GBU: Pride and Prejudice - 2005 Movie

"My goodness, did you see her hem? Six inches deep in mud. She looked positively medieval." - Caroline Bingley

The Good:

• The chemistry between Elizabeth and Darby. My favorite scene of the movie was when Darby made his first proposal (see my post "You call that a marriage proposal?"). Electric (probably too electric when compared to the book).
• Mr. Collins. "It's been many years since I had such an exemplary vegetable." I really liked the way that Tom Hollander played Collins (check out fan site Thomagination). His portrayal was different from other performances that I have seen (especially the crazy eyes).
• The cinematography. Lovely. Just lovely.

The Bad:
Many people were upset about all of the changes to settings, behavior, dialogue, etc. in this adaptation. To get the movie down to 2 hours+ (much shorter than others), Joe Wright (director) had to take some liberties. I considered this version to be a very loose youthful adaptation so I was not greatly bothered by the changes except for the pigs walking through the house, Lady Catherine de Bourgh showing up after hours, and Mr. Bingley being portrayed as a bumbling idiot. This is definitely not the version to watch instead of reading the book ... not that you or I would do that.

The Ugly:
I thought that Judi Dench looked absolutely FABULOUS. Her hair made me want to reach for a bottle of Aquanet. She is by far my favorite Lady Catherine de Bourgh. I wished that her part was bigger. What was up with the lighting on her face during the confrontation scene with Lizzie (about her alleged engagement to Darby)? I mean, it added to the harshness of the scene. But did they have to do her like that?

What are your good, bad, and ugly for the 2005 adaptation of Pride and Prejudice?

How do you rate the movie?