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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
[T]he maddening thing is not just that we hardly need another movie adaptation of [Oliver Twist] ... but that there are other Dickens books that haven't been given the major movie treatment that would better suit Polanski's temperament.
Falha ao jamais encontrar um tom adequado para sua narrativa: em certos momentos, é excessivamente infantil; em outros, sombrio demais.
It’s an impeccable production on a visual level and undeniably a well-made film, but the narrative often lacks the spark to bring it to life.
Please sir, can we have some less?
As much as I'm loath to say it, this is one literary adaptation where I can sadly say with certainty I do not want more.
No one said "I want some more, sir," when it comes to film adaptations of the Charles Dickens classic.
Dickens was a better social chronicler than storyteller, and Polanski has chosen to adopt that weakness in the interests of utter faithfulness to the text.
Where the movie should hurt with an establishment built on dehumanization, it’s stagy and inert.
Plods along with the dutiful, near-reverent air of an annual Christmas sermon.
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'Oliver Twist' proves what 'The Pianist' only hinted at—that Roman Polanski is the world’s most talented paint-by-numbers artist.
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It's noble, high-minded and safe, and I can't help thinking that I would have preferred an audacious but honest failure.
Top CriticGreat expectations are unavoidable when Roman Polanski takes on a Charles Dickens classic. Alas, his version of Oliver Twist fails to live up to them.
As family fare goes, this makes The Corpse Bride look like Chicken Little.
In Oliver Twist, it's the viewer who is punished.
The question of why anyone would bother to make another film version of `Oliver Twist' is not answered by director Roman Polanski.
Dickens' continuing relevance is less a testament to his genius than to the endurance and recurrence of the problems he took as his focus.
Oliver Twist as presented by Roman Polanski is pretty much the same as Oliver Twist presented by anyone else, except perhaps it's a bit duller.
Top Critic
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