thing that irked me about the costumes. Overall, they were good, I guess.

Helen Burns and Young Jane about to get their hair cut.

Music
Most of the music sounded very similar and didn't vary greatly. The music was very flowy and smooth. It had kind of a sad, beautiful tone to the music. It was nice music, but all the tracks seemed to be either the same song or very similar songs.

Overall: 2/5
This adaptation is not as accurate to the story as others, but it gets the overall point across. There were quite a few things changed from the novel, especially at the end. Jane Eyre isn't much of a favorite story with me, but this version is tolerable. I probably wouldn't rewatch it, but it wasn't as bad as some period dramas that I have seen.

Jane Eyre is available on DVD. It runs for 112 minutes.

Review: Alice in Wonderland (2010)

I really didn't have much of an interest in watching this movie, but one day my sister watched it on Netflix and said that I might enjoy the costumes. I was a little intrigued and decided to sit down and watch Alice in Wonderland.

Box Art

Synopsis
Nineteen year old Alice Kingsleigh goes to a party where she is proposed to in front of the whole party. She goes off and finds herself falling down a rabbit hole into Wonderland/Underland. Everyone there seems to know her name, but she has no recollection of Wonderland/Underland.

Characters
There are a couple of actors/actresses that you might recognize here. Johnny Depp was the Mad Hatter, Mia Wasikowska (Jane Eyre (2010)) was Alice, Helena Bonham Carter (The King's Speech) was the Red Queen, Anne Hathaway (Becoming Jane) was the White Queen, Stephen Fry was the Cheshire Cat, Alan Rickman (Sense and Sensibility) as the Blue Catepiller, Timothy Spall (The King's Speech) was Bayard the dog, Geraldine James (He Knew He Was Right) was Lady Ascot, Imelda Stauton (Sense and Sensibility) was one of the flowers, Christopher Lee (Lord of the Rings) was the Jabberwocky, and Jim Carter (Downton Abbey) was one of the Red Queen's subjects.

Johnny Depp (Right) as the Mad Hatter. Mia Wasikowska (Left)
as Alice.

Amazingly enough, Johnny Depp's Mad Hatter didn't irk me as much as I expected. I assumed that his Mad Hatter was going to be overly hyper and crazy, but it didn't get as crazy as it could have been, though I did find the dance that he did at the end to be a little too modern.

Is it just me or did the White Queen seem a little odd? Whenever she appeared on screen, it seemed like there was something wrong with her. She was a bit creepy but trying to hide that creepiness with this airy tone (if that makes sense), but she was still a bit creepy; even her body language was a little creepy. Since the White Queen is supposed to be good, Anne Hathaway should have took another look and reconsidered how to portray the White Queen because you get the sense that the White Queen might not be the good character that she appears to be.

Scenery
Three words: glum, grim, and grotesque...at least for about 95% of the movie. As many of you might know, I do not like dark settings in movies. The real world scenes, as few as there were, were much brighter and nicer to look at. I know the dark scenery in Wonderland/Underland was supposed to express that Wonderland/Underland was under the oppressive rule of the Red Queen, but it was a little too creepy.


Costumes

Alice, dressed in armor, about to do battle with the Jabberwocky.
The White Queen (Anne Hathaway) and the Mad Hatter
(Johnny Depp) stand behind her along with the White Queen's
followers.

I much preferred the real world costumes to the fantasy costumes. The fantasy costumes were mostly modern, but I wouldn't say they were terrible. My only concern was with Alice's dresses. When she arrives in Wonderland, she's wearing her real world dress; then she drinks the potion that makes her smaller and she gets a new dress; she eats the cake that makes her taller and she magically gets another new outfit; she goes back to being small and gets another new dress; but then when she meets the Mad Hatter and she drinks the "short" potion, suddenly she needs new clothes made for her, and anytime after that, a special point is made that she needs new clothes made for her. It seemed to be a problem with continuity and it is a small issue, but it still bothered me. I also thought that the Mad Hatter was too heavily made up. Other than that, the costuming was good.


Overall: 3/5
This was a weird version of Alice in Wonderland, but I wouldn't say that it was terrible. It is a little dark, which I don't particularly like, but it wasn't a bad movie. I probably wouldn't have much of an occasion to watch it, but if I was over at someone's house and they wanted to watch this movie, I wouldn't have many objections to it; I just probably wouldn't watch this again on my own. There is some violence and creepy parts however (and maybe some crude humor), so I wouldn't show this movie to a very young audience.

Alice in Wonderland is available on DVD and Blu-ray. It is 108 minutes long and is rated PG for fantasy action/violence involving scary images and situations, and for a smoking caterpillar.

Review: Great Expectations

Box Art

I've never read Great Expectations, but I was aware of it and knew it was a classic. I noticed this film in a store once, but I kind of glanced past it. After a while, I noticed this movie on Youtube, so I thought I would give it a try on Youtube and see if I liked it or not.

Synopsis
Young Pip is invited to the home of Miss Havisham to entertain her and Estella, a orphan that she raised after her fiancee abandoned her on her wedding day. Years later, Pip comes into a great fortune from an unknown benefactor that quickly changes his life.

