Kate BeckinsaleEmma

I enjoyed this movie immensely! We bought this along with BBC's Sense & Sensibility, and though I loved that, I was just as pleased with Emma.I felt the casting was very well done with the exception of Harriet...sorry, but she's supposed to be pretty, and unfortunately Samantha Morton just isn't. Kate Beckinsale is great as the playful but misguided Emma, and though many reviews disagree, I found Mark Strong to be perfect as the stately character of Mr. Knightley. Frank Churchill is also very well portrayed; he manages to be very believable yet still show the character's overly-charming side, a difficult task. Olivia Williams as Jane Fairfax is aptly graceful and reserved. John Knightley was well played indeed, his line in the carriage as they travel to the Weston's is so funny, makes me laugh each time, he's so sarcastically pessimistic!If I had to find something to criticize , it would be the last scene, where Emma and Frank Churchill meet again- you don't get the same sense that he knows he's done wrong as you do in the book. I think they could have done better with that, but it is a minor error, and certainly should not affect this film's overall rating.This movie adheres closely to the book, nearly all the lines are taken from it. I love this film and would recommend it to all Jane Austen fans.Hope you purchase, watch, and enjoy it!

I ordered two of these DVDs for gifts, assuming the soundtrack was in English. Definitely not the case. I waited over a month to receive the DVDs, and I am now stuck with two DVDs I cannot use in the USA. I wish that Amazon and vendors would make it VERY clear up front which languages and electronic systems the DVDs accommodate. Buyers beware. The vendor was very responsive when I emailed, so I guess there's that. I gave them five stars for their quick emailed responses to my communication. I have no idea regarding the quality of the product, as I cannot view it on an American DVD system. Very disappointing.

Kate brings to life so sensitively and amusingly Jane Austen's Emma , One must take into account that Jane Austen would never put her heroine in any physical danger without a hero to save her , Coachman which Emma's father had two , open the door for their patrons ,they are also more than likely ex soldiers of distinction ,they are therefore the family body guards during transit , so help was only a scream away , SO, knowing Kate was safe I could not stop laughing while watching the coach scene where a mistaken would be suitor makes advances to Kate and she bounds back and forth from coach seat to coach seat while dissuading his attentions, her Rapier wit won out so the point of a sword was not needed while in an other scene where her future husband tells her how badly she behaved towards a former mentor thereby pricking her heart to tears.

Kate Beckinsale's interpretation of the wealthy young lady who finds that matchmaking doesn't always go as one planned and winds up finding love right under her nose is delightful to watch. Mark Strong plays Mr. Knightley, the slightly unconventional landowner who goes from lecturing Emma to loving her (or perhaps it was both at the same time) in a convincing, reserved fashion.The film contains most, if not all, of the plot elements of the novel. Unfortunately, to make it fit in an hour and forty minutes or so, there isn't always as much flesh on those bones as one would like, and parts of the plot are hurried over quickly. One would wish that they had done as they did with the A&E Pride and Prejudice and made this a two-part, four-hour film. Some of the cuts are ill-made. After considerable discussion (in novel and film) of Harriet's illegitimate origins, the film never clears it up as the book does. And, on an opposite note, the romance between Frank Churchill and Jane Fairfax is made too blatant. The outcome will hardly be a surprise to the watcher, even the watcher unfamiliar with the book. Granted, Austen has very little use for the lower classes in her books--a servant is never given life, he merely serves to announce a visitor or carry a message. That's not criticism, that is simply how it is. But scenes of the lower classes gawking as our more wealthy characters ride through Highbury--or servants gasping as they carry heavy boxes into a house or up a hill--are interesting the first time to set forth the boundaries of Austen's world and indulge in a little commentary on same. But the fourth time, as servants gasp as they trundle boxes down Box Hill or move pads to cushion the knees of the gentry strawberry pickers at Donwell Abbey--well, enough already. We got your point. Don't belabor it (pun intended).Still, great to watch. The scenery is flawless, and the acting excellent.

This is slightly fuller version than the Gwynneth Paltrow one which I hoped. Bernard Hepton is great.

Delivery speedy, excellent quality, very happy

I think this is one of the best dramatizations of "Emma". I have watched it over and over again

In my opinion this is the best film of Emma out there.

I own both the Paltrow and Beckensale versions of Emma and found that Kate's Emma is more like the Emma in the book, the Paltrow version is pathetic as far as I am conserned as she makes Emma out to be a bit of a wimp. The Emma in the book is not at all like that also Jeremy Northan did nothing for me as Mr Knightley I am afraid. I loved most of the characters in the Kate Beckensale version as they seem to match the characters in the book.I really loved the character Miss Bates played by Prunnella Scales she is wonderful and Mr Churchill was nice as well and he did not look an idiot like in the paltrow version to me that was the real turn off. Mr John Knightley and Isabel were given more of a part in the Beckensale version and even Mr Elton looked something more of a cleric and Mrs Elton was good as well were as to me the actress in the paltrow verson was not that good. I felt that Jane Fairfax's character needed more to it but it came over as it did in the book.My only beef was the ending it did not stick to the ending in the book. All in all I would recommend this video or DVD to anyone who is Austen made as they will love this version of Emma, Andrew Davis the screen writer who wrote Pride and Prejudice has done a wonderful job again in adapting one of Austens book and I think that Miss Austen would be well pleased with what she sees in this version of her wonderful book.