I had heard much about this movie, not very favourably mind you, but loving the book and enjoying several other versions especially David Lean's film, I finally thought let's give it a go. After watching, I wouldn't say it is a terrible movie, but of the versions seen(1948 film, 1968 musical, 1982 film, 2005 film, 2007 series, 1999 series and 1933 film) it is my least favourite. I do give it credit for the production values, which do look lovely and evocative(mostly, some scenes are a little too clean though), the good soundtrack, the professional direction a suitably innocent Alex Trench as Oliver and Richard Dreyfuss as a delightful Fagin. Elijah Wood also had a real sense of cunning and charisma as Artful Dodger but his inconsistent accent, coming across sometimes as Australian to me, let him down. On the other hand, the script feels rather corny and misses on some of the more important underlying themes of the story like the poverty and child abuse. The story does maintain most of the details of the book, like the scene with Oliver's mother at the start and I did like that Widow Corney's role is expanded, but the basic tone like the sub-plot with the locket feels very sugar-coated, with some brutal scenes of the book like Fagin manipulating Bill into killing Nancy and Nancy's death lacking their power, in fact Nancy's death here is only implied. I'd say the same for the characters, Mr Bumble is only seen in one scene, Bill Sikes looks too clean and I imagined a more burly figure, Fagin though wonderfully played is not quite oily enough and Nancy is too much of the hooker-with-a-heart-of-gold cliché with not enough vulnerability. The rest of the performances are decent enough, Antoine Byrne does look lovely and does do well with what the role gives her to work with, but again more vulnerability wouldn't have gone amiss. David O'Hara overall I found too restrained for Bill Sikes, never really convincing as a violent bully. All in all, not a disaster but rather disappointing all the same. 5/10 Bethany Cox
Review of Oliver Twist
