‘Great Expectations’ Trailer Is Pretty Much What We Expected
Teens with a book report due pretty soon and Dickensian fans unite and rejoice, for Mike Newell’s Great Expectations is finally seeing its U.S. release date. The trailer for the costume drama looks every bit like the dreary world Charles Dickens lays out for you in page one of his classic novel, with some much needed color provided by Helena Bonham Carter’s Miss Havisham – truly the role she was born to play.
For those who had to read “Jane Eyre” instead during their study groups, Great Expectations is the story of an orphan named Pip (Jeremy Irvine) who befriends an eccentric dowager named Miss Havisham (Bonham Carter) and falls in love with her beautiful ward Estella (Holliday Grainger); but since Havisham was betrayed by her love long ago (the tattered wedding gown any indication?), she’s trained Estella to hate men and destroy even cuties like young Pip. It’s kind of a shame, because a wealthy mystery benefactor leaves Pip a hefty sum of money to allow him to become a gentleman, so girl is missing out.
Though the U.S. trailer has some gorgeous visuals, I wish they would have stuck with more elements of the UK version (which our own Nathan Adams wrote about last year here); having the trailer focus more on character performances feels more compelling. Look at what Bonham Carter can do with crazy. And Ralph Fiennes in the role of escaped convict Magwitch is downright nervewracking. Check out the trailer for yourself here:
Great Expectations is in theaters November 8th.
