A delightful and moving film based on a classic, Nicholas Nickleby deserves to be a hit. But if you are one of those people who will want to see on screen every major character from Charles Dickens' 750-page-long novel, stay away from it.

You might as well get the video version of the nine-hour play of the same name produced by the Royal Shakespeare Company over a decade ago.

Meanwhile, there is plenty to enjoy and admire in writer and director Douglas McGrath's film that does justice to many of the elements in the novel dealing with injustice, cruelty, and exploitation. But like the novel, the movie also celebrates the triumph of good over evil.

McGrath has also assembled some of the finest character actors in Britain, and cast the Canadian Christopher Plummer as the evil businessman who is blinded by ambition and greed. It is perhaps the actor's strongest  performance ever in a career spanning over four decades. 

McGrath, whose adaptation of Jane Austen's Emma was well regarded and a medium-sized hit in 1996, notes that the task of adapting Dicken's sprawling novel was even more difficult than bringing Emma to the screen. The huge number of characters in the book clearly posed a problem.

But he just could not resist Dickens

In Dickens,  McGrath notes in his introduction to a new edition of the novel, he found gripping plots, sparkling dialogue and numerous ideas for a better world. 'No wonder filmmakers and playwrights return to Dickens with the dedication of a stalker,' McGrath writes. 

Greed, exploitation of children and the vulnerability of the poor are as pertinent today as they were in 1830s England. And families do continue to exploit their weaker members as they did in Dickens' times. To McGrath's credit, he deals with these issues without turning the film preachy. In fact, in many places, it is a delightful production.

In a season devoid of solid family entertainment,  can be highly recommended.   

McGrath has taken a 160-year-old book and adapted it such that we have a briskly moving and deeply felt melodrama. But there are also times when a character engages our attention and he is suddenly gone (as in the case of Nathan Lane) that we, like the famous Dickens character Oliver, want some more.

The film, which was showing on about 30 of screens for several weeks, is slowly expanding, benefiting from mostly positive reviews and a good word of mouth. Soon it could show on over 100 screens, hoping eventually to reach about 900 screens. Bigger films like The Two Towers are showing on more than 4,000 screens.

The story revolves around Nicholas (Charlie Hunnam), who is 19 when his father dies, after losing the family fortune to speculation. Nicholas takes his mother and sister Kate (Romola Garai) to London to ask the help of his stockbroker uncle, Ralph (Christopher Plummer).

Ralph finds shop work for the two women and sends Nicholas to be a teacher at a boarding school for unwanted boys. 'Is the world as bad as this?' asks Nicholas soon after arriving at the school, only to discover it is indeed worse. It is run by the abusive Wackford Squeers (Jim Broadbent) and his wife (Juliet Stevenson) who is even more sadistic.

Nicholas continues to be horrified by the conditions in the school, He is also appalled by the Squeers' treatment of Smike (Jamie Bell who played the title role in the hit Billy Elliot ), a crippled young man who is made to undergo awful treatment after his benefactors stop paying his fees.

After rebelling against Squeers, Nicholas flees with Smike, intending to make his way to London, where Ralph has forced Kate into a degrading position. But before the final confrontation, McGrath allows him to meet with Vincent Crummies, an impresario, and his associates. Lane, yet another actor who is an asset to the film, appears not only as the story's narrator but also as Crummies.

Though (almost) every actor, including Broadbent, has given a riveting performance, Plummer has the best moments. Underplaying his viciousness and shameless greed for the most part, he has created one of the coolest evil characters in movie history. Yet, as in the book, we cannot really bring ourselves to hate him.

McGrath says he admired in the novel that 'the man we have come to hate the most, the man whose downfall we have prayed for most fervently, is exposed and given his punishment. And it evokes from us no happiness, no victory, only a sort of pitying sorrow.' It was important for McGrath to retain that interesting quality in the movie, too, and he does succeed in being faithful to the novel.

Given the terrific cast of veteran actors, it is not easy for a relative newcomer to shine. That is the problem with Hunnam. He looks terrific and there are times we feel a bit frustrated that he cannot fully share with us the pain his character undergoes. He is quite good in the scenes in which he confronts Squeers. He is also reasonably emotive in the scenes he realises the treachery of his uncle.

Yet, his performance could have been better. His voice doesn't command much attention and at times, his emoting needed a stronger push from the director. The romantic interlude featuring Hunnam and Anne Hathaway (who was promising in the hit movie The Princess Diaries) is another weakness in the movie. There is hardly any chemistry between the two.

That apart, the film is engaging. Brisk pace, haunting score and excellent visuals enhance its appeal.