| Original Score: A- | Feb 18, 2012

Polanski's deft adaptation proves that there's still life in that well-worn story of a boy who beats the odds.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Oct 15, 2005

Please sir, can we have some less?

| Original Score: 2/5 | Oct 8, 2005

As much as I'm loath to say it, this is one literary adaptation where I can sadly say with certainty I do not want more.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Oct 8, 2005

It retains the book's emotional punch and darker elements - the spectre of the gallows is a running motif - and presents them in a way likely to engage younger viewers without patronising them.

| Oct 6, 2005

It's noble, high-minded and safe, and I can't help thinking that I would have preferred an audacious but honest failure.

| Sep 30, 2005

Great expectations are unavoidable when Roman Polanski takes on a Charles Dickens classic. Alas, his version of Oliver Twist fails to live up to them.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Sep 30, 2005

A grounded and unusually matter-of-fact adaptation.

| Original Score: 4/4 | Sep 30, 2005

Poignant and primal, Roman Polanski's splendid adaptation of the Charles Dickens classic pricks the heart and the conscience.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Sep 30, 2005

Nitpickers may squawk over missing elements, but the film doggedly hits on the book's big themes: the power of innocence, the cruelty of class.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Sep 30, 2005

Oliver Twist as presented by Roman Polanski is pretty much the same as Oliver Twist presented by anyone else, except perhaps it's a bit duller.

Full Review | Original Score: C- | Sep 30, 2005

As handsomely made, well-acted, dramatically unflinching and heartfelt as it is, Polanski's Oliver is a movie more admirable than emotionally affecting.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Sep 30, 2005

Polanski could have made Oliver as haunting as his 2002 Academy Award-winning film, The Pianist. Yet his new effort falls just short.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Sep 30, 2005

The film is worth seeing, but it won't hold a cherished place in your moviegoing memories.

| Original Score: B- | Sep 30, 2005

It's as though Polanski had set the story's foolproof motor on cruise control and left the room; the tale is well told but told without personality.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Sep 30, 2005

Perhaps it will take a school trip to encourage kids to see Oliver Twist, but that's one permission slip parents should sign.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Sep 29, 2005

Seeing Polanski's version of this most Dickensian of all Charles Dickens' tales, I felt full and wanted no more versions (please, sir!), having now seen the definitive one.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Sep 29, 2005

The film is high on production values but short on heart.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Sep 29, 2005

Polanski's Oliver Twist is craftsmanly and relatively unsentimental.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Sep 29, 2005

Polanski's film is visually exact and detailed without being too picturesque.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Sep 29, 2005