Emma

2009
8.1| 0h30m| en| More Info
Released: 04 October 2009 Ended
Producted By: BBC Drama Productions
Country: United Kingdom
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00n8s6x
Synopsis

Nothing delights Emma more than meddling in the love lives of others. But when she takes protege Harriet Smith under her wing, her plans can only end in disaster...

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thorinoakenshield1997 This is my favorite adaption of Emma (and trust me, I've seen them all)! I love the soundtrack, the scenery, and the characters.This miniseries is also family friendly (which is nice), so don't hesitate to watch it with your kids if they're interested. I watched it again with my thirteen year old sister (who claims she hates period dramas) and she sat through the whole thing and awkwardly admitted she liked it at the end. I found this adaption stayed true enough to Jane Austen's book to satisfy. There might have been a few minor tweaks, but nothing major that could ruin it.Mr. Woodhouse is hilarious without trying to be, and just like Mrs. Bennet from the 1995 version of Pride and Prejudice, I don't think anyone could out do his performance.Emma is meddlesome, spoiled, rich, and pretty. But the strange thing is, you can't help but love her! I found this Emma to be more spirited than the (what I thought) dull Gwyneth Paltrov. She laughs, smiles, and is a believable twenty-one year old girl. She's a matchmaker out of habit, and gets in all sorts of trouble because of it.Now onto Mr. Knightley! He's extremely sweet, and I love him for it. He is supposed to be sixteen years older than Emma, and in all fairness the actor doesn't look much older than she does; But I thought his manner was very mature in contrast to hers, so I thought it worked out really well.Overall I loved this miniseries, and I'm always up to rewatching it! If you like period dramas, Jane Austen, or happy endings, definitely give Emma a go! You won't regret it. :)
jjnxn-1 Richly produced, endearing version of the Jane Austen classic, Romola is spirited and charming in the title role with Jonny Lee Miller a most desirable and solid Mr. Knightley. While it is a fine rendering the excellent Gwyneth Paltrow version cast a shadow over this if you've seen it. Again the leads are very good and although different are a fine match who inhabit the characters fully. Where this version falls short is the supporting cast, they are professional but don't really stand out as Polly Walker, Toni Collette and Ewan MacGregor did in the 1996 film. The one who comes closest is Jodhi May as Mrs. Weston but still Greta Scacchi had a knowing stillness that is missing. The one who is really missed is the matchless Sophie Thompson who was a brilliant Miss Bates, it would be impossible to improve on her classic performance and the actress who essays the role here doesn't try, giving a much more recessive interpretation which while good is rather colorless. Taken on it's own though without comparisons to the other version this is a very solid BBC offering.
admatha r My first introduction to Jane Austen was BBC's wonderful Pride & Prejudice - so how excited was I to get my hands on this one? Not very, once I started watching it. After I'd watched P&P I went out and bought the book, immediately, and read and reread it. And then I rewatched the show and was delighted at how faithful it stayed to the book, and how well cast every single person in it was.Since then P&P and Emma have remained my two absolute favorite Austens. Let me begin by saying that I know that people say that books don't work as movies, but I'm sorry, I think movies like P&P disprove that. So when I say that they took the book Emma and decided that Austen just wasn't 'snappy' enough for the screen so they'd just take the liberty of changing a whole bunch of dialogue... I hope you understand just how much I take that as an indication that they should never have been allowed to make the book into a movie in the first place. For the length this goes on, there is no excuse for it not to have been a highly faithful and well performed adaptation. Instead it is bits and bites of Austen with plenty of "well we'll just make this better for TV" dialogue smothering those bits and bites. Jane Austen's dialogue is what *makes* her stories. She was an incredible writer, and to have the guts of Emma torn out and replaced with someone else's writing is like saying "well we're going to be displaying the Mona Lisa next week, but first we're going to paint over it, maybe add some eyebrows and a real smile, you know?"I managed to sit through the whole thing in the hopes I'd finally hit the point where Emma becomes charming, and Mr. Knightley becomes dashing, and Mr. Woodhouse becomes a dear (and lord, what an utter *waste* of getting Michael Gambon of all people to be in your movie!), and Frank Churchhill to become irresistibly casually flirtatious - but the characters were all ... very ... boring. There were a few tantalizing bits where I thought at least the Jane/Emma final scenes might be worth it but they were over almost as fast as they'd begun.Honestly, this is only the second version of Emma I've ever seen. And since the first was the Gwyneth Paltrow version, I had absolutely no doubts that this version, longer *and* made by the BBC would blow it out of the water. But you know what? I think the Paltrow version actually had better casting, and kept *more* of Austen's dialogue in than this one. Badly done, BBC. Badly done.
nechievelasco This is such a fun, refreshing mini-series. Wonderfully cast -- you can see the chemistry between Romola Garai and Jonny Lee Miller. The banter is very enjoyable! I found myself smiling all throughout the series and laughing at the wit of the characters.The first time I watched this, I found myself glued for four hours. I watched it a second time, and had a better appreciation of the story. I was still laughing at the lines and the wit! JLM is perfect as Mr. Knightley, he is funny in the sarcastic moments and yet can make ladies swoon during the moments when he shows such gentlemanly behaviors.I guess the only drawback I had here was that Isabella Knightly looked older than Anne Weston. I think Mrs Weston should have looked older since she was their governess. Also, George Knightly looked younger than John Knightly, but he is obviously the older brother because he was master of Donwell Abbey. Other than that, everything was just right.