THIS MOVIE SUCKS!
Why did I do this, I hear you ask? (Or am I hearing voices in my head again) Because I can. It's also sort of related and if anybody likes the original Great Expectations I'd like to warn them of this sucky movie because it's nothing at all like the book.
Plus, critizing a movie I've never seen makes me seem like a bastard. Critizing a movie I have seem makes me a tough critic. I'd prefer to be the latter.
Okay. This is why I hate it.
1. They changed almost all of the names Here are all the different ones.
Pip = Finnegan (Finn) (Why did they change it? To make it more modern. I don't know anyone named Finnegan. Not very modern by my standards.)
Joe = Uncle Joe (Okay, I can live with that)
Mrs. Joe = Maggie (Alright, this one's okay)
Miss Havishim = Miss Dinsmoor (Why the hell did you want to do that?)
Abel Magwitch = Arthur Lustig (Stupid name. He sounds like a pug dog)
Bently Drummle = Walter Plane
Mr. Jaggers = Mr. Argos
2. NOBODY was in character This isn't the actor's fault either, it's the writer's. I can tell.
A. Finn- If this is Pip, I'm the Princess of France. He's nothing like him. He's not even sensitive.
B. Estella- Heh, yeah right. The day Estella strips for Pip is the day that Cartman gives up Cheesy Poofs. She hardly acted like Estella at all. And all of those sex scenes between Finn and Estella made me wanna puke.
C. Miss Dinsmoor- Miss Havishim was a embittered, sad, evil old lady who was a bit on the crazy side, but she was also a sort of tragic figure. Miss Dinsmoor erased almost all of that tragedy and was transformed into the steryotypical crazy woman. She dances everywhere, wears way too much makeup, and, of course, has a cat which pees all over the place.
D. Maggie- Maggie was nothing like Mrs. Joe. Maggie was a nice person but she was a chain smoker. She didn't even die. She just left the family.
E. Joe- I don't know if he was the modern version of Joe or not. The Joe I remember was a sweet and kind man, this guy came off as white trailer trash who reeks of booze.
F. Arthur Lustig- Probably the only one who was like the real character. But when he came back it was only for a few minutes and he gets killed in a ridiculous farce instead of learning that his daughter was alive before he died and that was what made the death tragic. In this story, he wasn't related to Estella.
G. Walter Plane- You gotta be kidding me! This wasn't Drummle, just some normal joe who took his place. GET THE HELL OFF THE MOVIE SCREEN!
To add insult to injury. They cut out many characters too. Orlick wasn't in it, which took out the book's horror. Biddy wasn't in it either (Joe does get married to some Spanish woman), so now there really aren't any nice females in the book. Wemmick wasn't in it, so that lost all of the little funny scenes with his fiancee and his Aged Parent.
The thing that really pissed me off is that they left out Herbert Pocket Jr. HOW COULD THEY!? Herbert is one of the best characters because he has a heart of pure gold. He's really nice to Pip, and in the other movie version I saw (it was made in the 1970's. It's not the classic 1946 version, but good enough for me) the actor who played him had such a cute way of bringing out the character that it was impossible not to love the guy.
Basically, this is my sum up: Don't mess with classics. What they did here is that they told the story in a modern world, trying to make it a good one, but they failed. They left out any character which gave off a set emotion. Like Orlick, who always gave worry. Magwitch/Lustig also doesn't appear until the end of the movie. In the book, he appears at different times, when you least expect him. Herbert also gave off a friendly aura. The other thing, is that Great Expectations, is really a story about a young man who tries to become rich, and when he does, he abandones those who really love him (Joe, Biddy, etc.). IT IS NOT A LOVE STORY! (yes, I know "Ice Queen of England" was a love story. It was supposed to be. GE isn't.)
The last thing I hated was that there was so much green in the movie. While watching it, I was thinking. "Man, what I'd do for some serious red right now."
I suppose you wanna go back now, eh?