Emma (1996) review

How do I start this post? How does it compare with the BBC Emma? How can I sit here writing this knowing full well that all (I put all) my followers are going to form a bloggy-friends-comment-war? :) WARNING: the post you are about to indulge in is smothered in spoilers and the like but it shall be lovely. Lovely, Lovely! And you shall not stop talking of it when I am done.

Please don't laugh at this cover. Please?!

Now please keep in mind this is the first Emma adaption I have seen and I cannot help from loving it.

The Miramax Emma (as I call it) is scoffed at by Janeite's more than being praised by them! Jeremy Northam and Gwyneth Paltrow are critiqued until what honor they had in playing as Emma and Mr. Knightley has... vanished. And the minor characters are laughed at (to be frank) and somehow this... um... 'guys' theme song plays as he (Frank) makes his entrance in the "darker forces" scene. As Maria Elisabeth puts it. Secondly: I shall be comparing it to the BBC Emma more than I ought. Even though I raged about Janeites comparing it.

Emma

Gwyneth Paltrow's Emma has been said to be too old for the part. I disagree! Though she is not as young as Emma is supposed to be she does not seem old but then again... which actor did seem 'young enough'?  She has the elegance, the snobbery, and the matchmaker sparkle in her eye.
She can be sweet and artless and then she can be plotting and planning everyone's lives for them. Overall this Emma is not wholly bad. No, indeed!
She is my favourite and my idea on that shall not be moved even if everyone does love RG best. :)




MR. Knightley

I'm going to London... so there! 

First I would like to say something about Jeremy Northam's Mr. Knightley. Wait! I'll say something later in the week. :) *winks at Miss Woodhouse*
Ahem...
For my part JN's Mr. Knightley was wonderful. Yes, he may seem a little too young and is a little unlike the Mr. Knightley we know and love in the book. He is a little like a suitor instead of an "old family friend" but I am not bothered in the least on that score. He is very nice, very dashing (Mr. Knightley was not terribly dashing in the book or the BBC Emma but let us forget that part about his character) I like this Mr. Knightley very much! He is not my favourite but he is a wonderful, wonderful Mr. Knightley.
 Defence coming quite soon.

Harriet Smith is nice in this adaption. She was not like the book... though she was sweet and charming. She did not match the description the book gave... but she is a nice red-head. And this scene is SO funny. NO! Overly funny. 

"Court and ship. Ship and court... courtship!!! He writes to me about courtship! Ohhh..."   

This Harriet is not Harriet, but if you know what I mean, I guess it is all the same. I thought she did over react about Mr. Elton... and why she ever liked him escaped me. 

Mr Elton was slimy to the last! You think he could have been a little bit more "gentlemanly" because Emma was always holding him up to Harriet as an example of the gentlemen. He never really struck me as a guy that would suit Harriet... I mean the actor! And I was appalled when I realized he played as a weird professor in a certain "spy" movie my younger sibling's love!
Anyway I do not like this Mr. E, and to be perfectly blunt, I do not like the other one as well!
This one was too... nerdy and the other one was too creepy to be Mr. Elton. But I love the fact that both Mr. Elton's have flyaway hair styles, however. :P


Mrs. Elton was perfect! But she looked so OLD!
 Too old in fact to be a Mrs. Elton. But I DO think she has the voice to say, "I can tell you... there is a shocking lack of satin!"
And with all her sniffs and snorts I would say I like her very much, indeed. But the other Miss Augusta Hawkins was better to be sure.
Another thing. She was very persistent with Jane Fairfax in this adaption which amused me.

The Bateses were very well done. I did like this Miss Bates better than the other but Mrs. Bates was better in the BBC version. We never really see much of her but I do like the BBC one better. ;)

Frank Churchill was completely and utterly Obi Wan Kenobi! And my cousin says he looks like a young Mad Hatter... I mean no offence to those who like this Frank. But it is fun to joke with my brother about it. Jane Fairfax was very pretty, very shy, very ladylike but I did not like her very well at all in this Emma. She seemed very shallow and too calm all the time. 

The Westons. My complaint is this. You don't see enough of them.  But, unlike the book, the film Mrs Weston leads Emma to realize that she indeed loves Mr Knightley.
I do not think Mr. Weston would act the way this Mr. W does (my! I just sounded like Mrs. E)  But, however, they are a cute couple and I do like the way Emma showed that she was happy about Jane and Frank marrying to make him happy. :P
Excuse the hole... :0  

I love this Emma but it does leave out so much. The trip to Box Hill and the Strawberry picking excursion were combined. And the whole thing is not long enough for you to truly understand the characters... very well. Mr. Knightley is not shown half as much as I would like. But the quotes from this are so outrageously funny!! 

Slander...     

I do like Emma's funny expressions and such and I found the picture on the left rather amusing!
Also her gowns and such are very pretty. This Emma showed more of my favourite Regency styles for women.
Her hair does annoy me sometimes but I do like her wedding hair style.
    

The archery scene was very cute. And my friend was sadly disappointed (for she has not read the book) that the BBC version did not show that Emma was an archer. :) I would were her archer dress for eternity. It is very pretty and I shall be talking about it and several other of my favourite gowns on the Wednesday, the 13th. :)  

I protest Mrs. Weston. I like Jane Fairfax but nothing past that... nothing.

*smile*

Scenery 

I like most of the scenery. It is very lush and green... though most of the scenes were in doors. ;) I say this because I am just obsessed with liking movies that have lots & lots of outdoor scenes.

sorry for the bad, bad quality 

                                                                            Music

I love the music in this film! It is very happy and matchmaker-ish. 

If you know what I mean. 

I've been meaning to buy it but have not gotten around to doing so.

Most of it makes you laugh without knowing why.

the costumes in this are different and those shoes made me laugh

                                                                                  

                                                                              ~*~

                   

This is for my cousin Emelie Claire. She liked the "bonnet scene" as she calls it. And look at the bonnet, peoples.. its just so cute there hanging. :) And off course the story ends in a happily ever after.

"I do not pretend to be an expert in the field of fashion, but I can tell you...

there is a shocking lack of satin!"