Product: Anne of Green Gables: The Continuing Story
Rating: 2.0
Flat...flat...flat
In one of the early scenes in this movie, the main character, Anne Shirley spots her beloved Gilbert from the beach and runs to greet him...only to do an epic faceplant in the sand. This pretty much sums up this movie. It strives and yet falls flat on its face repeatedly. It was an ill-conceived attempt to further cash in on the Anne franchise. Unlike the first two parts of this "trilogy" of movies, this story is original and not truly based on the works of Montgomery at all. Even overlooking that, the story is weak at best and reminiscent of an early soap opera or the worst of Danielle Steele. Characterization is lacking. Gone is the polyannish girl with red hair who would illuminate people's hearts with her flair for the dramatic and her love of words. We are given in her stead a generic female protagonist who lives in fear and whose only real drive is to reunite with her husband--she could just as easily be a grown Nancy Drew. The writing was stilted at the best of times, so it is a credit to the extraordinary acting abilities of Megan Fellows et al. that they were able to deliver some of these lines without choking on the cheese. The Magic of Green Gables (and Avonlea in general) was that it was an archetypal Home. It was a place where the pies were always hot and hearts were always glad. This movie begins with a violation of that, so it begins on a note of betrayal. It continues in that spirit with the addition of adult subplots that have no real business in a young adult movie (marital difficulties, ethical dilemmas, hospital politics...) I have given this movie a rating of two stars because as usual the acting was superb and it was just barely enough to pull this movie from the edge of the cliff.