Disappointed in the first 5 minutes

Rating: 3/10 (13 June 2008)

All I can say is very disappointing especially if you read the novel.
First, I think this a case of not, Truth is stranger than fiction, but I think far more interesting. I don't really understand why they chose to change history where they did. For example, I believe Henry attended Mary's wedding and that was were he became "enchanted" with her or at least met her. Well what is more dramatic that deciding to begin an affair with a woman you met at her wedding to another man? They forgot the "sweats" and obviously Mary's husbands death. They completely downplayed Katherine of Aragon and the turmoil of the divorce on the country.
Second, the story was suppose to be from Mary's point of view, but somehow became more about Anne than Mary. I also think this may be where you can allow for more historical discrepancy, based on this being from a lesser know point of view. Perhaps Anne wasn't really so ambition on her own, but maybe from Mary's point of view she was. Anne did after all take "charge" of her son.
I think the time table of this movie was terrible. They should have found a period of the book and concentrated on that and really built the characters and the story (if that had happened can you say sequel). Funny to think I thought the 'Tudors' series was even going to far with the timeline they crammed into Season 1 let alone to have about 10 to 15 years of history stuffed into 2 hours.
The main things I really enjoyed from the book, which is the character development of Mary as she matures from a girl to a woman and a mother and how her priorities changed were completely missing. This may or may not be historically accurate, but I thought her struggles with liking Queen Katherine and being loyal to her family were interesting. As well as her struggle and desire to be with her children. And finally falling in love with someone considered lesser in status and deciding love was worth being disowned.
I could go on with how the differences between the novel and the movie, but the biggest disappointment was this was suppose to be Mary's story told from her point of view and that didn't happen at all. And I think they cast from the 'Tudors' is far better suited for each character than those chosen for this movie, with potentially the exception of Mary, because they put no real focus on her in the series.
PS.. within the first 15 minutes of the watching the DVD, I began reading reviews on this site and found them more interesting than the actual movie.