Anne of Green Gables
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Movie Reviews of Anne of Green Gables
Movie Review: An A+ recommendation for families to watch together
Summary: 5 Stars
An A+ recommendation for families to watch together
I'm glad to have been proven wrong. I came to this movie, thinking it was going to be just old-fashion syrupy goodness ... idealized emotionalism. I rented this movie for my mom (to surprise her; as I knew she likes this genre - drama -and society), and have never seen her laugh so much at a movie. This movie was a good bonding experience for me and my parents.
This movie is about Anne, a red-haired girl who is orphaned at an early age and faces life's situations with a maturity and also innocence to admire, really. In this movie, I learned a lot about social interactions, character maturity, the beauty of wit, and the social/psychological differences between women and men. The beautiful, down-to-earth, and somehow sublimely wicked character of Anne has been a *therapeutic session* for me. Meditatively, I had sympathized with various emotions, thoughts, schemes from my own childhood, some of them which comprise the brokenness that I carry in this world's life, my brokenness as an imperfect child of God.
The movie, has spectacular cinematography, historical era-clothes, language (lingo sometimes archaic), and culture (I guess 19th century Canada; Victorian era). An A+ recommendation for families to watch together.
For me, a young 30s old male Christ-ian, this movie had been therapeutic (even contemplative or meditative) because of all the prejudices, biases, subjective thought-process, and baggage, that I carry as a human being. Now I feel lighter, wiser, and will-not-always-take-life-so-seriously. I've enjoyed *observing* not only the character development of Anne but also my parents reactions to Anne's behavior. For my dad and mom, they enjoyed and laughed at all the social gaffe, innocent improprieties, Victorian hypocrisies, and the words & life-actions of a little girl who turns adolescent and changes people's lives around her - Anne of Green Gables.
I look forward to the day when I will watch this movie with my future kids. A super movie (A+) for couples and families.
Movie Review: For Auto Buffs, It's a 1917 Pierce Arrow
Summary: 5 Stars
I ordered the set of three after a friend loaned us her set; both my wife and I were captivated by the charm of these movies. We initially watched the three that had been loaned to us and agreed that we wanted our own set and a set for our daughter for her birthday.
I ordered two sets and when they got in we immediately opened our set and started watching the entire series again. If anything it was even more fun the second time around.
This is great family fare and a delight to watch by family members of all ages. Megan Follows is convincing as Anne; she was 17 years old when the first movie was made, 19 when The Sequel was made, and 32 when The Continuing Story was made. Her progress as Anne is effective and although the last story was not directly based on the work of Lucy Maud Montgomery, it carries the story of Anne on to a satisfying conclusion.
I can recommend this series with all my heart; in my opinion it ranks right up there with All Creatures Great and Small. Congratulations to Kevin Sullivan for recreating a fascinating world enriched by the presence of Anne Shirley. Supporting roles by Colleen Dewhurst and Richard Farnsworth are also touchingly well done.
Whether or not you've read the books, this series stands on its own as true joy to watch.
Update 5/25/2010
We have had some friends over for several nights of watching Anne of Green Gables and just finished up the third disc last night. While watching it the question came up as to the make and model of the grand convertible owned by Diana and Fred. I watched the scene where it is driven up in slow motion but was not able to read the writing on the radiator grill although I did get a good look at the hood ornament. That was the help I needed to identify the car as a 1917 Pierce Arrow. If you are interested, use the search engine of your choice and put in 1917 Pierce Arrow; a lot of interesting information comes up for those who care about such things.
Movie Review: Anne of Green Gables Comes To Life...
Summary: 5 Stars
This 2001 "Anne of Green Gables" is the DVD version of the superb 1986 Canadian television adaptation of Lucy Maud Montgomery's beloved novel by Sullivan Entertainment. It is blessed with terrific casting, excellent production values, and a surprisingly faithful visual translation of the original novel.
Megan Follows is superb as the redhaired Anne, a spirited and imaginative young orphan who comes to live with a middle-aged bachelor farmer and his spinster sister (in spot-on performances by Richard Farnsworth and Colleen Dewhurst). Jonathan Crombie is entirely credible as Gilbert Blythe, Anne's childhood rival and patient would-be sweetheart. This three-hour production works in screen appearences by most of the characters from "Anne of Green Gables", including Mrs. Rachel Lynde, Diana Barrett, Josie Pye, the teacher Miss Stacey, among others.
