Like William Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet, Great Expectations from Charles Dickens seems to bubble up once every generation or so, offering an adaptive look at our times. This time, the reliable Brit Mike Newell (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Love in the Time of Cholera) takes the helm as yet another young orphaned Pip (Toby Irvine) finds himself making his way through society to become a gentleman of sorts thanks to assistance from an unknown benefactor. It is only when the youngster grows into himself, in this case in the form of Jeremy Irvine, and faces love and loss, that everything becomes clear to him. I’ve never been convinced, though, that his great lesson matches up as well against the great love story. Maybe Newell’s got a few tricks up his sleeve to sway us one way or the other. Opens Nov. 15 at Mariemont Theatre. (PG-13) Not screened in time for review
