Bride and Prejudice (PG-13, 2005)

By director Gurinder Chadha, responsible for the great Bend it Like Beckham, BRIDE AND PREJUDICE is a pretty faithful retelling of Jane Austin's "Pride and Prejudice". Lalita (Aishwarya Rai) is the second oldest daughter of a well-to-do Indian family, celebrating the arranged engagement of their oldest to the wealthy and handsome Balraj Bingley (Naveen Andrews), an Indian living in Britain. He's come to meet his future wife, and he's brought his aristocratic sister Kiran (Indira Varma) and American buddy William Darcy (Martin Henderson). It's Darcy's first time in India, and he's having trouble adjusting. So when a huge musical number breaks out, he just doesn't feel comfortable jumping into the swirling throng and dancing. To Lalita, he comes off as aloof, and she dismisses him as a boorish American, more interested in making money than in the beautiful culture around him. As in Austin's novel, Lalita and Darcy repeatedly grow closer and draw apart.

Bride and Prejudice is a fluffy Bollywood-style musical romance that will be fun for teens and parents who can forgive some half-baked lyrics. The film is beautiful -- the musical bits are swirls of choreographed color, with dozens of synchronized dancers reminiscent of Busby Berkeley productions.

The music never quite rises to the level of the dancing, however, and the tepid English lyrics in particular grow tiring as the movie goes on, as. The actors are charming, though, and the inevitable crisis near the end of the film gives the movie a needed pick-up.

Studio: Miramax
Director: Gurinder Chadha
Cast: Aishwarya Rai, Martin Henderson, Naveen Andrews
Genre: Musical
Run time: 111 minutes
Theatrical release: February 11, 2005
DVD release: July 5, 2005
MPAA Rating: PG-13
MPAA explanation: some sexual references