Great Expectations

Columbia TriStar Egmont Film Distributors | Release Date: January 30, 1998

CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION

55	METASCORE Mixed or average reviews based on 24 Critic Reviews

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Critic Reviews

Critic score Publication By date

Russell Smith

Though Cuaron slips a time or two during his stylistic highwire act, his refreshingly original movie, aided by Hawke's career-best acting in the lead role, is a joy to watch. Read full review

Jonathan Rosenbaum

A horrendous effort all around. Read full review

Roger Ebert

Begins as a great movie (I was spellbound by the first 30 minutes) but ends as only a good one, and I think that's because the screenplay, by Mitch Glazer, too closely follows the romantic line. Read full review

David Sterritt

The stars are appealing and the filmmaking is imaginative at times, but the picture never builds much dramatic momentum.

Dallas ObserverPeter Rainer

Cuaron is a special talent, and, as botched as Great Expectations often is, it's the kind of failure that deserves an audience--if only to experience Cuaron's way of seeing, which is at its best in the early parts of this film. Read full review

EmpireAngie Errigo

This plays like a collection of translated, stylised scenes rather than a seamless narrative that arouses one's sympathy with Finn or forbearance for Estella. File under well-meaning failures. Read full review

Owen Gleiberman

The film is proof that if you repackage the classics (in this case, Dickens) for the youth market in an era of MTV dislocation, what you get, in essence, is postmodern Cliffs Notes with an alt-rock soundtrack. Read full review

Kenneth Turan

Suffers from being neither here nor there. In its rush to modernize its story and attract a young audience with stars like Ethan Hawke and Gwyneth Paltrow, the film ends up problematic both in relation to the original and on its own terms. Read full review

Jami Bernard

Lean's wonderful 1946 movie are taken down a peg with a tawdry update of Great Expectations set in modern-day Florida and New York. [30 January 1998, p. 44]

David Ansen

Great Expectations has great style; that's not everything we want from the movies, but sometimes it's almost enough. [2 February 1998, p. 61]

James Berardinelli

May not be an absolute triumph, but it's significantly better than just a good effort. Read full review

Charles Taylor

Great Expectations is a triumph because Cuarón's vision prevailed. He seems to be one of those artists capable of reminding us how we first experienced movies, as an overpowering enchantment. Read full review

Ruthe Stein

From watching this meandering, stilted movie, anyone unfamiliar with Charles Dickens' novel would be not only disinclined to pick it up but also clueless as to why it's considered great. Read full review

Barbara Shulgasser

Handsome, well-acted, well-written and beautifully directed movie. Read full review

David Edelstein

Fluid and lyrical and thoroughly transporting. Read full review

Rick Groen

You may well watch this film and not buy into a single frame. Me, I couldn't help myself. Read full review

Stanley Kauffmann

Cuadron, at the helm, wanted to pitch his film in a terrain accessible to modern sensibility yet different from what that sensibility is generally fed. And he might have succeeded, except for his casting. [2 March 1998, p. 26]