Classic Rift

In “Great Expectations,” Charles Dickens’ English classic is updated to modern times, matching Gwyneth Paltrow and Ethan Hawke as a cold, rich Palm Beach girl and a poor artistic boy whose separate ambitions lead them both to New York City. (Rated R)

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“Great Expectations” isn’t quite “Romeo and Juliet.” But it is something teens had to read in class. And now it’s come to the big screen with some hot young actors and some fun young music.

“I guess it’s a trend now,” said Dana Hornbeak, 14, of Laguna Beach. “A lot of movie producers are redoing classic books. I think that’s really neat.”

Dana and her friend, Erin Henderson, 14, also from Laguna, hadn’t seen Ethan Hawke before and thought he did “a good job.” But they were more impressed with Brad Pitt’s ex-girlfriend, the super-thin and lovely Gwyneth Paltrow.

“She’s just so beautiful. She’s perfect for that part,” Dana said, adding that they made the movie’s saga “more romantic” than the book.

In the movie, Estella (Paltrow) and Finn (Hawke) first meet as children living in Florida. Finn, an orphan living with a flaky sister and her good-hearted boyfriend, is an artist with a soul so kindly that he helps a convicted murderer (Robert De Niro) elude capture. Estella is being raised in a rotting mansion by her eccentric aunt Nora Dinsmoor (Anne Bancroft), crazed after being jilted by her fiance at the last minute.

There is PG-level electricity between Estella and Finn from the moment their lips meet in a drinking fountain, PG-13 sparks when Dinsmoor sets them up on a date, and R-rated flames erupt when they reunite as adults in New York after Finn sketches Estella nude and they become lovers for a night. Vice-wise, almost every major character smokes.

Despite the appearance of the grizzled and felonious De Niro character, the movie was lighter than the book, which Dana recalled as much creepier. But the scenes of Paradiso Perduto, Dinsmoor’s neglected estate, were exactly what she had imagined. “It was in disarray, dark, and with stuff strewn all over the place. Her wedding stuff was still out,” she said. “It was a good interpretation of the book.”

The shift to modern times worked for most kids, but many still preferred the novel.

“The writing always has a lot more to it,” said Kirsten Wilson, 17, of Newport Beach. In some ways, the literal movie takes away meaning from the book, she said. “They tried too hard to make it real.”

“There’s nothing like just reading it,” agreed her friend Ryan Neal, 17, also of Newport.

Amanda Smith, 16, of Irvine hadn’t read the book but figured it would would be better, first because it isn’t a movie and second because it takes place in the past.

“It seems like the story line would have so much more than the movie showed,” Amanda said. What she enjoyed most about the movie was its visual style--from the moody photography of the overgrown, mossy mansion in Florida to Paltrow’s fashions and Hawke’s canvasses in New York.

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The movie’s surprise denouement, like the novel’s, centers on the identity of Finn’s secret benefactor. But those who hadn’t read the book said the pieces in the movie just didn’t add up. Kirsten and friend Megan Elliot, 17, of Newport Beach were disappointed with the ending, in which the couple reunites by chance at Paradiso Perduto years later to find that embers of their love still smolder. “It seems, like, unfinished,” Kirsten said.

Ryan preferred it that way. “It’s not like a Hollywood ending where everything works out all right. It’s better. You can use your imagination. They don’t go and get married.”

For the MTV generation, there was almost as much buzz preceding “Great Expectations” as “Romeo and Juliet” or “Titanic.” But maybe the expectations were too great. Hawke didn’t magnetize young fans like Leonardo DiCaprio, or even Matt Damon in “Good Will Hunting.”

“I wouldn’t see it again,” Ryan said. “It’s not like ‘Titanic.’ ”