Annihilation (2018)
Movie Watch
When a team of military scientists venture into a zone known as "the shimmer" in order to determine...
Jeff VanderMeer Area X Mutant Cellular biology
Moon (2009)
Movie Watch
Astronaut Sam Bell has a quintessentially personal encounter toward the end of his three-year stint...
Deadly Class
TV Show
A coming-of-age story set against the backdrop of late 1980s counterculture, which follows a...
Avengers: Infinity War (2018)
Movie Watch
Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, and the other Avengers join forces with the Guardians of the Galaxy...
Marvel Superhero MCU Superheroes
Gemini Man (2019)
Movie Watch
An ageing hitman discovers he has been manipulated by dark forces within the military-industrial...
Sunshine (2007)
Movie Watch
In the not-too-distant future, Earth's dying sun spells the end for humanity. In a last-ditch effort...
Gotham - Season 3
TV Season
Charting the rise of The Caped Crusader from his childhood days, also introducing us to a young...
Marco Polo
TV Show Watch
Marco Polo is an American drama web television series inspired by Marco Polo's early years in the...
Lee (2222 KP) rated The Personal History of David Copperfield (2019) in Movies
Jan 26, 2020
Dev Patel stars as Copperfield, the star and narrator of the story which charts his personal rise from rags to riches during Victorian England. We begin though with Copperfield as an adult, recounting his life story to a small theatre audience as he steps into a painted backdrop behind him on stage, transporting him, and us, to the location of his birth. He enters the family home and continues to narrate from within the scene as his mother struggles with labour. It’s just one of a variety of wonderfully inventive storytelling devices that the movie employs throughout.
While the chaos of childbirth plays out, the first in a long line of star-studded supporting characters arrives, David’s eccentric Aunt Betsey (Tilda Swinton), and we immediately get a glimpse of the kind of humour Iannucci has brought to the story as she sets about upsetting Peggotty, the family housekeeper, and declares that the baby will definitely be a girl.
From there, the storyline is fast paced, weaving between locations as David grows up - from an overturned boat house in Yarmouth, to the chaos of London and the difficulties of working in a bottle factory, and on to the Kent countryside. Along the way we meet yet more big names, including Peter Capaldi, Ben Whishaw, Hugh Laurie, Paul Whitehouse and Benedict Wong. Not to mention countless other recognisable faces.
The Personal History of David Copperfield is a real mixing pot of beautiful visuals, quirky humour and larger than life characters. Realism has been ditched in order to deliver a whimsical tale that is accessible to all ages. Unfortunately though, it just didn’t work for me. Aside from the opening scenes, and the occasional moment later on, the humour didn’t land at all. In fact, I got more laughs from the incredible movie Parasite that I saw just the night before seeing this.
Dev Patel, always impressive and enjoyable in everything he does, is charming as David Copperfield and is definitely the standout. Benedict Wong and Hugh Laurie were both enjoyable, but I felt the others all suffered from a script that just wasn’t strong enough. A beautifully shot movie, bold and bright and vibrant, but instantly forgettable.