Characters
I only recognized three members of the cast. Though I haven't yet seen Amazing Grace (but I really want to!), I knew of Ioan Gruffudd (though I never realized it, he was also in 102 Dalmations, which I loved to watch as a kid) and he was Pip in this version of Great Expectations. Justine Waddell from Wives and Daughters was also in this adaptation as Estella. The last actor that I recognized: I saw Jaggers come onto the screen and I thought "Where have I seen him before", and it dawned on me that he was in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace (though not my favorite Star Wars movie). Other than those three, I didn't recognize anyone else in this Great Expectations.

Miss Havisham (seated) with young Estella
and young Pip

The acting overall was good. However, this was one of those movies where you like a couple of character, and the rest you either don't like too much or they just irritate you. Characters like Joe and Herbert I found to be likable, and, at first, I found Pip likable. Pip kind of got on my nerves after he got money: I thought he started to spend money irresponsibly, but this was probably the angle that Dickens was going for to prove a point; maybe Pip was similar to Mr. Dorrit in Little Dorrit -- how Mr. Dorrit got his money and started to act like a jerk to everyone from his past, only in Little Dorrit, there wasn't much of a sign that he was running out of money while he was spending it while in Great Expectations there is talk of Pip running out of money. But back to my original point, before Pip became rich, he seemed a lot more likable. Other characters, like Miss Havisham, Estella, and Mrs. Joe, I couldn't like too much. Well, maybe I felt more sorry for Estella after she got married, but before that I really didn't like her. Miss Havisham seemed to be a little "off her rocker" (for lack of a better phrase), and Mrs. Joe seemed to treat young Pip unfairly all the time.

Scenery
Since the story isn't really a happy story, you won't find much bright, colorful scenery as you would in other period dramas. Most scenes have a grayish tinge to them and, for the second half of the movie, take place in the middle of London. There are some scenes in the country, but they aren't anything spectacular.

Costumes

Justine Waddell as Estella

The costumes were good! Estella's dresses were very lovely to look at; they seemed to dress her in a lot of red (at least to my memory). Miss Havisham had only one dress: a Regency era wedding dress. It would make sense for her to have Regency fashion: yes, she is wealthy, but she also hasn't left her home in a very long time and she is also older.

Music
There wasn't much music to speak of. If there was a soundtrack to this miniseries, it would be composed of probably only one song: a very eerie song that seemed to pop up every once in a while. 

Overall: 2/5
I found this Great Expectations to be only tolerable. Some of the costumes were okay to look at, but not much else recommended itself to me. While the acting was good, I found a lot of the characters to be dislikable or irritating. I'm not quite sure if this version is accurate to the original story (though, from what I read on a synopsis, the ending was different), so if anyone out there has read the novel and can compare it with this adaptation, I would be thankful. Honestly, I probably wouldn't watch this version again, but maybe if a new version of Great Expectations came out (which, from what I hear, there are two in the making), I might watch it.

Great Expectations is available on DVD. It is a two part movie that runs all together for 168 minutes.

Review: Little Dorrit

I'm a big fan of the 2008 miniseries of Little Dorrit, and I've read a little bit of the book (though a small part of it), but everything seemed to follow the story okay (maybe a couple of things left out or changed, but nothing too bad). I've heard of this version of Little Dorrit, but I didn't think too much of it, but I saw it on Netflix's instant streaming, so I thought that I would give it a try.

Synopsis

VHS Box Art

Synopsis from Little Dorrit (2008)
William Dorrit is imprisoned in the Marshalsea for debt. His daughter, Amy (also known as Little Dorrit), lives with him in prison and goes out to support him secretly because of his pride. Amy gets a job doing needlework for Mrs. Clennam whose husband and son are overseas in China. When Mrs. Clennam's son Arthur returns from China, he brings word that his father has died and that his dying wish was to correct a wrong. Arthur notices that Amy is working for his mother, and learns that her father is imprisoned in the Marshalsea for numerous debts. He suspects that his family might have something to do with this, and he tries to right the suspected wrong.

This miniseries is divided into two parts: the first part is Arthur Clennam's story, while part 2 is Amy Dorrit's story.


Characters/Presentation of Story
There were three members of the cast that I recognized: Sir Alec Guinness (easily recognizable from Star Wars Episodes 4-6) was William Dorrit; Derek Jacobi (The King's Speech) was Arthur Clennam; and Liz Smith (Lark Rise to Candleford) had a couple minute scene early in Part 2.

Derek Jacobi as Arthur Clennam

I had a lot of issues with this miniseries. First of all, I didn't like how they told about 95% of the story through Arthur's eyes, then part 2 comes and you have to rewatch the entire thing through Amy's eyes. I could understand why they did this if the book was actually like that, but it isn't. I've read about 200-250 pages of Little Dorrit (which I really enjoyed, but I fell away from reading it, so I'll have to start over one of these days... Oh well.), and the book goes back and forth between the different plotlines (for example, there will be a couple of chapters that focus on Arthur and then a couple that focus more on Amy). So the directors told the whole story (complete with spoilers and holes) and then go to Amy where you can tell what's going to happen next? It didn't seem to make much sense to me...

