Pic separates itself out by hitting the humor as hard as the pathos, finding a nice contrast between the caricatures of the supporting roles and the dimensionality of the leads.

| Feb 2, 2018

... makes for bravura storytelling...

| Feb 2, 2018

Above all other pleasures it offers, it provides a classic of literature and social criticism with a straight run-through from start to finish.

| Jan 9, 2018

Respectful adaptation of rich Dickens novel.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Dec 26, 2010

| Original Score: 3/5 | Nov 2, 2003

Does a respectable job of retelling as much of Dickens’ tale as possible in the time alloted.

| Original Score: B | Sep 12, 2003

It's thin, and McGrath wouldn't know subtlety if it bit him on the butt. Still, it's entertaining enough, and the two-plus hours the film runs fly by.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Jun 19, 2003

| Original Score: 3/5 | Jun 14, 2003

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | May 28, 2003

There's a bevy of hiss-worthy baddies to pick up the dramatic slack, beginning with Plummer's wonderfully nefarious Uncle Ralph.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Jan 18, 2003

The film is enriched by an imaginatively mixed cast of antic spirits, headed by Christopher Plummer as the subtlest and most complexly evil Uncle Ralph I've ever seen in the many film and stage adaptations of the work.

Full Review | Jan 16, 2003

A beguiling evocation of the quality that keeps Dickens evergreen: the exuberant openness with which he expresses our most basic emotions.

| Jan 13, 2003

Although Nicholas Nickleby occasionally evidences a simplicity that resembles a Junior Scholastic production, the movie's enthusiasm is contagious.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Jan 12, 2003

With Dickens' words and writer-director Douglas McGrath's even-toned direction, a ripping good yarn is told.

Full Review | Original Score: A- | Jan 10, 2003

It's just sort of there, one more adaptation of a long rambling Charles Dickens soap opera well-stocked with respected British actors playing painfully stereotypical characters.

| Original Score: C- | Jan 10, 2003

If you really want a taste of this classic, rent the video of the RSC production. But if you're only looking for a charming time passer, this movie is just the thing.

Full Review | Original Score: B- | Jan 9, 2003

The entire movie has a truncated feeling, but what's available is lovely and lovable.

| Original Score: B+ | Jan 9, 2003

Plummer steals the show without resorting to camp as Nicholas' wounded and wounding Uncle Ralph. It's a great performance and a reminder of Dickens' grandeur.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Jan 9, 2003

Trust and deceit, generosity and meanness are fleshed out by a deft cast.

| Original Score: B+ | Jan 9, 2003

To paraphrase a line from another Dickens' novel, Nicholas Nickleby is too much like a fragment of an underdone potato.

Full Review | Jan 8, 2003