Okay, I get it. Polanski doesn’t want us to forget his childhood.
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10/04/05
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Oliver Twist (2005)
59
%
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Reviews Counted:133
Fresh:78
Rotten:55
Average Rating:6.3/10
Consensus: Polanski's version of Dickens' classic won't have audiences asking for more because while polished and directed with skill, the movie's a very impersonal experience.
Runtime: 2 hrs 5 mins
Genre: Dramas
Theatrical Release:Sep 23, 2005 Limited
Box Office: $1,987,287
Synopsis: Acclaimed director Roman Polanski turns a dark eye toward the classic Charles Dickens novel OLIVER TWIST, about a charming orphan boy (Barney Clark) whose life seems to depend solely on the whims... [More]
Starring: Ben Kingsley, Jamie Foreman, Harry Eden, Leanne Rowe
Director: Roman Polanski
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Reviews for Oliver Twist
Polanski presents a good but not great rendering of Dickens' oft-filmed second novel.
10/02/05
Roman Polanski has made a perfectly agreeable and entertaining new Oliver Twist.
09/29/05
Fails to topple Lean's untoppable version; still one of the best movies of 2005. Startlingly unemotional, but for the stormy torments behind Fagin's overhanging eyebrows.
09/26/05
Polanski has given the Dickens saga a thrilling epic look.
09/29/05
“Oliver Twist” deserves to be recognized as one of the director’s better films.
10/20/05
Technically sound and surprisingly faithful to its source material, Roman Polanski's version of Oliver Twist comes across as uninspired and flat.
09/30/05
Top CriticPolanski delivers an acceptable yet thoroughly uninspiring twist on the orphaned Oliver, who gets a raw deal every which way.
09/23/05
Top CriticNitpickers may squawk over missing elements, but the film doggedly hits on the book's big themes: the power of innocence, the cruelty of class.
09/30/05
Top CriticPolanski has crafted something that already feels like a classic film, beautiful to look at, combining accurate period detail with a certain gothic expressionism and brimming with earthy characters and high drama.
08/02/07
The strength of the Polanski film is its lack of sentimentality. He creates a cold, cruel world where an orphan boy, because of his station in life, has no future.
10/04/05
Polanski could have made Oliver as haunting as his 2002 Academy Award-winning film, The Pianist. Yet his new effort falls just short.
09/30/05
Top CriticRoman Polanski's Oliver Twist is probably the most faithful adaptation. But hardly anyone will take notice; it's just a tale that's been told too many times before.
09/26/05
A version of "Oliver" that's so safe, it's pretty much a case of baby-sitting.
08/26/05
It is something special in these times of incivility to see a protagonist who stands apart from others with his good manners.
09/21/05
Any parents thinking of bringing their young kids to this very-hard-PG-13 downer have hereby been warned.
09/22/05
...one of Polanski's safest, least distinctive pictures -- just another tasteful run through a story that's already too familiar. Oh well, at least in this one nobody sings.
09/29/05
It's as though Polanski had set the story's foolproof motor on cruise control and left the room; the tale is well told but told without personality.
09/30/05
Top CriticOliver Twist is a rarity, as far as Polanski films go, in that it is just an OK movie.
09/29/05
With intelligence and style (inspired by the art of Gustave Doré and Francisco Solé), Polanski makes a rewarding contribution to Dickens' legacy on screen.
02/26/06
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