Mansfield Park (2007)

That was an excellent one.

Disappointment for a huge fan!

Crappy film

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

If you are a Janeite, as people who love all things Jane Austen, you are not gleeful about the latest adaptation of Mansfield Park. This latest BBC version of the classic seems to leave a sick feeling in ones stomach from the very beginning. Where does one begin? Characters: no character development whatsoever, wrong character traits in all of the characters and whole characters essential to the story left out. It seems that the writer just jumbled a few plot lines from the book and added a few of his or her own and moved the story along so quickly that no one had a chance to identify with the main character Fanny Price or any of the Bertram family for that matter. What or who brought the Crawfords into the neighborhood? Even these characters were shortchanged. Any hour and a half film would not do justice to any story but why with Masterpiece theater the main distributing network seek to put together a piece of shoddy work like this? They have done such mini series such as Downton Abby and other book adaptations so well that they have taken awards. Why slight poor Jane? or Fanny Price for that matter? It seems like they just decided one day to update the timeless stories written by the mistress of the 19th century novel and had a third grader write the screenplay. I have to say that the definitive Mansfield Park adaptation was done as a miniseries in the 80s. Fanny may have been a little stiff but she is by no means a hoyden or a perky girl with stringy hair worn down. Fanny never ran through a house in her life and would not be caught dead doing so, in fact, she was not a hardy strong girl at all although she did a lot of walking and was known to be a avid rider. There was nothing wrong with the casting. They only acted to the lines they were given so I do not fault them. I would like to give BBC a tip. When next considering adapting Jane Austen to the small screen, please use do use real authentic dialogue and real plot lines. Do not veer off and do your own thing. Those who watch are more knowledgeable that you and will catch you in your shoddy work and eviscerate you in it as seen in these previous reviews.

I have to confess that I have little experience with Jane Austen, or with period pieces. I only came to this film as it stars Billie Piper of Dr. Who fame.Of course, the costumes of the period show off Piper's assets, as well as everyone else.One thing I find fascinating is the constant focus on marriage. It seems that love hardly enters the picture. It is a competition to see what kind of a match (titles and/or money) can be made.I was beginning to despair that Edmund (Blake Ritson) would ever choose the right woman to marry, but he got his head right in the end.

Please...if anybody gets the chance to read this BEFORE watching the movie, if it can be called so, refrain from it... do not waste your time!!!! I too watched this film right after finishing the book, and was seriously disappointed... the main character is basically a new made up Fanny, for she shows NO resemblance whatso ever to the book...she's so lively and laughing all the time... if there was one thing the author wanted to set on this was that she was a very shy, introverted character.... please!!!!! All the most important parts of the story, which are supposed to convey to the heppy ending, are simply not taken into account...and the rest made up!!! I think one is better off using the time to either read a little bit of the actual novel or simply do nothing.

i thought this was a wonderful movie. i didn't try to over analyze it. there was a questioned asked, did Edmund love fanny really. my thought is that Jane Austin wrote of love and romance and the main characters always loved each other but took a trying time in finding it. the movie made me happy except Edmund may have been a little slow at realizing his love for fanny, i think Mary was the bright lights that attract and momentarily blurs vision but later love and intertwining souls is the making of a happy marriage. the two main characters Billie piper and Blake ritson where wonderful and i was glad that i watched and bought this movie,,they were sweet and tender and made you feel good for a change.