Product: Anne of Green Gables: The Continuing Story
Rating: 1.0
Very sad
I finally broke down and decided to watch Anne of Green Gables - The Continuing Story. For years I have put it off because everyone in my family hated it. I did not want to see my favorite characters and story lines wrecked beyond belief. I was not 20 minutes into this version when I realized my worst fears were reality.The characters were ripped out of their normal timeframe and put into WWI. It was jarring for me to see the costumes updated by 25 years or so when only 5 years are supposed to have passed. In the books, it is not Anne and Gilbert who go to war but their grown sons. Anne and Gilbert's wedding is supposed to be a joyous, intimate, fresh experience. Marilla is supposed to be there. I hate the way they changed the timeline.I also disliked seeing Diana snobby and rich, married to a disillusioned and boring husband. LMM wrote her as sweet, happily married and settled on a farm.What was the purpose of burning a hole in Green Gables? Why was it ever run down in the first place? It seems to me that Sullivan wanted this movie to be as depressing as possible. The new character (Garrison?) gets more screen time with Anne than Gilbert does. I found the interest between Anne and Garrison ridiculous as the "real" Anne would never have behaved this way. Sitting close to him on the train, kissing his head and saying she will always feel Domonique to be their child. Staying alone with Fred in a suite and then mentioning they are like a married couple. Again, so far from how Anne would have behaved. Can you imagine what Marilla or Rachel Lynde would have said?The political commentary Sullivan interjected into his Anne story must have LMM spinning in her grave. She wrote these characters (including the women) as proud to serve their country and ready to sacrifice to end the evils of the Kaiser's regime. Another reviewer mentioned that Sullivan borrowed LMM's characters to write his own story. This is true, only he does not have the talent of LMM and should not have sullied her characters in this way.The first two movies were fresh, innocent and a lovely interpretation of the time in which they were set. This movie is dark, dreary and depressing. There seems to be no good reason why Anne and Gilbert drag their feet to get married. When they finally do, it is the most somber wedding I have ever seen. People crying, tents falling over, a ridiculous minister, depression. A lot of fans waited a long time to see the continuation of Anne's story only to be met with this disappointment.I read there were lawsuits going on between Sullivan and LMM's heirs that prohibited Sullivan from using LMM's stories, though he did have the rights to the characters. If this is true, then it is a shame they did not work things out and give legions of fans the Anne story they deserved and longed for. Sullivan waited so long that the actors lost the bloom of youth and are hard to believe as young Anne and Gilbert in love. Sullivan should not have proceeded with this mess. Better not to attempt a movie at all than to wait so long and then depart so severely from LMM's vision.It's a shame that we will never see Anne III as it should have been. Perhaps eventually someone will make more of these stories with a heart for staying true to LMM's charming works.