Pride and Prejudice movie review

Before I begin my movie review I have two warnings:
WARNING #1

This post may contain spoilers.

WARNING #2

This post with express MY opinions. It is very possible that you will agree with some or all that I say, and that's perfectly fine with me. I don't wish to get into any arguments or heated debates. I intend to nitpick because I enjoy it.

I intend to start off with the negative, and end with the positive. This movie was obviously meant to be very romantic, and I sometimes enjoyed that. Sometimes I did not. I believe the cardinal rule of adaptation of a novel to the silver screen is to be true to the spirit of the book. Sometimes you can do this without being true to the very letter of the written word, sometimes you can't. When adapting a comedy of manners, such as, I don't know Pride and Prejudice let's say, the details matter. The time period matters. The words matter.

This being said, here are some things that I did not like in this particular adaptation:

• The costumes. This wasn't a huge problem for me overall, but I did feel like they tried to make Elizabeth too much of a tom-boy by dressing her in neutrals (a LOT of brown). Also, we see Miss Bingley at a ball in what looked to me like underwear-appalling! And lastly (spoiler!) the ending climax between Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy occurs while she is wandering outside in her nightgown! I was truly mortified at the thought of her wearing no underclothes.
• The times went the romance went too far. Instance one, during the 2nd ball, everyone disappears except Elizabeth and Darcy. Way too heavy handed; are we really too stupid to pick up on their connection without the West Side Story moment? Not only that, but if you MUST show them alone, it should last a few moments, not a few minutes (okay minutes is an exaggeration, but I bet it was 30 seconds).
• There was too much of us watching Lizzie think. Guess what; that's boring. There is actually one scene where we watch her stare into a mirror while the sun goes down. It looks like she was staring at herself for at least three hours! Absurd.
• The scene where we look at Lizzie standing on a cliff. Very romantic, very much cheating, if you ask me. This is not Wuthering Heights.
• Now, here's a biggie. The first proposal scene. It started off fine, but it ended all wrong. I feel quite strongly that the first proposal should be entirely about Elizabeth's and Darcy's fault coming to a head. I think the should part furious with each other; the end of the fight should part with a big, passionate bang. I felt in this movie, Darcy slunk away with his tail between his legs.
• The second proposal scene. Again, very romantic, and very cheaty. SHE'S NOT WEARING UNDER GARMENTS! I really hated that, can you tell? Elizabeth didn't say what she's supposed to say. I really cannot think how they thought it was okay to ignore Austen's dialogue in the climactic scene.
• The ending. Hated it, hated it, hated it. It almost ruined the movie for me. They went to great efforts to make everything very urgent, and then we had to wait forever for the movie to end. Here's how I would end it (if I felt the book ending wasn't good enough, which of course it is! But for argument's sake, say we NEED a kiss), Lizzie bursts out of the house after speaking to her father, jumps into Darcy's arms, and they kiss. Viola!

Here's my positives:

• Loved the emphasis on the Bennett family. I felt this movie did a really good job of showing the familial relationships, and especially in giving personality to each Bennett girl. Most adaptations basically ignore Kitty and Mary, but I really enjoyed all of the girls in this one.
• This movie had my favorite Jane ever.
• I did enjoy the kinder gentler Mr. Darcy. I liked his awkward shyness clearly being the cause for the original rudeness. He needed a little more passion, but overall, enjoyable.
• I liked Lydia, surprisingly enough. I don't know how Jena Malone stays eternally young, but I thought she was a refreshingly young and foolish Lydia (compared to other actresses that have played her in film adaptations) rather than just a brat.
• Over romantisizing aside, the landscapes in this movie are breathtaking.