[6] In 1989, as the Bougainville Civil War rages on in Papua New Guinea, Mr. Watts, the only white man left on the island after a blockade, re-opens the local school.

He begins reading the Charles Dickens novel Great Expectations, which transfixes a young girl named Matilda.

Later, Matilda finds the book wrapped up in a mat at home, and realised her disapproving mother, Dolores, hid it there.

Matilda visits the Charles Dickens museum and reconciles with her imaginary version of Pip, and cries, letting out all her emotion about the previous events.

[10] Dennis Harvey of Variety said that the film "Like fellow Kiwi Peter Jackson, Andrew Adamson has followed a run of large-scale fantasy entertainments (two "Shreks", two "Narnias") by adapting an inspirational-uplift literary novel".

Harvey also wrote "This gimmicky story set during Papua New Guinea's civil war reaches for emotional effect in a fatally hamfisted fashion".

The review applauded Laurie's portrayal of Mr Watts and notes that "the film belongs to Xzannjah, whose radiant yet unshowy performance nails Matilda dead centre and pulls off the tricky double act of being our eyes on the action and its central character".