The next issue that I had was what they left out of this miniseries. In the book (and the 2008 miniseries), there are three main plots: Amy Dorrit and her life taking care of her family, Arthur Clennam and how he's trying to find out a family secret, and the escaped convict Rigaud (who does become a pretty big part of the story). They included the first two plots, but completely left out the third. Since that plotline that includes Rigaud becomes very important at the end of the book, they completely had to rework the ending... and not in a good way. The ending just turned out to be a big mess.

There were even subplots left out of the movie (which may be a little more forgivable since you can usually work the story around enough without changing the story and leaving less important parts out). I also didn't like that they mixed up the order of scenes. Like I've said before, I've only read 200-250 pages of Little Dorrit, but even with that little bit that I've read, I could already tell that scenes were mixed up.

If characters weren't left out, their part in the story was changed severely. The Meagles were only there briefly (and you get the impression that Arthur knew them for a really long time), you don't get to see Pet Meagles after she gets married, Daniel Doyce dies in the middle of the story (which wasn't necessary and another reason the ending had to be reworked) and Pancks's had a bigger role in the end than he should have.

I will say this, however. They did do a good job of making Maggy and Pancks look like their characters described in the book and Amy did look young. However, I thought that Derek Jacobi looked too old to be Arthur. In the book, Arthur is supposed to be about 40, but in this movie, he looked like he was in his fifties.


Scenery

The Marshalsea

The scenery was okay, but I thought that the Marshalsea was too bright for a prison. I know I usually like vivid scenery with lots of colors, but I don't think that it worked for the Marshalsea. I'm not saying to make it black and white, but tone down the colors a little: it is a prison after all. I will say that they did succeed in making the Marshalsea look cramped.


Costumes
The overall quality of the costumes wasn't too bad. They looked okay and seemed to be constructed properly. However, I think that these costumes are inaccurate to the time period. Little Dorrit takes place around 1826, which would be after the Regency Era and before the Romantic Era. From the looks of the costumes, it seemed like they were more from the 1840s and even 1850s: the way that the sleeves were, the poof of the skirt, and some of the necklines screamed 1840s or 1850s.

Sarah Pickering as Amy Dorrit

Music
I wasn't too impressed with the music score. When music did come on, it usually came on blaring and overly dramatic at times. It was also really difficult to hear some of the speaking parts, namely Amy, but other characters were really hard to hear too...

Overall: 1/5
Honestly, if you want to watch Little Dorrit and really enjoy it, watch the 2008 miniseries: the costuming was closer to the time period (although some seemed like they were from the 1830s, but it would be closer than the 1840s/1850s), the acting was so much better, and it was far, far more interesting. This miniseries is very dull (which it shouldn't be since the story itself is interesting) and even hard to hear (I know Amy is supposed to be quiet, but to the point that you can't hear her?). I will say that this miniseries doesn't include the questionable scenes that were in the 2008 miniseries (although those scenes can be skipped over fairly easily), so if you wanted to show a younger audience this Little Dorrit, there really shouldn't be a problem with questionable scenes: the hard part would be actually keeping the kids interested in this movie...

Little Dorrit is available on VHS or on Netflix instant streaming. It is rated G and runs for 357 minutes.

Review: A Christmas Carol

I'm going to say it: I'm not a Jim Carrey fan. I've never been much of a fan of his acting since it is usually always too wild for me. I reluctantly watched this version of A Christmas Carol knowing that Jim Carrey was going to voice many of the characters, but I thought I would give it a try since I heard that Colin Firth (Mr. Darcy in Pride and Prejudice) was in there and I wonder how he did in it.

Poster

Synopsis
It's Christmas time and everyone is in a great mood except for Ebenezer Scrooge, a stingy old man who does not like Christmas. On Christmas Eve, Scrooge is visited by the ghost of his former business partner who announces that Scrooge will be visited by three more ghosts.

Characters
There are a couple of famous actors in this film. Jim Carrey is a well-known actor, and he plays a good deal of the main characters. Colin Firth is also in here as Scrooge's nephew, Fred. Other well-known actors include Gary Oldman and Robin Wright (known for her role in The Princess Bride).

Getting a little too silly, aren't we Mr. Scrooge?

Jim Carrey was slightly tolerable as Scrooge at the beginning (but only slightly), but it didn't take too long before he started to get annoying. Many of his mannerisms were something that one would find in some sort of children's comedy and not something that should have been in A Christmas Carol. And I don't know why they had a five minute scene in which Scrooge was running all over London, getting smaller and smaller, voice getting higher and higher, and the whole thing becoming just about ridiculous. By the end of the movie, when Scrooge is overjoyed, you can tell right away that it's Jim Carrey and not the overjoyed Scrooge that should be in the movie.

Could they have made the ghosts any more grotesque? When I pictured Jacob Marley, I never pictured him as some sort of zombie ghost whose jaw started to dislocate itself towards the end of his visit. They also made the Ghost of Christmas Past a bit creepy towards the end of his visit too, and I didn't like the way that he was portrayed either: they made his head a giant candle flame? And what about towards the end of the Ghost of Christmas Present's visit: the boy and girl representing Ignorance and Want seemed a little more mature than what I've pictured. And the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come was more of a hooded shadowy figure and not... well, three dimensional like the other ghosts. And seriously, some of the characters (the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, Ignorance, and Want) looked more like they came out of The Lord of the Rings than out of A Christmas Carol.

