Charles Dickens’ third novel, “Nicholas Nickleby,” a hefty 850 pages and the subject of several multi-volume mini-series, has been trimmed down to a comparatively meager 130-minute feature-length film by writer/director Douglas McGrath. And herein lies its only fault: it bites off more than it can chew.
Without the room for full characterization of the plethora of excellent supporting players (some of England’s best showed up for this movie), the audience can’t help but feel rushed along towards the conclusion. That being said, “Nicholas Nickleby” is still a very good movie, and McGrath displays a similarly deft hand behind the camera as he did in 1998’s “Emma.”
“Nicholas Nickleby” follows the adventures of its titular protagonist, Nicholas (Charlie Hunnam, “Abandon”), a young, hard-working lad equipped with a finely developed sense of right and wrong. With his father dead and his fortune squandered, Nicholas is left to care for his mother and sister and forced to turn to his evil and greedy uncle Ralph, an ice-cold Christopher Plummer (“A Beautiful Mind”).
Uncle Ralph sends Nicholas to teach at a run down school for orphans and misfits, ruled by a wicked schoolmaster, Wackford Squeers (Jim Broadbent, “Moulin Rouge”) and his wife (Juliet Stevenson, “Emma”). Meanwhile, he boards Nicholas’ mother and sister, Kate, in London with the intention of marrying Kate (Romola Garai) to a slimy business partner in exchange for his investments.
Back at the school, Nicholas is appalled by the awful conditions and eventually escapes to seek his own fortune, taking with him the downtrodden, good-hearted orphan Smike (Jaime Bell, “Billy Elliott”). They quickly find themselves wandering around an England populated with an abundance of Dickensian characters — colorful, eccentric people of varying degrees of morality.
In one of the film’s best scenes, Nicholas and Smike join a wandering theater troupe headed by Mr. Crummles, played by the wonderful Nathan Lane (“The Birdcage”). A humorous respite from the melodrama, the theater troupe performs an interesting version of “Romeo and Juliet” and touts along a crowd-pleasing “10 year-old girl” who isn’t quite what she seems. Alan Cumming (“Spy Kids”) also has a brief and funny role as a talented but overlooked member of the band.
After their brief sojourn with the theater, Nicholas and Smike return to London and attempt to free Nicholas’ mother and sister from the yoke of Uncle Ralph in order to support them on their own labor. More colorful characters are introduced, including a love interest for Nicholas, Madeline Bray (Anne Hathaway, “The Princess Diaries”) and the chuckling, good-hearted brothers Cherryble, who employ Nicholas. After throwing in some wonderfully melodramatic plot twists (like dark secrets and long-lost fathers) the film moves rapidly along toward its final showdown with the unrepentantly evil Uncle Ralph.
The world of Dickens is lovingly recreated in this excellent period movie, and the magnificent performances leave the audience longing for more. Unfortunately, the scant 130-minute running time is just not long enough to satisfactorily incorporate all of the sub-plots and one is left to marvel at what an excellent mini-series this would have made with such an outstanding cast.
