Review of Great Expectations (1998) by Inho C — 11 Apr 2013

Cuaron just over-directs everything and never simply lets a scene "sit". Everything is just too overdone - from the cinematography, even some of the acting, and especially the music. All the emotions in the story were being drummed through the soundtrack.

You never really get a feel for how any of the events in the film end up shaping Finn as a person. Paltrow and Hawke do give pretty good performances and the opening with DeNiro is very effective (his final scenes not so much).

Overall, I think this story had a lot of potential for a modern update but this film didn't fulfil it.