Product: Anne of Green Gables: The Continuing Story
Rating: 2.0
Unfortunate and unnecessary conclusion to a fine series
It is a sad thing to watch characters that, in the past, have been vibrant, compelling and wonderfully 3-dimensional become flat and cliched vestiges of what they once were. As I viewed this mini-series there were several times that I audibly lamented "What have they done?"Well, diverting 180 degrees from the source material (the anne of green gables series) doesn't help much. In the unforunate passing of Colleen Dewhurst (Marilla Cuthbert) the anchor of the previous two films, the producers decided to take the story into the own hands. While the premise of placing Anne and Gilbert in the midst of WWI had potential, the actual application of plots as grandiose as espinoage and intrigue leave a lot to be desired. The whole thrust of the story is haphazzard and sloppy with multiple scenes and characters very loosely tied together. It's as if the writers tried too cram to much in too little time. The stilted dialogue prevalent throughout the films entirety doesn't help the situation much either.Perhaps the biggest criticism of this production is that it doesn't feel like an Anne of Green Gables story. The authenticity, charm and spiritedness that was so abundant in the previous two editions is no where to be found here. Instead, we are left with a story that obviously written from a cultural mentality that is decidedly modern as evidenced in the adulterous undertones in Anne's relationships with Fred Wright and Jack Garrison.The performances by Megan Fellows (Anne Shirley/Blythe) and Jonathan Crombie (Gilbert Blythe) can hardly be faulted for the poor material that they are working with. One gets the sense that the actors inherently know the characters that they inhabit and are working hard to stay true to them despite the 180 degree turn of the sensibilites of the film series.As I left this movie I felt that I was far more satisfied leaving this series with ending presented in Anne of Avolea with a future that wasn't defined but one that you looked forward to seeing more of...and leaving that task to the books and the imagination.