This is a well-made, faithful version of the old Dickens warhorse, but it can't bring much freshness to a dusty tome. Roman Polanski, like Dickens, had a tempestuous, endangered childhood, and seems the ideal director, but this feels like an over-respectful trawl.

Ben Kingsley can't quite erase the memories of Alec Guinness in David Lean's 1948 classic, and with Jamie Foreman a distinctly unscary Bill Sikes, there's no great performance to anchor the piece. The film's dark, musty interiors are a treat but when the action moves outdoors, its Czech locations hardly have the feel of old London, though the country settings look impressively malevolent.