
Director: Roman Polanski
Cast: Ben Kingsley, Barney Clark

The website and trailer in English is here ... 
www.sony.com/olivertwist

My thoughts ...

-- In my humble opinion, the director should have "exploited" the drama ... the problem (if any) is that ...
... the funny moments are not comical enough 
e.g., when Fagin and the children demonstrated their game of "stealing" ...
... and the scary moments are not menacing enough 
e.g., the asking for "MORE" scene in the beginning ...
e.g., the dog ... 
Without manipulating the emotions of the audience, the film looks great cinematographically (though it might be too colourful/clean for effectively conveying the grimness/darkness of the society then) ... but it fails to grip the audience emotionally ...

-- Well, enough people have commended on the performance of Ben Kingsley (as Fagin) or Jamie Foreman (as Bill Sikes) ... but allow me to also commend on the performance of Barney Clark too (as Oliver) ... he does have a good range of emotions ... and yes, he does have a melancholy look ... some scenes are especially memorable
e.g., the scene when he was drunk
e.g., the scene when he was shot
However, unlike other recent child actors (e.g., in The Sixth Sense, in Finding Neverland, in The Return, etc), there is no 1 particular scene that is so tearful that it will wrench the audience's hearts (except for the gunshot scene probably) ... is it because Oliver comes across as a "strong" character who does not need the audience to worry for him??? or is it because of problems with the director's approach ... his story telling is less than gripping?? 

In essence, I want to defend and commend that Barney Clark can act ... 

but I guess he does not have a "trademark" scene in this film which steals the audience ... so he will likely miss nominations for any awards ... mainly due to not enough "heart wrenching" moments ...

Interview with Barney Clark
www.bbc.co.uk/films/2005/...view.shtml
www.cinecon.com/news.php?id=0509307

-- There are a few other scenes that are good too ...
e.g., when Bill was about to club Nancy
e.g., the final scene when Bill missed the jump ...

-- Overall, it is a simple piece of work to understand ...
-- It is faithful to the book ... 

Conclusion:
It just comes across as a watchable film ... 
in my humble opinion, there could be more "drama"/"emotional scenes" that wrench the audience's hearts ...