Nicholas Nickleby

There's a bevy of hiss-worthy baddies to pick up the dramatic slack, beginning with Plummer's wonderfully nefarious Uncle Ralph.

The film is enriched by an imaginatively mixed cast of antic spirits, headed by Christopher Plummer as the subtlest and most complexly evil Uncle Ralph I've ever seen in the many film and stage adaptations of the work.

A beguiling evocation of the quality that keeps Dickens evergreen: the exuberant openness with which he expresses our most basic emotions.

A terrific adaptation with a delightful cast and a speedy pace that defies belief, considering its lengthy source.

With Dickens' words and writer-director Douglas McGrath's even-toned direction, a ripping good yarn is told.