In a gritty retelling of the Dickens's classic, Twist takes Oliver and the Artful Dodger out of the poorhouse and onto the streets, where junk is the currency and hustling is the game.
Apart from the somewhat novel conceit of turning Dickens into the stuff of a Gus Van Sant picture (see My Own Private Idaho), there's nothing original, nor compelling, about Twist.
– Steven Rea,
Philadelphia Inquirer,
8 Jul 2004
rotten:
Cuaron ran into trouble by being overly faithful to Dickens' story, changing almost nothing except the setting.
– Ruthe Stein,
San Francisco Chronicle,
23 Jul 2004
rotten:
The movie's far too stagy and pretentious.
– Desson Thomson,
Washington Post,
30 Jul 2004
rotten:
The only thing funny about Twist is how seriously it takes its own pompous preposterousness.
– Tom Maurstad,
Dallas Morning News,
5 Aug 2004
rotten:
One of the glummest recent attempts to drag a classic story into the 21st century.