Charlie Hunnam stars in the title role alongside Nathan Lane, Jim Broadbent, Christopher Plummer, Jamie Bell, Anne Hathaway, Romola Garai, Alan Cumming, and Timothy Spall.

A prologue introduces the Nicklebys, country gentry who enjoy a comfortable life in the Devon countryside until the father dies and leaves his family with no source of income.

Nicholas is horrified to discover his employers, the sadistic Mr and Mrs Squeers, run their boarding school like a prison and physically, verbally, and emotionally abuse their young charges on a regular basis.

They cast them in a production of Romeo and Juliet, but despite a successful first night and the couple's invitation to stay, Nicholas is determined to continue their journey to London after hearing that Kate is in trouble.

In Creating a Classic: The Making of Nicholas Nickleby, a bonus feature on the film's DVD release, screenwriter/director Douglas McGrath and his cast and crew discuss the development of the project.

The positive audience reaction to a stage reading of the screenplay in a theater in lower Manhattan, which included a number of actors who eventually were cast in the film, convinced McGrath to proceed with the movie.

While considering Mrs. Crummles, a smug, opinionated, but lovable dowager, McGrath realized all her traits and characteristics were embodied by Dame Edna Everage, alter ego of actor Barry Humphries, but was hesitant to suggest casting a male in the role.

Locations used in the film included the abandoned 19th century Gibson Mill in Hardcastle Crags; Hebden Bridge in West Yorkshire; Churchill College at the University of Cambridge; and Wilton's Music Hall, the Old Vic, the Reform Club, Leighton House and One, Aldwych in London.

"[3] In his review in The New York Times, A. O. Scott called the film "two hours of swift, engaging entertainment" and added, "The book's theme and spirit have been dutifully respected.

Rather than trying to update, transform or otherwise interpret Nickleby, he has decided to share his enthusiasm for it ... [He] has adapted [Dickens' dialogue] with a scholar's ear and a showman's flair ... [and] produced a colorful, affecting collage of Dickensian moods and motifs, a movie that elicits an overwhelming desire to plunge into 900 pages of 19th-century prose.

But while it's told in conventional fashion, the heart of this tale of a young man's quest to rescue his family from villainy and misfortune is lovingly rendered by a mostly superlative cast and with an entertaining balance of humor and pathos .