Animation
I have this section in place of the scenery section since this is an animated movie. There seemed to be something quite odd about the animation the whole time. Scrooge looked too tall, too thin, and too lanky. Even if that was the angle they were trying to go for, he still looked unnaturally thin. Bob Cratchit also looked kind of odd. I think I also remember that the way the fabric on the clothes seemed to move very oddly.

Costuming

Belle's dress seemed to be accurate (not pictured here fully,
sorry), but Regency women did not wear their hair down.
In the background/middle, we have old Scrooge and the
Ghost of Christmas Past with a candle flame as a head...

This is going to be a little hard reviewing the costumes for an animated movie, since no one actually made the costumes but drew them, but I'm going to give it a try. Overall, the costuming didn't look too inaccurate for a good portion of the movie. My complaint lies in one of the flashbacks. At the Christmas party in Scrooge's past, there were Regency era costumes (which would be correct since at that time, Scrooge would have been a young man), but the Fezziwigs wore older Georgian clothes (which, since they were already an older couple in the Regency era, wouldn't be hard to believe). While Mr. and Mrs. Fezziwig were dancing (a dance which looked more modern than period: who ever heard of flips during a Regency dance?), you can briefly see that Mrs. Fezziwig was wearing drawers. Drawers were invented in 1806, but very few women wore them, and those few women were usually young. It would be very, very unlikely that Mrs. Fezziwig would be wearing drawers (she would probably be of the generation that thought they were hideous and wouldn't dream of wearing them). The other thing that I noticed was inaccurate was while young Scrooge was dancing with Belle (later his fiancee) at the party, her hair was half down. Regency women never wore their hair down like that in public, let alone at a ball. Only very young girls could get away with having their hair down, but never young ladies looking for a husband. And it seemed like she was the only one with her hair down. Other than that, I don't have any more complaints about the costuming.

Music
The music was actually nice. A lot of the songs were Christmas carols that were sung very nicely. I also recognized a dance song from Pride and Prejudice (1995). The music was probably one of the few things that partially saved this movie.

Overall: 1/5

Scrooge's nephew, Fred (Colin Firth) serving up Christmas
dinner.

Probably the only redeeming qualities of this film were the music (which was nice) and that Colin Firth was in the movie (though for too short a time). Other than those two aspects, the rest of the film was not good. Jim Carrey was just too wild towards the end, the animation wasn't all that great, and the costuming could have been better. I can't even say that if you have small children who might enjoy it watch it: there were scary scenes that might frighten small children; wait until they get older and they might not enjoy the film because Jim Carrey just doesn't fit the role(s) well or it gets too silly. If I were you, I would save my time and watch another version of A Christmas Carol (the Patrick Stewart version, which I've seen half of, seemed to be pretty good; my dad and my sister are fond of the Alastair Sim version, but I've never seen it); if you have young kids or siblings or relatives, the Muppet's Christmas Carol might be more worth watching than this version.

A Christmas Carol is available on DVD and Blu-ray. It runs for 96 minutes.

Review: Under the Greenwood Tree

I happened to be looking through Netflix to see what movies I could watch. It occurred to me that I have seen Under the Greenwood Tree mentioned on Old-Fashioned Charm. And (to my liking) I found that it was available on live streaming. So I watched it one evening.


Box Art


Synopsis
Miss Fancy Day, a young educated woman, comes to live in a village in order to care for her ailing father and becomes the teacher of the local school. Three men immediately fall in love with her and want to marry her: the rich Mr. Shiner, the poor, hard-working Dick Dewey, and the local vicar Mr. Maybold.

Characters
There are two members of the cast that I recognized. Keeley Hawes (Fancy Day) was Cynthia Kirkpatrick in Wives and Daughters (her character I found more likable in this movie), and Ben Miles (Mr. Maybold) was Sir Timothy Midwinter in the first season of Lark Rise to Candleford.

This story was a lighthearted story, so most of the plot didn't have anything too sad in it. Part of the story has to do with the church choir being replaced with a harmonia played by Fancy. This plot was funny and comical. It was one of the elements of the movie that really added a light tone to the entire story. I even found the romance of the story comical! The two characters Mr. Shiner and Mr. Maybold were so comical in their own way (Dick Dewey was the only one of the three that I took seriously Spoiler since it seemed like him and Fancy really loved each other, so I could tell they would end up together End of Spoiler).

Fancy Day in the front. In the background from left to right:
Mr. Shiner, Mr. Maybold, and Dick Dewey.

Scenery
A lot of shots were taken to a tree (hence why the title is Under the Greenwood Tree). I'm not quite sure what the significance is (if anybody would like to help me out on this, I would be grateful). But the colors are very nice and the scenery is very pleasant to look at.

Costumes
The movie take place in the 1840s, which would be before the crinoline (hoopskirt) was used. I really liked some of Fancy's dresses. The red ball gown that she had for the first party that she attended in the village was so cute!


