At the Movies - 'Nicholas Nickleby'

The Associated Press

What film can you take your 10-year-old to, as well as your grandmother? Where else can you start a conversation with your kids about how bad things can happen to good people, and the pluck that is needed to overcome life's challenges?

The answer: "Nicholas Nickleby," Charles Dickens' sprawling tale of child abuse, greed, lechery and the eternal battle between good and evil.

Douglas McGrath, who made his directorial debut with an adaptation of Jane Austen's "Emma" in 1996, returns to 19th century England to write and direct the story of a young man who loses his father and must grow up all too quickly in an uncaring world.

Charlie Hunnam, seen earlier in 2002 in the Katie Holmes star vehicle "Abandon," is Nicholas, a noble young man who defends widows and children, a character Dickens created in his quest to drum up outrage against the plight of poor children in England's factories, orphanages and boarding schools.

It all comes back to the family, according to Dickens; families can clasp us dear or break our spirits.

Nicholas' family must endure not only his father's death but also his uncle's treachery. But the love and kindness his father engendered in Nicholas enables him to forge ahead.

At 19, Nicholas needs to support his mother and sister. He turns to his Uncle Ralph, a London financier, for help. But for Ralph (Christopher Plummer) money -- not family -- comes first.

He ships Nicholas off to teach at a boarding school, the only apparent function of which is to starve and beat young boys. Shocked by the brutality there, Nicholas delivers a few whacks of his own to the cruel headmaster, rescues a servant boy (Jamie Bell, who starred in "Billy Elliot") and flees back to London to reunite his family.

Nicholas then discovers that his uncle has been using his comely young sister as a lure for wealthy investors. He forces his uncle to stop, igniting a promise of revenge.

"I will strike him until he can be struck no more!" fumes Uncle Ralph. "I shall put his ruin ahead of my own business!"

It's hard to tell who is more mean-spirited -- Ralph Nickleby, headmaster Wackford Squeers (Jim Broadbent) or his wife (Juliet Stevenson). All three leap into their villainy with unabashed gusto.

Be warned -- some of "Nicholas Nickleby's" settings are truly Dickensian and include horrid, freezing rooms where young boys shiver in caskets of hay.

Hunnam, who will appear in Anthony Minghella's adaptation of the Charles Frazier novel "Cold Mountain" in 2003, had a more difficult task, and his Nicholas is overly earnest much of the time. But that minor complaint is overshadowed by the antics of the film's all-star cast.

In a bit part as a traveling actor, Tony winner Nathan Lane -- who starred in "The Producers," which won a record 12 Tonys -- conjures up a riff on the theater world, a welcome respite from the film's heavier subjects.

Barry Humphries, best known as the indomitable Dame Edna, produces chuckles every time he appears as Mrs. Crummles. And Anne Hathaway (from "The Princess Diaries") is luminous as Madeline Bray, a young woman about to be traded off into marriage to pay back her father's debt.

McGrath -- who wrote, directed and starred in 2000's "Company Man" -- and cinematographer Dick Pope (whose credits include "Topsy-Turvy" and "The Way of the Gun") matched the film's look to each scene's mood.

The sooty grays of London -- Dickens' beloved city is a rough, raw, hungry world -- contrast with the soft green pastures of Devonshire, where Nicholas grew up.

"Nicholas Nickleby," released by United Artists, is rated PG for thematic material involving some violent action and a childbirth scene.

Running time: 132 minutes.

Three stars out of four.