n my opinion it was a great movie with some interesting elements, even though having some plot holes and the ending probably was just too messy and crammed together, but still fun to watch and not your casual movie that is similar to all other ones.

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

I've seen a few versions of the classic story, based on the famous novel of Charles Dickens, including David Lean's 1946 version with John Mills and the 2011 three-part TV show with Gillian Anderson, I hoped this one would be alright, directed by Mike Newell (Four Weddings and a Funeral, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire). Basically on Christmas Eve, Young Pip (Toby Irvine, Jeremy's brother) encounters an escaped convict (Ralph Fiennes), he assists him escaping with blacksmith tools and steals him a pie and brandy, until he and another escaped criminal are arrested. A year or two later, wealthy spinster Miss Havisham (Helena Bonham Carter), who is reclusive living in the dilapidated Satis House and still wears her old wedding dress, is visited by Pip, he falls in love with her adopted daughter Estella (Helena Barlow). Pip becomes an apprentice blacksmith, helping Joe Gargery (Jason Flemyng), the kind husband of Pip's older sister (Sally Hawkins), four years into his apprenticeship, grown up Pip (War Horse's Jeremy Irvine) is told by lawyer Mr. Jaggers (Robbie Coltrane) that an anonymous benefactor has paid for him to become a gentleman of great expectations, Pip is convinced it is Miss Havisham. Jaggers looks after Pip's money until he is older, Pip is sent to London, where he is reacquainted with Herbert Pocket (Olly Alexander), who also used to entertain for Miss Havisham, he schools Pip to learn the ways of a gentleman, until Pip is eventually reunited with Estella (Holliday Grainger). Pip is still in love with her, but she professes that she cannot feel love herself, and meanwhile Pip finds out the true identity of his benefactor, it is the convict he helped out, his name is Magwitch. Pip confronts Miss Havisham, she knows nothing about Estella's true parentage, she asks for his forgiveness for her manipulation of him, before he leaves Miss Havisham accidentally sets her dress on fire, she dies from her injuries. There is also some stuff about Pip trying to help Magwitch escape, but he is arrested and taken to prison hospital, Joe pays off Pip's debts, and following a trip to Egypt Pip returns in eleven years to see Estella, she seems to have opened her heart. Also starring David Walliams as Mr. Pumblechook, EastEnders' Tamzin Outhwaite as Molly, Trainspotting's Ewen Bremner as Wemmick, Jessie Cave as Biddy, Bebe Cave as Young Biddy and Ben Lloyd-Hughes as Bentley Drummle. The casting, Fiennes as the criminal turned father figure, and Bonham Carter as the freaky woman severely bitter being dumped at her wedding, is fine, but Irvine is perhaps too vulnerable, and overshadowed by the supporting cast members. To be honest, I have never understood the whole of the Dickensian story properly, in any of the adaptations, I just know the obvious parts, this film was the book in its entirety, but unfortunately it does not grip you, it feels too moody and everything falls flat, I was bored throughout most of it to be honest, a rather dull period drama. It was nominated the BAFTA for Best Costume Design. Adequate!

Apart from Jason Flemyng, who's doing a marvelous job, as always, and Ewen Bremner, who is descent as Wemmick, mostly terrible casting choices and poor portray of the characters. Helena Bonham Carter as Miss Havisham? Please...Not to mention the poor, rushed script, which lacks crucial parts of the story (such as the odd man in the pub who gave Pip the two pound notes), It feels like Newell is trying too hard to make of the film to be too many things it's not, and was never meant to be (such as a love story). This movie was like Pip's great expectations - it came with high hopes, but unfolded into nothing.

Far from a terrible film but rather disappointing too, seeing as this did have a lot going for it. Plus the trailer actually looked really good. There are certainly some good things, even when a film or series doesn't quite work there are not many times where there is nothing redeeming about it. This Great Expectations does have a fair few merits and the best of these merits actually come off quite well. The costumes and sets are both beautiful and evocative, and the reuniting of Pip and Estella has some very clever lighting, there is great atmosphere and poetry in this moment. The music is haunting, is fitting for the tone of the film and doesn't overbear things too much. The opening scene is very atmospherically effective also, though the adaptation that did this scene best and quite possibly without equal is David Lean's.And while the acting is inconsistent, there are some very good performances, and actually most of the performances fall into the very good category. The star was Ralph Fiennes, his Magwitch was both creepy and tragic, in the earlier scenes Fiennes is chilling but later on he is very likable and you feel pity for the character. Helena Bonham Carter really gives her all to Miss Havisham, wonderfully bitter and dramatic, if physically a little too on the voluptuous side for a character that is described the complete opposite in the book. Jason Flemying is an excellent and dignified Joe, Robbie Coltrane is firm and somewhat larger than life as Jaggers and Olly Alexander's Herbert Pocket is eccentric and quaint as well as earnest and upbeat, a very engaging performance of a potentially dull character.Jeremy Irvine looks the part for Pip but his acting style came across as too overwrought and too innocent, while Holly Grainger looks radiant but not cold enough for Estella. They are marginally better than the miscast leads in the respectable but flawed 2011 BBC adaptation, but only just. David Walliams mugs his way through the role of Uncle Pumblechook and painfully so, it may work for Little Britain but it is completely wrong here. Toby Irvine and Helena Barlow are very competent and work well together, if lacking that extra spark to make them truly memorable, Barlow also could have a little more spiteful.Aside from these problematic casting choices there are other reasons why this adaptation of Great Expectations fell short. It is a very difficult story to adapt, Dickens generally is difficult to adapt, but the story is not very engaging here, though there are some bright spots like the opening scene. The pacing can get tedious while some of the details are rushed through and under-explained, the Pip, Estella and Miss Havisham scenes veer towards the absurd rather than the tense and the scenes between Irvine and Holliday don't have that much pulse. The ending is also very badly bungled.The script can get rather trite and wordy with some awkward tonal shifts. And while the period detail is great and there are moments where the lighting is clever, the way the film looks is rather too grim, too much of the Harry Potter and Tim-Burton-at-his-most-Gothic vibe. Mike Newell does deserve some credit for bringing out the story's dark approach but too often it is too emphasised so the film generally lacks life, and consequently the dark obsession that is at the heart of this great story comes across as rather flat. Overall, a long way from bad but not as great as it could have been, personally this was a mixed feelings sort of reaction towards the film. 5/10 Bethany Cox

I don't have too much to say about this movie, either you are already familiar with the book and famous story and therefore don't need me to recap any of it for you, or you aren't and anything I say will just ruin the plot for you! The acting in the movie is better than I expected, I've always been a fan of Helena Bonham Carter (usually her Tim Burton movies) but I wasn't sure she was right for this role. She did a great job though. Overall it's just a bit disappointing. The movie as a whole is not as good as all of the different parts added up should be. The director's not bad but I guess it's a case of something that had pardon the pun "great expectations" that are so high it's impossible to meet them.