Music

Fancy Day

The music can vary between the music played in the background, the music that is being played or sung by the characters, or the dance music. All of which are lovely! The music that is sung is mostly by the choir and includes Christmas carols and church music. The choir had a lovely sound to it! The music that was played by the instruments was also very nice, and the dance songs were good too!

Overall: 4/5
I really enjoyed this movie. It was light-hearted and entertaining, perfect for an evening at home. This isn't a story that would bring you down from a happy mood, but rather would make you feel better after a bad day. I was amused throughout the entire movie and I wouldn't be sorry to watch it again!

Under the Greenwood Tree is available on DVD and is about an hour and a half long.

Review: Lark Rise to Candleford - Series 4

Since I first saw Lark Rise to Candleford, I fell in love with it! It was good, fairly clean family fun. Though Series 1 is still my favorite season, I continued to enjoy Lark Rise to Candleford and was glad that a fourth season was coming. However, I was sadden by the fact that Season 4 was going to be the last season and that it was only going to be six episodes (Nooooo!). Although I thought the third season wasn't the best, I still want Lark Rise to Candleford to go on...

Note: There are going to be spoilers from previous seasons in this review. If you haven't seen Lark Rise to Candleford, you might want to take a look at the previous seasons. First -- Second -- Third

Box Art

Synopsis

When Gabriel Cochrane (Richard Harrington) loses his wife, home, and factory in the same year, he goes to Candleford to find justice for the wrong that he claims the bank did against him. When postmistress Dorcas Lane (Julia Sawalha) gives him a job at the forge, the two form a friendship.

Characters

The only major cast change from Series 3 to Series 4 is Robert Timmins (Brenden Coyle) -- he did not appear in Series 4, though he is mentioned often. In the show, we find out that he is working in Oxford and sending money home to his family while Emma takes care of the house and children; in real life, Brenden Coyle started acting in new series Downton Abbey and left Lark Rise to Candleford. But back to the show. As much as Robert was getting annoying (he always seemed to be arguing with someone at any opportunity), his presence was missed in Series 4.

Ruby Pratt briefly left Candleford in Series 3... and she came back in the first episode of Series 4. During the first couple of episodes, it seemed that any character development that they made for her vanished. She became very bitter since her romance from Series 3 broke apart. She does revert back to her more developed character in Episode 3, but for the first two episodes, it seemed like she hadn't changed from Series 1 (or even went backwards from Series 1).

Laura continued to get on my nerves. She just seemes to act more and more like a know-it-all. Back in Series 1, she seemed to be more innocent and naive which worked for her, but during the middle of Series 2, she wasn't naive anymore, but instead was a know-it-all.

In the last episode, Alf's mother, Caroline (Dawn French), comes back. I guess since she was gone for so long, I didn't really miss her too much. We all got used to the idea that she was in prison a lot, so when she came back, it was like "Okay, she's back. Whatever."

Gabriel Cochrane (Richard Harrington)

The addition of Gabriel Cochrane wasn't too bad. There's a lot of conflict between him and Dorcas, some of which would be something a married couple might fight over, Spoiler so it was kind of obvious that they would end up together. End of Spoiler Dorcas seemed to be trying to impress him in later episodes (like trying to buy more feminine clothing), which didn't really seem to match Dorcas's character from previous seasons.

Scenery
The scenery continues to be excellent! You do get to see a little more of the fields than you did in previous seasons, but overall the scenery didn't change very much.

Costumes


Minnie and Dorcas at a Church festival

Still lovely! Pretty much the same type of clothing as in previous seasons: late Victorian. Everyone's style still remained the same: Dorcas was professional looking, Ruby and Pearl wore the same thing as each other and had current fashions, Laura still dressed fairly young. Minnie is seen in other dresses other than her maid's outfit, but we started to see her in other dresses last season.

Overall: 4/5

Most of the episodes were good: the exception was the third episode (it wasn't good at all). The rest were okay. I'm still sad that it ended, but at the same time, any other seasons aren't going to be like what the first (or even second) season was. Overall, I really liked the series, and I would still recommend it to anyone.

Queenie and Alf

Spoiler The last episode made a really good attempt at tying everything up at the end. Margaret is finally going to have a baby, Dorcas and Gabriel fall in love with each other and (we can assume) might be engaged or very soon will be, Caroline Arless is determined to change her ways, Queenie forsees change in the future, and Minnie and Alf are engaged. My only question is what happens between Laura and Daniel: there was a little bit of a cliffhanger there. Last we see of them, Daniel tells Laura that he cannot publish her article because it's not her and that she needs to write about her surroundings like she always does. I was kind of hoping that they would get engaged or something. Oh well! End of Spoiler

Lark Rise to Candleford - Series 4 is available on DVD. It has six, one hour long episodes.

Review: Lark Rise to Candleford - Series 3

I love Lark Rise to Candleford! When I finished Series 2, I could not wait for the third series to come out. I was anxious to see what would happen since Series 2, since a lot of changes took place in the storyline.

Warning: this review contains spoilers! If you don't want to know what happens in this season until you've seen the others, you might want to skip over some parts of the review. If you are interested in Lark Rise to Candleford, you can find the review for Series 1 here. I also reviewed Series 2 here. I highly recommend this series!

