"Pride and Prejudice"

My lovely bride and I went to see the movie "Pride and Prejudice" last evening. This was the one produced only recently and starring Keira Knightly as Elizabeth Bennett. It was a perfectly good movie with one exception: I could not stop comparing it to the 1995 production with Colin Firth.

I read a review of the 2005 version of this movie, and the reviewer's main point was summarized as "Good, but what was the point?" He likened it to remaking "Casablanca" or "The Godfather." The 1995 version set the standard; a standard which can't, in my estimation, be topped. So, as the reviewer wrote, "why bother?"

But that's not to say the movie was without its merits. The casting of Donald Sutherland as the elder Mr. Bennett was wonderful. Sutherland is a fine actor, and has grizzled features that made him particularly suited for this role. And this version of the movie smoothed out some of the language with modern phrasing, making it a touch easier to understand the meaning of some exchanges.

It's hard for me to be fair with anything that must be compared to the 1995 "Pride and Prejudice," since I'm such a fan of it. I own the DVD and have watched it several times. The buildup to the proposal from Darcy to Elizabeth, and her subsequent acceptance, was exquisitely done. And the manner in which the underlying honor of Darcy consumes his earlier stubborn pride was handled wonderfully.

I am, at my core, a romantic, I think. :-)