David Copperfield (1993 film)
1993 film directed by Don Arioli

David Copperfield is a 1993 Canadian traditionally animated film adaptation of Charles Dickens' classic 1850 novel of the same name. Produced for and premiered on NBC, the film is directed by Don Arioli and features the voices of Sheena Easton, Julian Lennon, Howie Mandel, Andrea Martin, Kelly Le Brock, Michael York and Joseph Marcell.
Loosely based on Dickens' original plot, the human characters are replaced with anthropomorphic animals. It omits several major characters (such as Mr Creakle, Dora Spenlow and Uriah Heep) and adds fantastical elements, such as the "moldies" and the "cheese monster".
Plot
As female cat Betsey Trotwood makes her way through the Christmas festive streets of Blunderstone to see her niece, Clara, leonine Edward Murdstone and fat rodent Grimby are seeking new "workers" by abducting orphans and urchins off the streets. At the Copperfield estate, David is born and named after his late father. Betsey is furious when she finds out that her great-niece is actually a great-nephew.
Years later, Clara marries Murdstone; David does not approve of the marriage and despises Murdstone. When she is brought down by illness, Murdstone arranges for David to move with him to London to work in his factory, where he encounters Agnes Wickfield and her father the Duke. Once Agnes and the Duke are gone, Murdstone throws David into the factory where he is beaten and tossed about by Murdstone's security force.
“David Copperfield (1993 film)” enters the record as 1993 film directed by Don Arioli. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what David, Copperfield and film can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Object files, edition statements, performance records and contemporary criticism preserve different stages of the work’s history. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 23, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q3017707. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1993 and 1850.
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