Pride & Prejudice 2005

Connie Ogle, Miami Herald: This Pride & Prejudice isn't minutely faithful to the book -- and for good reason -- but it is authentic where it counts: to the confused, wounded, eager hearts of its lovers. Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: Pride & Prejudice satisfies as dreamy romance. It's not the razor-sharp satire that Austen can be, but it's lovely entertainment. Read more

Kyle Smith, New York Post: Listen up, guys, have I got a flick for you: It's all about money, sex and slammin' babes in saucy-wench get-ups, and it goes down in the same country that gave us Led Zeppelin and the Clash. Read more

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: It's an exuberant film adaptation of real personality -- lively, coltish, imaginatively conceived for a fluid camera. Read more

Andrew Sarris, New York Observer: Dare I say that even Jane Austen herself would have delighted in the final triumph of Ms. Knightley's quick-witted Elizabeth in this film? Yes, I do, and all the highbrow and middlebrow cinephobes of the world be damned. Read more

Ruthe Stein, San Francisco Chronicle: For the uninitiated, I can't imagine a better introduction to this classic. Read more

Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper: I just feel like I've seen this so many times. Read more

Eleanor Ringel Gillespie, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Knightley brings Austen's book to glorious, pulsating life. Read more

Keith Phipps, AV Club: Wright wastes no time in squeezing the plot into his just-over-two hours running time, but the film never feels rushed, particularly when so much of it is spent watching and waiting, as the characters come to understand the world they live in. Read more

Kerry Lengel, Arizona Republic: If the filmmaking is somewhat less perfect than in Ang Lee's Sense and Sensibility, Austen fans will nonetheless delight to see their favorite characters brought to life. Read more

Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: The spirit of this version feels fresher and more youthful than previous editions. Read more

Carina Chocano, Los Angeles Times: A joy from start to finish. If this one doesn't inspire a rush on bookstores, nothing will. Read more

Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader: It's a fitfully engaging romance, it's just not Pride and Prejudice. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: If young audiences respond to it at all -- as I am sure they will -- it will be because Wright has brought out the vigor in Austen's romance in a way that the other adaptations I've seen never quite accomplished. Read more

Michael Booth, Denver Post: Knightley is the best thing about this enjoyable adaptation, immediately owning the wardrobe and the words and the weather as if she were born to the manner -- and manor. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: A movie in which the search for love all but pulses with the excitement of uncertainty. Read more

Philip Wuntch, Dallas Morning News: Joe Wright, in his feature-length directorial debut, accommodates the genteel gauze without neglecting the well-aimed stings. Read more

Ella Taylor, L.A. Weekly: So why, in no less than five miniseries and two official film adaptations of Pride and Prejudice, have we yet to encounter a satisfying screen Lizzie? Read more

Gene Seymour, Newsday: Director Joe Wright, working from a screenplay by Deborah Moggach, has brought both romantic sweep and rich verisimilitude to Austen's story. Read more

Ken Tucker, New York Magazine/Vulture: Keira's cat-smile suggests such supernal all-knowingness that, with Austen's adapted dialogue (via Deborah Moggach) tripping off her tongue, she comes off as an eighteenth-century Maureen Dowd. Read more

Lisa Rose, Newark Star-Ledger: The film is faithful to its source material, but not in a rigid, stodgy way. It's the rare adaptation that should please purists and dilettantes alike. Read more

Jami Bernard, New York Daily News: Seeing the splendid new version of Pride & Prejudice can be hazardous to your health: There's a very real danger of swooning. Read more

Stephen Holden, New York Times: A sumptuous screen adaptation of Jane Austen's 1813 novel that gathers you up on its white horse and gallops off into the sunset. Read more

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: This is a playful Pride, cuddly and cute and all lush English pastures, stunning sunsets and regal manor homes. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: Of Austen's novels, none is more beloved than this one, so it's good to see it once again brought to the screen with the pride which it deserves. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: One of the most delightful and heartwarming adaptations made from Austen or anybody else. Read more

Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com: As historically authentic-looking as Pride & Prejudice is, it has far more invested in emotional authenticity -- you feel engaged every moment. Read more

David Edelstein, Slate: A joy to behold. Read more

Jeff Strickler, Minneapolis Star Tribune: Pride & Prejudice is highbrow movie- making, in the finest sense of the term. Read more

Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail: It's really in the second hour that P&P heads off in an unpersuasive melodramatic direction, signalled by a sudden overdose of piano arpeggios. Read more

Susan Walker, Toronto Star: Like the classic novel itself, the movie brings a certain sadness when the end has come and there is no more to watch. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: A stellar adaptation, bewitching the viewer completely and incandescently with an exquisite blend of emotion and wit. Read more

Derek Elley, Variety: Anyone coming to the movie fresh and not demanding a chapter-by-chapter adaptation will respond to the pic's emotional sweep, sumptuous lensing and marvelous sense of ensemble. Read more

Jessica Winter, Village Voice: Director Joe Wright also coordinates a delightfully cohesive acting ensemble. Read more

Stephen Hunter, Washington Post: Wright's Pride is a boisterous, loud, dance-mad kind of place, full of ruddy-faced peasants, dirt and hay. The whole thing feels like it was art-directed by Bruegel on holiday. Read more