thorinoakenshield1997 This is my favorite adaption of Emma (and trust me, I've seen them all)! I love the soundtrack, the scenery, and the characters.This miniseries is also family friendly (which is nice), so don't hesitate to watch it with your kids if they're interested. I watched it again with my thirteen year old sister (who claims she hates period dramas) and she sat through the whole thing and awkwardly admitted she liked it at the end. I found this adaption stayed true enough to Jane Austen's book to satisfy. There might have been a few minor tweaks, but nothing major that could ruin it.Mr. Woodhouse is hilarious without trying to be, and just like Mrs. Bennet from the 1995 version of Pride and Prejudice, I don't think anyone could out do his performance.Emma is meddlesome, spoiled, rich, and pretty. But the strange thing is, you can't help but love her! I found this Emma to be more spirited than the (what I thought) dull Gwyneth Paltrov. She laughs, smiles, and is a believable twenty-one year old girl. She's a matchmaker out of habit, and gets in all sorts of trouble because of it.Now onto Mr. Knightley! He's extremely sweet, and I love him for it. He is supposed to be sixteen years older than Emma, and in all fairness the actor doesn't look much older than she does; But I thought his manner was very mature in contrast to hers, so I thought it worked out really well.Overall I loved this miniseries, and I'm always up to rewatching it! If you like period dramas, Jane Austen, or happy endings, definitely give Emma a go! You won't regret it. :)

Katherina_Minola This four part adaptation of Jane Austen's novel, stars Romola Garai as the titular Emma, a precocious, well-meaning but interfering young woman, for whom matchmaking is a hobby. Jonny Lee Miller plays her long-time friend, and eventual husband (and brother-in-law) George Knightley, and Michael Gambon is her worrisome father, who is so frightened for the health of those he loves that he is scared to let Emma out of his sight.I thought this adaptation was WONDERFUL, and thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it. Romola Garai - an actress who is always watchable - was absolutely a perfect choice for Emma, and captured Emma's playfulness and personal growth exactly as I imagined it should be. Mr Knightley, who is probably my favourite Austen hero, because of his very essence of goodness and decency, can nonetheless sometimes come across as stern or unbending, but Jonny Lee Miller made him everything that Knightley should be and more. He clearly adored Emma - and the romantic love between them seemed far more natural and organic in this series than it has done in other adaptations - but was not afraid to stand up to her. But Miller also showed a more playful and witty side to Knightley. I also loved Michael Gambon who made Mr Woodhouse a sympathetic rather than a frustrating character - the affectionate relationship between him and Emma was very sweet to watch; Tamsin Greig as the silly but well-meaning Mrs Bates; and Robert Bathurst as their neighbour and friend Mr Weston.A four hour mini-series will always be able to develop the characters and storyline at a more gradual pace than a two hour film, and it really worked here, with all the characters getting the screen time they deserved, and relationships being shown in all their stages, especially between Emma and Mr Knightley, with her realisation that she is in love with him seeming a natural development.The series was moving at times, but also showed the wit in Austen's writing, with several very funny scenes. It was colourful and sweet, and for my money, probably my very favourite Austen adaptation. Just wonderful, and all fans of the book, or good period drama should watch it!

insanity_is_fr33 As a fan of Jane Austen and in particular as a fan of Emma, I was quite excited when I heard of this BBC series (after seeing the brilliant adaptation of pride and prejudice starring Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth). However, Jane Austen fans, be warned!! This series was far from accurate to the book! The beginning, although also not a feature of the book, I found to be interesting as it builds up the connections of certain characters at an earlier period of time, however the continual exclusion of some of the most witty and entertaining passages of script written by Jane Austen made it almost unbearable to continue watching yet I stood strong. And not surprisingly this strength was tested again through the mix up of some characters roles (Mr John knightley examining and telling Emma about Mr Elton's attraction towards her, Mr Elton's immediately known attraction towards Emma with no hint of it being directed towards Harriet, and the poor choice for the role of Emma who seems too modern with common speech and lack of refinement) it was all very wrong! and so much pointless and horrible dialog was added in replace of Jane Austen's own words! I have to give it some credit for if I had not read the book previously I think I would have enjoyed it but as that is not the case, I'm left to say in the words of Mr knightley, a 'badly done Emma!!'

andrew-842-657184 I was looking forward to this adaptation of Emma, one of my favourite books; when I read some of the enthusiastic reviews on this site, I was encouraged to splash out on a full price DVD - and, wow, was I disappointed. The worst aspect, by far, is the dreadful script: the language wanders erratically between a clumsily put together string of rather dreary twentieth (not twenty-first) century expressions and the (very) occasional emergence of mangled bits of the original dialogue. The casting, too, is awful: Emma is supposed to be young and, though rather too self-assured, essentially quite good-natured - this version has a brash and bad-mannered heroine, shouting at people, and not just getting it all wrong but scarcely recognising that she is making such a mess of other people's lives, not just her own. Actually, from this point of view, the casting of Mrs Elton and Emma would have been much better swapped around. Knightley was a rather sad lightweight, and Mr Woodhouse far too decrepit (although a valetudinarian, he should not be portrayed as older than his early 50s). Miss Bates was quite good, but given far too few lines to say; and most of the mistakes and misconceptions which give the plot its wonderful character were clumsily handled. I had just recently found and watched for the first time the 1972 BBC adaptation, and found it utterly delightful; and for a foreshortened version, I don't think that the Kate Beckinsale 1996 one has been bettered. I really cannot see why the BBC bothered to make this version; it is so much worse than the 1972 one, and has no redeeming features that I can see at all.