Not as strong as the recent Northanger Abbey, but not bad. Sally Hawkins is very good as the lead and conveys the various emotions of her character convincingly. She also behaves in period (apart from running around Bath without a hat -- see below). Rupert Penry-Jones is OK, but basically just says his lines without tripping over his words or the scenery. He acts like a kind of proud and stiff Mr Darcy for quite long periods of the film.
As others have noted, the scenes of Anne Elliot rushing through the streets in the rain are ridiculous and pointless. William Elliot's unsatisfactory character is not apparent from his behaviour in the film and it is inadequate to have it revealed third hand in passing.
As with the rest of this series, the biggest handicap is the requirement to squash the plot into not much more than 90 minutes. This means that much is lost, especially Jane Austen's wonderful dialogue. I suppose multi-episode versions are too much to ask of ITV nowadays, since the channel has fallen on hard financial times. We have to be grateful that they are still making period dramas at all.
As others have noted, the scenes of Anne Elliot rushing through the streets in the rain are ridiculous and pointless. William Elliot's unsatisfactory character is not apparent from his behaviour in the film and it is inadequate to have it revealed third hand in passing.
As with the rest of this series, the biggest handicap is the requirement to squash the plot into not much more than 90 minutes. This means that much is lost, especially Jane Austen's wonderful dialogue. I suppose multi-episode versions are too much to ask of ITV nowadays, since the channel has fallen on hard financial times. We have to be grateful that they are still making period dramas at all.