#tl dr watch Emma 2020 if you have the chance

[lucystillintheskywithdiamonds]

Is Emma a good adaptation? It's my favorite novel by Austen

Personally, I loved it! The music,  the costumes, the cast..the cinematography, the comedy. I didn't expect to like it a lot but I consider it my fav adaptation of Emma so far. A delightful movie. I like the way Autumn de Wilde and her creative team  (an all female one,  and it positively shows IMO) updates the source material a bit adding new personal touches, but it's done in what I find is a much more humble, vibrant, respectful.. less pretentious way than in the latest 'Little Women', for example.

For someone who loves the book, I can suppose that the cast should feel right, but these things can be subjective too.  The actress playing Emma is particularly convincing to me as the annoying spoiled lady who also is weirdly cute. I don't know how to explain it.. she isn't a perfect, angelic, innocent beauty. Her big, dark, very obvious eyes seem to, somehow,  give her, alone,  something that I find lacking in other Emmas. Honestly, I remember watching the trailer and being like 'omg she has such an annoying face! This is amazing! I want to watch this', lmao Emma is the kind of female character that (and Austen herself predicted this because she was a genius) most of fandoms must hate because she pretty much is everything those people love ...in male characters. In fact, she more or less is the female equivalent of Darcy (and I love both). 

This Knightley also is pretty good. The chemistry between them is great and their dynamic is believable. It's funny because I read some people complain he's too young but,  actually,  the actor is 37 just like the character ^  and really, even if he looks younger than his age at times, isn't that perception somehow accurate to the book since Emma herself thinks that about him? I think the problem is hollywood always had this habit of making characters from the classics look  older than they really are; or it really is the people from the 60s/90s (thus the actors who have previoustly played these characters)  who often looked older than their age. Either way,  I find he's just like I imagine him in the novel and while they keep the age difference,  I also don't think it must be a major plot point. 

Of course, when you read the novel first you are going to notice all the differences too and those might become flaws of the movie. I'm going to mention the biggest one. 

(*Anyway, being mostly a movie about Emma and her dynamics with Harriet and Knightley, I understand some differences because time is limited so the changes are made to serve this chosen focus in attempt to compensate for the fact it's a long story with many characters, and it's not easy to translate everything on screen. I find Emma is one of the hardest novels to adapt on screen.*)

/// SPOILER for those who didn't read the book under the cut //////

One thing book fans may find disappointing is the fact there is very little of the Jane/Frank subplot.  It's like they deleted their scenes. I still noticed vague hints of them because I knew about them already,  but there is none of Austen giving us clever clues that both us and the characters completely misuranderstand.  They kind of are the spock/uhura of the novel with their secret relationship subplot, lol. They are an interesting pair with their own complex story we don't know all the details of.. I'd watch a spin off about them, tbh.  l think some people dislike him because of his apparent flirting with Emma being surely cruel towards poor Jane, but in the novel I find his character adorably hilarious in his being so over the top with his continuous attempts at misdirection to keep his secret, and it's all the more amusing in the end when you read about how much he actually adores Jane and she has him wrapped around her finger. I have this fondness for him when you can just feel his happiness when he's finally free to express his admiration for her.  That secret piano gift? That's so cute because he makes everyone think he's so vain to go to London for a haircut when he actually wanted to buy a piano for his girl knowing how much she loves playing it. 

The Harriet/Robert Martin subplot also gets little screentime but I find them more cute in the movie? He legit is a PUPPY. Harriet herself is more likeable to me than she usually is and I like they focus on her friendship with Emma.