Catch Up with Bicentenary Challenge

So I started the Bicentenary Challenge for Pride and Prejudice, but I haven't posted any of the reviews from the last 4 months because I just joined. Luckily, I'm a nerd awesome reader/Jane Austen fan and have read and watched a number of P&P-esque materials since January. So let's launch into them!

January: Lost in Austen (2008 movie)

Amanda Price lives in modern day London and is a lover of Jane Austen, especially Pride and Prejudice. One day she discovers none other than Lizzy Bennet in her apartment. Apparently, the closet in Amanda's bathroom that she has never been able to pry open leads to a closet in the Bennet household. And just like that, Amanda and Elizabeth switch places. What ensues is Amanda's disastrous journey through what should be the story of Pride and Prejudice.


The film was too long, first and foremost. It's almost 2.5 hours long! I kept waiting for it to end and it had ample opportunity to do so, but it kept dragging along. For a woman who declares that she knows the story of P&P backwards, Amanda sure does a good job of messing it up! Although she changes some things for the good, she foils a lot of plot points and is annoying to boot. All in all, I wouldn't recommend it. If it were an hour shorter, I might say try it, but it's too long and frustrating to any true Jane Austen fan.

February The Three Colonels by Jack Caldwell
See review.

March Pride and Prejudice (1995 BBC Miniseries)
My friend and I decided to watch the full miniseries in HD one day. It was epic. I mean come on! Colin Firth in HD?? It was like he was right there smoldering in the living room.

Is there anything I can add to the fact that I adore this miniseries? It's so well done! Colin Firth is an amazing, brooding, proud Darcy and Jennifer Ehle is the perfect Elizabeth Bennet. She embodies exactly what I think Lizzy was, intelligent, witty, funny, with grace and poise. She knows how to marshal her feelings while remaining optimistic and not taking life and society too seriously. The one complaint I have is with the actress who plays Jane. Although I think her acting and character for the eldest Miss Bennet is superb, I think Lizzy is clearly the better looking of the two and Jane is supposed to be the "beauty". Other than that, it is, in my humble opinion, the best adaption of P&P.

April "The Lizzy Bennet Diaries" (online series)
Through these 100 video diaries, we meet Lizzy Bennet, the middle sister of the Bennet family, who lives in modern day California. Lizzy is finishing up her master's degree in communications and living at home with her overbearing mother, nonchalant father, and two sisters, Jane and Lydia.

This is truly an enjoyable modern look at what Lizzy Bennet would be like and be doing in our day and age. The different characters were fun and quirky. I enjoyed how they adapted the story to fit into our society, such as the scandal created by Lydia and Wickham. I came into the series when it was nearing the end, so I watched most of it in big bunches, which I preferred. On top of the biweekly youtube videos, there are also Tweets from various members of the story. I would certainly suggest this to any lovers of P&P!