This two-part production expands and opens the story without diminishing the charm or appeal of Austen's original or pushing it past her socially constrained boundaries.

This Sense and Sensibility is truer not only to Austen's narrative, it more successfully captures the quiet precision of her singular mind--she was the master of finding poetry in domestic detail, and for that, the small screen is much better suited than the large.

Expert casting deepens this version. Without stars as these youthful Dashwood sisters, the men are on equal footing.

The production is handsome in the dreamy BBC style, and writer Andrew Davies has done his usual efficient distillation job, including adding a few imaginative touches involving galloping horses and nubile young bodies that would have surprised Austen.

We surely didn’t need another filmed version of Austen’s first published novel--not after Ang Lee’s sublime adaptation of “Sense and Sensibility” 13 years ago--but we are content enough to have this one.

The movie--as Jane Austen might have described it--is an amiable entertainment.

This well-intentioned Sense gets the job done.