Synopsis
Daniel Parish, a journalist, arrives in Candleford to inform Emma Timmins (Claudie Blakley) that she inherited a fortune from some relatives; meanwhile, Laura (Olivia Hallinan) takes a liking to Daniel since they share a love of writing. Thomas Brown and Margaret Ellison were married at the end of Series 2, and now they begin married life together. Dorcas (Julia Sawalha) adopts Sydney and strives to make him comfortable. At the stores, Ruby (Victoria Hamilton) and Pearl Pratt are keeping secrets from each other: Pearl hasn't told Ruby that their business is not doing well, and Ruby hasn't told Pearl that she has been writing letters to a man in Pontefract that she found in the personals section of the newspaper
Characters
Laura continues to get on my nerves a little more. It seemed kind of fake how in the first episode, she says that she wants to hate Daniel, but she can't, even though she would naturally be quite angry with him with what he did. I think that ever since Fisher came in Series 2, Laura has been getting increasingly annoying, which is sad because I really liked her character in Series 1. Oh well...

Laura Timmins (Olivia Hallinan) and Daniel Parish (Ben Aldridge).

Most of this season, I really disliked Daniel! I think it was around episode 8, 9, or 10 that I actually started to think he was tolerable. I guess I still thought that what he did in the first episode was really bad and it took me a while to, like I said, find him only tolerable. Spoiler However, when Fisher returns to Candleford to try to win Laura back, I thought that Laura should stay with Daniel (since I disliked Fisher from the start and never grew to like him). End of Spoiler

Sydney is a pleasant addition to the show... when he appears on screen. There are some episodes in which you wouldn't even know he was in the show, but he makes an addition to the episodes in which he does appear. Dorcas becomes his adoptive mother and their mother-son relationship develops throughout the season.

The relationship between Minnie and Alf begins to develop in Series 3, although a question remains: what happened to Nan from Series 2? Not that I liked Nan all that much, but it seemed that her and Alf could almost have been married, and then all of a sudden she is gone? She just disappeared in the third series. They should have written her out somehow. And Alf also got over her pretty quickly. Still, the Minnie/Alf relationship is a good plot line to have in the show.

In the middle of the series, Ruby leaves (NOOO!), so there is more time to develop Pearl's character. She becomes much softer towards the end of the series than she was at the beginning of the show. She even shows signs that she even cares for Laura towards the end.


Episode Plots
As the season goes on, the episodes do get better. The first couple of episodes I did not like, specifically episodes 1, 2, and 4. Episodes 5 and 6 weren't too bad. The rest from then on were good.

Episode 2 had a lot of superstitions in it, which is why I didn't like it too much. It seemed to revolve too much around the superstition. It seemed to be more fantasy than realistic in my view, and Lark Rise to Candleford is supposed to be about daily life in Victorian England.

A character from Series 1 comes back in Episode 7! Lady Adelaide, wife of Sir Timothy the squire, returns for one episode. I'm only sorry to say that Sir Timothy did not return; I would have liked to see how he behaved towards Dorcas since he left at the end of Series 1.

There are some episodes with scandals in them. While Episode 10 included a more serious scandal, other episodes such as episodes 6 and 8 had less serious scandals.

Scenery
Lark Rise to Candleford continues to have lovely scenery! Scenes still take place in Lark Rise (inside the hamlet houses and outside): in this season, we get to see more of the fields that many of the Lark Rise men work on. In Candleford, scenes still take place in the usual spots with an addition of the Brown's home, since they were married.


Pearl and Ruby hide secrets from each other in Series 3.

 Costuming

The costuming continues to be lovely! Everyone pretty much has their usual style of clothing. The exception would probably be Minnie. Before, we would only see her in her maid's uniform, but in this season, she begins to wear more of a variety of clothes, which are nice and very pretty.

Overall: 3.5/5
I still love Lark Rise to Candleford, but this season wasn't as good as the earlier ones (the first was the best). The first couple of episodes I didn't really like, but the rest of the episodes were good. There are some more double entendres than there were in previous seasons, but Lark Rise to Candleford still remains PG.

Lark Rise to Candleford: Series 3 is available on DVD. There are twelve episodes that are one hour long in this season.

Review: Middlemarch

Lastly in The George Eliot Collection, my mom and I watched Middlemarch (I will have reviewed all the movies in The George Eliot Collection except for one, Silas Marner). I never heard about it until I started watching period dramas.

Box art

Synopsis
There are two main storylines to Middlemarch. The first one is about a woman, Dorothea Brooke (Juliet Aubrey), who marries the middle-aged Casaubon. She wishes to help him with his research, but he gets irriated when she tries to help him. She meets Casaubon's young cousin, Will Ladislaw, and the two quickly become close. The second is about a doctor named Tertius Lydgate, who comes to Middlemarch. He soon afterwards, marries the beautiful Rosamond Vincy and then deals with financial problems.

Characters
Fans of Colin Firth (Pride and Prejudice) might be interested to know that his brother, Jonathan Firth, was in this movie. Other than that, there weren't any actors or actresses that I recognized.

