carriemcsmith I have read this book so many times because I love the intricate told story of the soul, vanity, of a young man and how he becomes corrupt over time. I don't agree with the negative reviews of the movie, of course the movie is never as good as a book, but I thought this movie did capture the book very well. I loved Ben Barnes as Dorian, and thought he was the PERFECT actor to play Dorian Gray. He also showed depth in the role, and gave the character a multi-faceted personality. As a real fan of the book, I loved this movie and thought it was very well done. Hopefully, I did not give away any spoilers! I also thought the other characters were well developed and similar to the book characters! I loved this movie!

Mosquitha I really enjoyed this film, I do not agree with the bad reviews some viewers left.Its atmosphere is very dark and Gothic, so it helps if you like these qualities in a film. Splendid costumes and settings, and very good acting all around. Dorian Gray is perfect as a smooth faced naive high society boy who slowly gets corrupted.There are quite a few diversions to the original story. I have read the book quite a few years back and it' s one of my favourites. Having said that, I found the changes to the story in this film very plausible and interesting. There have been so many films about Dorian Gray, so I am not against a version that changes something, as it still keeps the values and ideas of the book in mind.

SnoopyStyle Dorian Gray (Ben Barnes) is a young naive man arriving in Victorian London to live in his newly inherited mansion. Artist Basil Hallward (Ben Chaplin) befriends the newcomer. The cold-hearted Lord Henry Wotton (Colin Firth) leads him astray especially from his love of sweet young actress Sibyl Vane (Rachel Hurd-Wood). Basil paints him a portrait and he proclaims a deal for his soul.This is a cold stiff unimaginative movie. Ben Barnes is barely a pretty picture but he is certainly not much more. His character is not interesting enough to be compelling. The movie has no excitement and barely any tension. It limps along with as little drama as possible. Colin Firth plays with so much anger in his eyes that I find none of it appealing. If he was charming, then I could see the appeal. Everything in this movie moves at a tired pace. It is moderately watchable... barely. There are problems inherit in the story. Sibyl Vane comes and goes so quickly that their love feels superficial. The relationship doesn't have any time to develop. Rebecca Hall has slightly better chemistry as Emily Wotton. Her character is slightly more complex and most importantly has more time. Overall, the movie just isn't very interesting.

Rodrigo Amaro Read the book. Seriously, read the book. Did I tell you to read the book? Do it. Now! It's not that this free adaptation is bad, it's just a case of taking an excellent piece of literature and transforming into something a little hollow, subverted to accommodate people who don't read books and don't have imagination, instead of just translating into a classical fashion which is a pleasure to see but the majority find it old-fashioned. If reading is really not your style (and chances are you're not even reading this review) then watch the 1945 film version directed by Albert Lewin, a true classic.The story is the same: Dorian Gray (Ben Barnes) wants to keep with his youth and beauty after seeing how gorgeous he was portrayed by friend artist Basil (Ben Chaplin) in a magnificent portrait and realizing the tragic truth that is to grow old, poisoned words courtesy of cynic Lord Henry Wotton (Colin Firth) who keeps telling the boy to live life to the fullest. A pact is made: he sells his soul, the portrait becomes an old and decaying figure while Mr. Gray keeps forever young, indulging himself with pleasures of the flesh. But tragedy, misery and sorrow follows those great moments, hitting hard on his conscience and decomposing the beautiful face that lies in the painting. Until here, it's OK. All the famous characters were there, the fore-mentioned and also Sybil Vane, her brother James, the loyal butler, etc. But they excluded some and added some to create a different effect, signs of modernity. Some work interestingly as a way to break conventions (this time, Dorian has affairs with both men and women, in the novel he is adored by men, specially his acquaintances but there's no indication of deeper relationships); others are there to create a sense of horror non present in the Wilde's work. It would be a greater film if director Oliver Parker wouldn't turn this into a MTVesque kind of project, poorly edited and strangely written, throwing the eloquence, the tasty dialogs and the wit of one of the greatest novels of all time, a powerful criticism of the moralistic Victorian Era. It's a weird movie that has admirable moments. The only thing this version has that it's better than the 1945's film is the actor playing Dorian. Everything's perfect in that film except for Hurd Hatfield playing the title role. He was classy but it's not someone you would imagine as being ridiculously beautiful like Ben Barnes is. Although playing such role is probably the worst curse that can ever happen to an actor (Hatfield almost doesn't have any other role), since we're dealing with a character that just happens to be handsome, do everything that pleases him and there's no great pleasure or challenge in playing such role, the hedonism part was well captured here and this Dorian seemed to enjoy life more than the other Dorian's I've seen. And let's face it: Barnes is a watchable Dorian. However, good acting wasn't much of a positive point here from almost anyone, and even great names like Firth can disappoint. Rebecca Hall manages to rise above and delivers good moments as Wotton's daughter, appearing in last third of the movie. It's a little impossible to do great harm to a literary classic such as "The Portrait of Dorian Gray" is, and the movie doesn't fail all that much. It's decent despite its strangeness and problems - it was really bizarre seeing the story jumping until the 1910's. OK version, doesn't replace the novel, so if you're thinking of skipping it and watch this instead because you have a test to do, you're gonna flunk big time. 6/10