Michelle Mitton

The dialogue was mumbling and weak. Also, it was 95% profanity, which never gives any depth to a script, but is used as a cover up for linguistic weakness (as in real life). Then there was the absolutely lame story that just couldn't produce any tension or interest. Oh! And then second, irrelevant plot line which was an even worse offender. Characters were flat and interesting as well. We gave up after 45 minutes. I googled the plot to see what was happening and fast forwarded through the last half and cannot understand how this movie got made

Choppy and poorly edited. It's hard to understand many of the lines due to heavy accents and the constant rush and tumble of action as if the actors were rushing out in the middle of a costume change. The set felt as if it were small and made of cardboard with an Alice in Wonderland aura. It's a difficult book to squeeze into a small time frame and it feels as if it's bursting out at the seams in over the top displays that, rather than giving life to Dickens' work, are distracting. And, as said by others, there are many poor casting decisions--not just in the confusion that it creates, but Jane Mudstone is too tall and they try to compensate with odd camera angels, Dev Patel shows up too early as a "boy" and good actors aren't given enough to work with, being only on screen for a few moments. It would have been better to find less well known faces so their faces weren't a distraction. Mr. Dick is the exception.