Everything Austen: Emma (movie) (mini-review)

I recently watched the 1996 movie version of Jane Austen’s Emma, featuring Gwynneth Paltrow.

I had three reasons for doing this now.  This first is that I like the book and this movie, and it sounded like a fun way to spend the evening.   The second was curiosity as to whether my 11 year old daughter would enjoy it. The third was to fill this month’s Everything Austen challenge slot.

I’d seen this movie several times before, and I knew I like it. I settled right into watching it, and frankly, I didn’t feel like being critical (hence the mini-review).

I find this movie true to the spirit of the book.  It makes changes as necessary to translate into a decent movie.  I like all of the casting, from Mr. Knightly (yum), to Mr. Woodhouse and Miss Bates (very funny) to Emma herself– far from perfect, but just appealing enough to have me rooting for her.

My daughter attempted to watch the 1970s BBC production with me, but just couldn’t quite hang in there.  She did stick around for all 2 hours of this one, losing track of the characters at times.  I don’t think it is going to become a favorite any time soon, but she’s still interested in watching Sense and Sensibility and maybe in reading one of the books.  I don’t see a hurry on those, but I certainly won’t stop her.

Me?  I’ve heard good things about the more recent BBC production, and so I may add a 3rd movie version of Emma to my challenge list. 🙂

I’ve now completed 3 of the 6 things I need to complete the Everything Austen challenge at Stephanie’s Written Word.    The deadline is the end of the year, so I’m still on track.  There are so many books I’d like to read and movies I’d like to watch, I may keep this as a regular event– one Austen a month!