Authentic sets and lushly beautiful location shooting in Prince Edward Island and Ontario, Canada, add immensely to the visual appeal of the film. Green Gables farm itself, Avonlea's one-room schoolhouse, and the White Sands Hotel seem just as described in the novel.
Even die-hard Anne fans should appreciate the remarkably seamless translation of novel to screen. Inevitably, the storyline has been compressed, and the order of a few events have been changed, but many scenes and whole swaths of dialogue are reproduced. Some scenes have been redone, but the changes seem faithful to the author's intent. For example, the episode in which an embarrassed Matthew purchases Anne's first pretty dress is now staged entirely at the store, with the aid of store clerk Alice Lawson. The priceless closing scene, in which Anne finally acknowledges her friendship with Gilbert, allows the actors to show the feelings implied in the original text.
The "Anne of Green Gables" DVD is very highly recommended to fans of the "Anne-girl" of all ages.
Movie Review: A Favorite For Any Generation
Summary: 5 Stars
This series has always been in my heart and always will be. I can always see myself in Anne Shirley, just as I'm sure every other young girl will. Kevin Sullivan did a beautiful job of bringing to life the works of Lucy M. Montgomery's series of Anne of Green Gables. I loved this movie the first time I saw it on television on PBS and I was thrilled to finally find it on DVD. Anne Shirley is a young orphan girl with a huge imagination, daydreams, and a huge talker. She's transferred from home to home and then back to the orphanage until she is finally picked to live in a town called Avonlea. She lives with a family Marilla & Mathew Cuthbert (played by: Colleen Dewhurst & Richard Farnsworth). After worrying she wouldn't be adopted because she's not a boy she warms their hearts and starts a new life with them. And she then soon meets her bosom friend Diana Barry (Schuyler Grant) and of course Gilbert Blythe (Jonathan Crombie). We follow the lives of these characters that Anne meets along the way. This series is for any young girl or for any girl at any age to enjoy and the entire family. The fun part is you can also see parts of the cast that end up being in Kevin Sullivan's production of Road to Avonlea. But this series is wonderful, charming, and full of adventures. The supporting cast is quite amazing as well they include: Rachel Lynde (Patricia Hamilton), Miss Stacy (Marilyn Lightstone), & Aunt Josephine (Charmion King) just to name a few of my favorites. This movie is also about life and the human heart that we see through Anne's eye's. The DVD is full of tons of great stuff such as Megan Follow's audition, a small behind the scene's moments, missing scene's, & tons more. So I do highly recommend this film for everyone.Movie Review: I'm Moving to Canada
Summary: 5 Stars
If you ever need to take a half-day vacation from modern life, pop in this DVD and let the dreamy scent of a bygone era waft you away. There is, of course, pathos in this tale. It comes, after all, from an era when orphans carried a stigma, when they could be adopted as cheap labor, when the disapproval of a single busybody could cast a pall over the entire span of a person's narrow social sphere, and when the isolation of rural existence could crust over even the gentlest souls. But it also comes from an era when conversation and the quiet observation of nature were not drowned out by pop music, television, and rapid transit -- when the little joys of getting a new dress, or brewing one's own elderberry wine, or getting to attend an after-church social planted a much larger footprint on one's day, week, or month.Usually when I first encounter a piece of literature in its filmed iteration, I am compelled to seek out the "real" thing to flesh out the characters and themes. Not so with Anne of Green Gables. After having watched this miniseries every few months since it first came out on laserdisc years ago, Megan Follows, Colleen Dewhurst, Richard Farnsworth and others of this phenomenal cast are, in the characters they portray, so much my friends and soulmates that I cannot imagine taking the risk of having them supplanted by their book counterparts. It would be an unthinkable disloyalty to the warmest souls ever to grace a TV screen. I'm a busy professional without much time for a fantasy life. But on those occasional days when I need a long, slow draught from a childhood graced by love and light, this is the well to which I go.