My expectations for this movie weren’t great, but I still ended up feeling disappointed by this un-creatively dramatised screen version of Dickens’ classic novel.

Great Expectations is a Mike Newell-directed adaptation starring Ralph Fiennes as Magwitch, Helena Bonham Carter as Miss Havisham, War Horse’s Jeremy Irvine as Pip and Holliday Grainger as Estella. The story needs no explanation, but in case you haven’t read the book or seen any of the dozen other movie adaptations, it deals with issues of class, family and human relationships as the young Pip rises in the world and reaches towards his dream girl, the haughty Estella, only to have the bottom pulled out from under him.

With the exception of Jason Flemyng as Joe Gargery, flat acting is a millstone around the film’s neck. In theory, Bonham-Carter would have made a great Havisham; in reality, she just ends up being her usual caricature of herself. Even Little Britain’s David Walliams, in a tiresome appearance as Uncle Pumblechook, can’t save this ship from sinking into a fog as dull as the one in the opening scene.

Feeling more like a telemovie or a multi-part series, Great Expectations begs the question: “Do we really need another faithful retelling of a story that’s already been told and retold umpteen times?” (Answer: No.)

This movie will best please school children – the PG rating makes it great for parents and kids – and classicists with teddy bears named Mr Darcy.