Notes on the viewing: My best friend gave it to me on my birthday; we watched it with another close friend after my dad’s funeral. The day might have colored my vision of it (like nothing would have been good enough for me to love it) but I was really happy to watch it with friends.

So! I was very excited to see this, but then it never got released in theaters in my city, and the DVD took forever to arrive, so it lost a bit of momentum. But still it’s a pretty good movie with excellent acting, images and music. I thought the story was a bit on the weak side though. They didn’t really explain why Jane went from hate to love in her feelings (though I guess we’re supposed to assume it’s à la Elizabeth&Darcy) which made the whole drama a bit less believable to me.

I agree that the support cast was great but the leading actress – Anne Hathaway – was not a good fit to play Jane. I didn’t really like Keira Knightly in Pride and Prejudice but she was better in that movie than Anne was in this. Still, I love anything Jane Austin related and the scenery, costumes, storyline were good.

James McAvoy is an absolute legend in this – turned a quite possibly boring story into something else entirely, god that boy can act! Anne Hathaway was alright – not brilliant but this movie was good nonetheless

The supporting cast for this film is first rate, and so is the leading man, James MacAvoy; however, Anne Hathaway was wrong, wrong, wrong for the part. She’s not smart enough or quick enough to be convincing, and just looked lost for the entire film. A better choice would have been someone like Amanda Root, though perhaps Ms. Root is a little old to play the younger Jane.

This was a lovely period piece. Anne Hathaway is turning out to be a very decent young actress, and James McAvoy was a great foil/love interest for her. People who have read Jane Austen’s books through will find a lot to enjoy. Those who haven’t will find this a very pleasant view.