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Critics Consensus: A handsome and charming adaptation of the novel.
Critic Consensus: A handsome and charming adaptation of the novel.
View All I Capture the Castle News
All Critics (84) | Top Critics (29) | Fresh (66) | Rotten (18) | DVD (3)
It has just enough charm to be watchable.
The filmmakers can't seem to unearth the novel's inherent lightheartedness and instead treat too many events with earnest seriousness, trampling the original story's lively spirit in heavy-handed drama.
With eloquent dialogue but scant smoldering passions, the mushy machinations nicely nudge director Tim Fywell's gentle little film.
Dollops on the usual romantic, family and class conflicts with a very heavy ladle, which pretty much smothers the whimsical mood Fywell strains so hard to attain.
A refreshingly mature look at first love and life's often-rough transitions.
Never shies from indulging us and our desire for a gentle and generous world that doesn't slip into easy answers.
...mines the rich veins of both Austen and Fitzgerald. But Fywell lets his focus wander. By the end Castle seems to come apart stone by stone.
The fancy-pants accents and period costuming make one feel intellectually smug, as if the afternoon had been spent watching a Merchant-Ivory film - only without the tedium of actually sitting through a Merchant-Ivory film.
Romala Garai is utterly convincing as the smart, wistful girl with the notebook.
A quirky and handsome family drama that nicely captures the pangs and pleasures of adolescence.
The film is a charmer. It's romantic, funny and satisfying.
Better on set-up than follow-through.
If anything the things that went down in this film really surprised me. Who knew that the guy was going to make out with Cassandra? And then he doesn't get together with her? Crazy! But what really wins out in this film is the setting. I was never sure what period this was set in because the atmosphere and the quirky family and the wacky costumes recalled everything, from the 1800s to the 1920s to the 50s. Wow!
Super Reviewer
Slightly dull period piece that likely could have been made special save for some very poor casting. Marc Blucas leads the pack. Thank God he has disappeared lately.
I think I enjoyed this movie more than most people did, but I don't see how anyone with good taste could not like this film.
Lovely movie, although I didn't fall in love with it.
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