I had a really hard time telling the characters apart for a good majority of the movie. Most of the men looked too much alike. This made it difficult to follow certain parts of the story. They should have dressed them differently from each other or give the characters different hair colors, something to tell them apart. It's wasier to tell woman characters apart, since they all wear their hair differently and dress differently. With the men, it was difficult, indeed!

Casaubon, Dorothea, and Landislaw.

Since the plot is divided into two storylines, it would be inevitable to compare them with each other. The whole storyline with Dorothea was a bit uninteresting: Spoilers she marries an older man hoping to help him on his research, but he doesn't want her to help him, she starts to love his cousin (who looked shifty, if you ask me), and then her husband dies and his will prevents her from marrying his cousin. End of Spoilers There really wasn't anything very interesting going on in that plot. It was all a bit dull.

The Lydgate story fared a little bit better than the Dorothea story. It was a little bit more interesting, but even throughout most of that story, it was one bad thing happening after another. If you're looking for something to cheer you up, this isn't the right storyline for you...

Scenery
Kind of disappointing. Usually for BBC miniseries, there is such lovely scenery and bright, beautiful colors. I don't know if they used an inferior camera or the technology wasn't great, but the colors did not look that good. There was also a brief screen or two towards the end where the picture was very poor, but after a few shots, it went back to normal. Scenes took place in Middlemarch and a couple in Rome, both inside and outside.

Costuming

Rosamond and Lydgate on their wedding day.

Nothing really spactacular as far as costuming was in this miniseries. Since Dorothea has a plain personality, she was dressed in very plain clothing. I will say that Rosamond had very pretty dresses; her dresses had a very nice color on them and they were in very pretty styles. Her dresses were probably the best throughout the entire miniseries.

Like I said before, they should have varied the men's costumes, since it was difficult to tell them apart.

Overall: 1/5
Not very good. The whole miniseries was dull, uninteresting, and hard to follow. I didn't like it very much. There was one adult scene, but it didn't last too long. It was hard to pay attention what was going on throughout the miniseries. I probably wouldn't watch it again. I know there are a lot of people who love this miniseries, but I did not like it. Although, Rosamond's costumes were very nice: if you are looking for costume ideas, you might want to take a look at her dresses.

Middlemarch is available on DVD through The George Eliot Collection or you can purchase it on it's own. It runs for 375 minutes. It has six episodes with varying lengths.

Review: The Buccaneers

My mom and I went to Borders one evening. We searched among the DVDs for some bargains, but couldn't find any until I saw a wall with a bunch of bargains. We looked at them and saw The Buccaneers, which we both heard about, but didn't know anything about, but for $15, we decided to try it.

Synopsis

Four "new money" American girls, Virginia St. George, Nan St. George (Carla Gugino), Conchita Closson, and Lizzy Elmsworth, cannot get into upper New York society until Nan's governess, Laura Testvalley, suggests that they try a season in England. The girls go over to England and find themselves husbands, however marriage to rich Englishmen is not what they expected. Nan makes the best marriage materially, but she becomes very unhappy and finds that she loves Guy Thwait (Greg Wise).

Characters

I really only recognized two of the cast. I recognized Carla Gugino (Nan) from Night at the Museum and Greg Wise (Guy Thwait) from both Sense and Sensibility and Cranford. The rest of the cast seemed to be new to me (although I thought the actor that played Lord Richard, who marries Conchita early in the miniseries, was Alan Rickman, but he just looked a lot like him).



The Buccaneers: Conchita, Lizzy,
Nan, and Virginia

For the first part of the movie, the girls act... well, like little girls. It seemed that all they do is run around outside and tumble down hills. If they wanted to show them having fun, they should have done so that was more becoming of adults, not three year olds. I suppose if they wanted to show them running around outside maybe once in a while, but it seemed like for the first half of the miniseries that was all they did. It was kind of hard to take them seriously.

It seemed like at the end, either no one got what they wanted, no one was happy, or someone was happy, but got this happiness through scandalous behavior. None of these characters were good role models, which, for me at least, makes it extremely difficult to relate to any of the characters and hence I have a hard time liking the movie. Even Miss Testvalley, who I liked at first because she seemed like she had a good head on her shoulders, started to make bad judgments and became less likable towards the end.

Scenery

As usual, BBC does a great job with picking great scenery. The story shifts between America and England. Both places have great houses, more so in England where all the aristocrats live. There is a brief outdoor scene by a house near the sea. The houses are very big and nicely furnished. The only problem I had was in one house, there was a room full of immodest paintings. I understand that a lot of paintings had that style, and it would be one thing if they were in the room and not focused on for too long, but there were multiple scenes where the pictures are viewed (and zoomed in upon and examined). I didn't particularly care for that at all. Excepting that one part, there is very lovely scenery in this miniseries.

Nan and Miss Testvalley

Costumes

Hit and miss. Sometimes, they did look nice, but there were other times that they did not look that great. This story takes place during the bustle era of the Victorian era (early 1870's). Some of the clothes that they picked for Nan did not flatter her at all; other times, she looked alright, but there were just some of those times where she was not flattered by her clothes. Whatever they were doing before when she looked alright, they should have done that throughout the miniseries.

