'Oliver Twist' lacks the Roman Polanski twist

Two words for Roman Polanski: Freddie Highmore.

"Oliver Twist," Charles Dickens' classic about an orphan's adventures — and misadventures — in 19th-century England, can survive a lot of things.

It can survive without color (David Lean's 1948 "Oliver Twist").

Columbia Pictures 'Oliver Twist' C The verdict: Where's the Polanski twist? Director: Roman Polanski Starring: Ben Kingsley, Barney Clark, Jamie Foreman, Frank Finlay, Harry Eden Run time: 130 minutes Release date: September 30, 2005 Rating: PG-13 for disturbing images. See showtimes On the web Official movie site View the trailer    Trailers require Quicktime Rate 'Oliver Twist'   Go see it   Make it a matinee   Wait to rent   Don't bother Voter Limit: Once per Hour View Poll Results

It can survive a Broadway musical (Carol Reed's 1968 "Oliver!")

It can even survive being Disney-ized as a feature about an animated cat (1988's "Oliver & Company," with Billy Joel providing the voice of the Artful Dodger).

But it can't survive without an Oliver, and Barney Clark, the boy actor Polanski has cast in his version of Dickens' tale, has about as much presence as a piece of chalk — unlike Master Highmore, the gifted young star of "Finding Neverland" and "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory."

The case could be made that Polanski intended Oliver to be a blank slate, an innocent at the mercy of the vagaries of fate and human nature. If so, perhaps he should've remade "Black Beauty" instead. A horse would have more personality than this kid.

The film begins with Oliver being brought to the orphanage by the pompous beadle, Mr. Bumble (Jeremy Swift). No one's singing about glorious anything at this workhouse. The grim walls are inscribed with "God is Holy" and "God is Truth." Nothing here about God's love or compassion.

When Oliver famously asks for more gruel, he's summarily packed off to work for an undertaker. He escapes and, seven days and 70 miles later, arrives in London.

Now, you think, the movie will pick up. All those bustling city streets, filled with pickpockets, thieves, thugs and the occasional gentleman. But it doesn't.

However, Oliver himself is picked up by a pickpocket extraordinaire, the Artful Dodger (Harry Eden), who takes him back to Fagin's (Ben Kingsley) den of youthful thieves. There, Oliver experiences more, well, positive reinforcement than he's had in his entire life.

However, the first time he ventures into the streets with the Dodger, he's wrongly accused of thievery, brought before a magistrate and then taken home by Mr. Brownlow (Edward Hardwicke), the wealthy old gentleman who had been his mistaken accuser. The boy experiences several more reversals of fortune before the movie ends and everyone gets what's coming to them, good or bad.

Polanski has said he made the movie for his school-age children. Looked at in that light, the movie has a certain jolly blandness. It's safe, it's presentable. But nothing more.

Kingsley gives a rich performance, drooling over his jewels and capering with his lads. He's a wily old thing and not to be trusted, but he shows Oliver a little tenderness and, in doing so, humanizes the role.

Polanski spent his childhood on the run from the Nazis, which may explain why the movie de-emphasizes Fagin's Jewishness (along with Shylock, he's one of the most disturbing examples of anti-Semitism in great literature). True, Kingsley still dresses and sometimes behaves like the stock (and quite horrible) caricature of a Jew in 19th-century melodrama — the prominent nose, the matted red hair, the wheedling manner. But aside from a few "oys" emitted at the very end, Kingsley's Fagin is basically a nondenominational semi-villain. And language you could find in the novel, like "avaricious old Jew," has been changed to "avaricious old skeleton."

Jamie Foreman brings a surly maliciousness to Bill Sykes (though he can't erase the memory of Oliver Reed in "Oliver!"). As Nancy, Leanne Rowe initially seems miscast. She's not traditionally pretty in the way we usually think of the character — she's buxom, with luminous Toni Collette eyes. But the performance grows on you, and after a while you can't see the role being played any other way.

As the Dodger, Eden lacks artfulness and he's not in the least bit dodgy. In fact, all the boys are disappointing, given to mugging and fake giggles. Far better is the estimable Turbo, a bull mastiff who has star quality as Sykes' dog, Bullseye.

The cinematography by Pawel Edelman (he, too, won an Oscar for Polanski's "The Pianist") is stunning, as is the production design. In one memorable sequence, we follow Oliver and the Dodger from the fashionable broad streets of the wealthy to increasingly miserable back alleys — muddy, dark, rat-infested places where the humans are the same color as the slime. And Rachel Portman's score has the clarion sound we expect from all things Dickensian.

But when was the last time you walked out of a Polanski picture talking mostly about the sets and music?