This seems like a film made with Jane Austen kind of elements but doesn't relate at all to the 'Mansfield Park' novel that Jane Austen wrote. It has no idea what the novel is about and I think that if you are adapting a book for the screen that it should be at least faithful to the spirit of the book. And that certainly means not casting Billie Piper as Fanny Price. Whoever thought of that one deserves a raspberry. I'm sure I was laughing in the wrong places.

I watched it expecting it to get better but sank lower and lower in my seat. One of Austen's more profound novels had been turned into flavourless and unrewarding entertainment (if that is even the word). TV and film producers for ages have been underestimating the general audience and this Austen travesty is another slap in the face. It is a great shame that the quality of British television plummets year after year.

Gah, what can I say about this adaptation. The good? Well…it was better than the Patricia Rozema version! And…a couple of the actors were well-cast. And…that's about it. Yup, it was a dud. Patricia Rozema made a terrible movie, but you could tell she cared about the movie she made. This one…it was as if their hearts weren't in it. The script was dull and the budget was almost nonexistent. Everything took place in the same couple of rooms or on the lawn at Mansfield Park. That means no Portsmouth and no Prices, other than Fanny and William, and no trip to Sotherton. And the casting and characterizations…most were decent (with a couple bizarre exceptions) but nothing amazing.

The bizarre casting choice for me was definitely Billie Piper. This is a horrible thing for me to say, but I thought she looked more like a prostitute than Fanny Price, with the cleavage, the bleach blond hair (but still black eyebrows!), and the buck tooth veneers. The screenwriter really didn't seem to know what to do with her character either. She had moments where she was quiet and shy and observant and others where she was running around laughing like Patricia Rozema's Fanny. They wanted to stay truer to the book character, I guess, but were still afraid to keep Fanny really as she was. Really, the only compliment I can give is that she and the actress who played young Fanny really looked alike.

I guess if you're really turned off by the old-school production values in the 1983 version or you can't find a copy, it would be better to watch this version than the 1999 one. That version was so horrible though that anything looks better in comparison. I hope one day we get a new full miniseries version that features the "real" Fanny Price as she is in the book.

This is a really disappointing version of a clever book, with inappropriate characterisations and appalling acting from its lead actress. As Fanny Price, Billie Piper is just wrong in every respect - too modern, too flirtatious, and too aware of her station.

However there are some compensations, even if the characters are portrayed with little reference to the original book - Douglas Hodge, Jemma Redgrave, and Maggie O'Neill are pretty good, while Blake Ritson has a decent stab at the role of Edmund.

It just doesn't feel right or have the correct sense of period. It's a bit without character, and a missed opportunity.