Roman 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.
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09/26/05
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Oliver Twist (2005)
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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
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09/24/05
The idea of Ben Kingsley as Fagin is such an obvious fit that he isn't surprising, nor are his acting choices
09/24/05
This is that rare movie version of a great novel in which watching is reading.
09/23/05
Top CriticPolanski and his Pianist scribe Ronald Harwood have chosen to tell it in as simple a manner as possible, as though they had been given a Masterpiece Theatre assignment to dispatch.
09/23/05
Top CriticIt's just as Dickens wrote.
09/23/05
Polanski's adult fans deserve something more than a film for the kiddies, and Dickens deserves better treatment than merely 'tasteful.'
09/23/05
Top CriticDrab and unfeeling.
09/23/05
Top CriticIs it possible that a film made in 1948 and by David Lean could exceed the darkness and controversy of a Roman Polanski picture? After watching the newest screen version of Oliver Twist, the answer is yes.
09/23/05
Polanski's take will spark debate among Dickens lovers, but audiences won't respond as warmly as they have to Lean's classic.
09/23/05
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 CriticLanguid and lifeless, stilted and, above all, surprisingly safe, Oliver Twist plods along, its impassive title character being tossed from one cruel fate to another.
09/23/05
You can look at it all and marvel, or recoil in horror at the barbaric exploitation of women and children. But the film remains an arm's length experience.
09/23/05
A work of craft that could be flying the Masterpiece Theatre banner. You know, an earnestly worthy adaptation of a literary classic, as faithful and polished as it is ponderous and unprovocative.
09/23/05
Though some may quibble with the changes Polanski and scripter Ronald Harwood have made to the book, mostly they get it right.
09/23/05
Polanski's take on the classic is a dull affair.
09/23/05
Polanski seems so intent on... a grimly elegant big picture that... he misses the people. Oops, except for Ben Kingsley as Fagin, whom he lets run embarrassingly wild.
09/23/05
It’s mannered at times, as you might expect... but the surprising thing about Oliver Twist is how deeply it resonates.
09/23/05
That Polanski chose this as the movie he wanted to make for his own children feels motivated by more than a septuagenarian dad's desire to take a $60-million stab at a bedtime story. It feels inspired by a need to tell them who he is.
09/22/05
Top CriticIt still stings in unlikely places.
09/22/05
Top CriticLatest News for Oliver Twist
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International acting stud Javier Bardem and well-rounded movie director Mike Newell are about to bring the Pulitzer Prize-winning "Love in the Time of Cholera" to the... More...
September 29, 2005:
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