Common Sense Note
Parents should know that there's nothing objectionable for younger kids, but the plot is too sophisticated for them to follow, and features some emotional intensity.
Families who see this film might discuss why "costume dramas," such as this one, are popular. Did you enjoy seeing how people once lived, dressed, and interacted? Do you think all people living in Georgian England enjoyed such clothes, balls, servants, and wealth? Why aren't more films about the far more numerous common people of the time? This may also be a good time for parents to introduce Austen's books to their teens.
Common Sense Review
Reviewed By: Ellen MacKay
The Dashwood sisters try to redeem a lost fortune by marrying well, and end up finding love, too. Emma Thompson's adaptation of the Jane Austen novel shows how women in upper-class Georgian England, though privileged, had relatively few choices in life. Romantics and anyone with a penchant for this author's work will have a ball.
Sensible Elinor and sensuous Marianne are left impoverished after their father's death because the law awards their estate to a half-brother. They retreat to a little cottage by the sea and hope to marry well. This is a trying task, however, since Elinor (Emma Thompson) falls for a young man who is previously engaged, and Marianne (Kate Winslet) is literally swept off her feet by a handsome rogue.
As in many Austen novels, the sisters are plagued by gossipy neighbors and selfish in-laws, but throughout it all they manage to handle these challenges with grace and humor. In the end, of course, they get the men whom they deserve.
This movie is a real treat. This beautiful, humorous movie creates a buzz of excitement around the Dashwood sisters' romantic intrigue. Some of the characters you'll love to hate (the Dashwoods' horrible sister-in-law and gloating Miss Steele), and others you'll absolutely adore (little Margaret Dashwood, the future pirate).
Despite their marked temperamental differences, Marianne and Elinor are devoted to one another. As they find love, lose it, and find it again, sentimental Marianne learns the value of restraint, and sensible Elinor discovers that composure melts in passion's flame.
What makes this movie so endearing is its loving depiction of the Dashwood family. Although destitute (for members of the gentry), this is a high-spirited and supportive clan. When Marianne falls ill, Elinor vows to bear all her dashed conjugal hopes if God should spare her sister's life. It's only fitting that Marianne and Elinor would eventually find themselves living on the same estate, both married to loyal husbands (played with flair by Alan Rickman and Hugh Grant).
One trio of 12-year-old girls considers this a favorite and admits to watching it repeatedly. For them, the movie strikes the same wistful chord as the blockbuster Titanic, and it even ends happily!
Older kids will also enjoy Emma, an Austen adaptation starring Gwyneth Paltrow.
Rate It!
| Content | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CS | adults | kids | ||
Sexual Content |
 |
|
|
|
Violence |
|
|
|
|
Language |
|
|
|
|
Message |
|
 |
|
|
Social Behavior |
 |
 |
|
|
Commercialism |
|
|
|
|
Drug/Alcohol/Tobacco |
|
|
|
|
