Nicholas Nickleby is a very pleasant, well made movie version of Dickens’ novel.
When Nicholas Nickleby’s father, a country gentleman, dies, Nicholas (Charlie Hunnam) is nineteen. He and his mother and sister have no money , and they seek help from the father’s rich brother (Christopher Plummer). The uncle gets Nicholas a job at a boarding school run by a cruel and stingy couple, Wackford Squeers and his wife. Squeers mistreats a boy Smike who has worked for him since his tuition stopped being paid. Nicholas befriends Smike, and they eventually leave the school. They encounter a troupe of traveling actors, run by a couple played by Nathan Lane and Dame Edna Everage (a.k.a. Barry Humphries). But soon Nicholas and Smike leave the troupe to go to London to help Nicholas’s sister. Her uncle had been trying to hook her up with a lecherous older man. Nicholas gets a job and meets the love of his life. Complications ensue, there are surprising revelations, and eventually Nicholas and his sister find happiness.
The movie is a pleasure to look at. The actors are all very good, most notably Charlie Hunnam and Christopher Plummer. Nathan Lane and Dame Edna Everage were delightful in their brief appearances. There may be some moments when the movie seems a bit slow, but on the whole it is thoroughly enjoyable. |