Overall: 0.5/5
I will come out and say this bluntly: this movie is definately not for children. There are many adult topics discussed and there were some very mature scenes. From what I read, these added scenes were not in the original novel, which leads me to this question: "Why did they add them in the first place?" Those additional scenes, from what I have read, were why this film was controversial; I can see why. While some costumes were alright and the scenery did afford some nice color (hence why it didn't get a flat 0), they were not enough to save this film. The characters become increasingly dislikable as the series went on. I wouldn't really recommend this film.

The Buccaneers is available on DVD. It runs for 212 minutes.

Pictures from here.

Review: Wives and Daughters

I've heard about Wives and Daughters, but I didn't know anything about it other than it was written by Elizabeth Gaskell, who wrote Cranford. My mom bought the DVD and we watched it over a couple of weekends.

Box Art

Synopsis
Seventeen year old Molly Gibson's (Justine Waddell) life gets turned upside down when her father (Bill Paterson) remarries the selfish Hyacinth Clare Kirkpatrick (Francesca Annis), a widow. When Hyacinth's daughter, Cynthia (Keeley Hawes), comes to live with them, Molly forms a quick friendship with her; however, Cynthia harbors a secret that could ruin her reputation.

Characters
You will recognize a couple of actors and actresses in Wives and Daughters. Justine Waddell is, I believe, in a verision of Great Expectations (though I have never seen it). You will also find Michael Gambon (Emma and Cranford), Francesca Annis (Cranford), Barbara Flynn (The Barchester Chronicles, He Knew He Was Right, Cranford), Barbara Leigh-Hunt (Pride and Prejudice) among others.

Update 8/1/11: Maria Elisabeth from Miss Georgiana Darcy also noted that Rosamund Pike from Pride and Prejudice (2005) was also in here as Lady Harriet. Thanks Maria Elisabeth!

Molly (Justine Waddell) and
Cynthia (Keeley Hawes)

I absolutely found Hyacinth's character very irritating! She is oblivious, selfish, condescending, and incredibly silly. She was just very irritating to watch. Spoiler When Squire Hamley came to ask if Molly could visit the very ill Mrs. Hamley, Hyacinth says that she can't go because Molly has to accompany her somewhere! How absolutely selfish and uncaring! End of Spoiler I had to feel sorry that Molly has to deal with her condescension. I suppose her irritating character was intended, but still I had to feel embaressment for Molly.

It was interesting to see Molly's and Cynthia's friendship form, since they both have different personalities. Cynthia, since she is much more worldly than Molly, can be a little more outspoken, while Molly is a little more quiet (but she does voice her opinions when needed). I actually liked Molly better than Cynthia; there was something in Cynthia's attitude that I didn't like (whether she sounded too fake or something else). Molly seemed more genuine to me.


Scenery

Molly and her father (Bill Paterson) overlooking
the scenery.

You get some very nice scenery in Wives and Daughters. Most of the scenes take place in the English country side, but some scenes feature Africa. The colors are very nice and bold, and the houses are very pretty and nicely furnished. Overall, Wives and Daughters is very pretty to look at.

Costumes
The costumes were a hit and miss with me. Some of them I really liked, but others I hated. I'm not really a fan of big-sleeved fashions of the 1830's, which could have something to do with the fact that I didn't like some of the fashions.

Molly reading a book; I love this jumper/undershirt combo!

Probably it was Molly's wardrobe that I liked the best, though I didn't like all of her dresses. I particularly liked the blue jumper dress and under-shirt that she had on; it was so cute! I also liked the white dress that she wears at Hamley Hall; it almost reminded me of some of the Regency Era dresses that I've seen in other miniseries. Some of her other dresses, however, I disliked. There was the plaid dinner dress that she wore at Hamley Hall: wrong fabric or wrong pattern, but either way plaid did not work for that dress.



Molly and Lady Harriet (Rosamund Pike) going to Mr. Gibson and
Mrs. Kirkpatrick's wedding. Featuring one of Lady Harriet's hairstyles
throughout the miniseries.



I liked some of Lady Harriet's dresses. The dress that she wore for being an amateur bridesmaid was very pretty. I also thought that the outfit that she wore for riding was a good color. Throughout most of the miniseries, I liked the way that she arranged her hair. However, towards the end she had a very short haircut which I did not like at all. I thought that it was a little out of place for the period; it seemed too modern to me.



I did not like Hyacinth or Cynthia's wardrobe. Their dresses had the big sleeves that were fashionable at the time, so that could be why I don't particularly like their dresses since I don't care for dresses from that time period. I will say that Hyacinth's wardrobe fit her perfectly; it was outlandish.

I will say that the trims, fabric prints, and embroidery on all of the dresses were very lovely!


Music
The music shifts back and forth between very flowing, beautiful pieces to more serious pieces. The more serious pieces are usually played when Cynthia is involved in something. A couple of the dance numbers were very bouncy and fun, but others were more flowing and smooth. There are some nice music pieces in here.

Overall:  4/5
Overall, I enjoyed this miniseries. I didn't particularly care for some of the dresses, but there are a couple that caught my attention and that I liked. The acting was well done (though Hyacinth made me cringe). A good miniseries, in my opinion.

Wives and Daughters is available on DVD. It is divided into four episodes, each one hour long.