Aurora Teagarden Mysteries: Something New

I am a huge fan of the Aurora Teagarden Mystery series on Hallmark and after seeing a trailer for this reboot of the series, I tuned in with some trepidation. I was really happy to see Marilu Henner back as Aurora's mom Aida...but that was all that was back. They even changed out all the sets in the fictional town Lawrenceton. The police station is new, Aida's home is new... the college campus is new. Everything is bigger, newer and sleeker...taking away that small town Washington feel. They didn't even show the stock footage with the waterfall from upstate New York they fans have grown to love.

Ok...so the sets are all new and the town is completely modern and different, what about the entire new cast?

Well, I was disappointed. I am going to start with the star, Skyler Samuels, who plays Aurora...she was definitely not Candace Cameron Bure. I didn't really feel that she embodied the character either. Her acting at times was campy and she didn't really connect with the fellow cast members. I understand she came from a Disney background and maybe that explains her overly bright and unrealistic approach to the character. Side note here.... the wardrobe was also very odd. This is supposed to be a prequel yet no attempt was made to have an older style of clothing or to keep the characters preferred colors or styles. Now on to the "new" Sally, who in the past has been the best friend to Aurora. She has been portrayed as a bit mousy or timid and unsure...she also is a reporter. Now the old her has a blog and is an amazing perfectionist party planner? It didn't really ring true to her character and the new actress Kayla Heller didn't seem to connect with Aurora on that best friend level in addition to coming across as far more bossy than Sally has been portrayed by the wonderful Lexa Doig (i would love to hear her thoughts on her character's personality change. The only returning character that I appreciated was the young Arthur, played by Evan Roderick. Although I am not sure the "just friends" rings true because I am fairly certain that they did date prior to his marriage to Lynn...in addition to being friends. I did think the character was played pretty closely to what I expected otherwise.

I do really like the actor Steve Bacic, I hope he will continue to be an excellent asset to this new series as Detective Cook.

The emphasis on library science was interesting...but I think unnecessary. Think the true crimes leaning is a better way to go (like the later series), but that is just my opinion.

And where is a younger version of our local librarian Lillian? Missed opportunity there.

The story follows Aurora who is home from college working at a diner and helping her best friend Sally with her wedding preparations, when Sally's fiancé disappears after an altercation with a mysterious stranger. When the stranger is found dead below the fiancé balcony, Aurora becomes concerned that Sally might be marrying a murderer...she and beat cop Arthur try to piece together who did it.

I have really enjoyed Hallmark's cosy mystery series with Aurora, Hannah Swensen and Mystery 101 being my favorites. I have always appreciated the large supporting cast that gave Aurora a small town community feel and I appreciated the writing. This taking the series back to a younger age I am finding a little disassociating. I am disappointed, but at the same time don't want to be discouraging. I know a lot of actors have left Hallmark...which is sad and may prevent some of my favorite series from ever continuing. But did they loose writers as well? If the writers are still there, I have hope because they have brought us some great material before and I am hoping they can do it again. This may need a fresh rewrite. Not a recommendation yet from me...but maybe in the future it will be? I hope.

I love Aurora Teagarden. The Original. It was very original.

This version is completely miscast from all of the characters in the book.

CCB had so much appeal as Aurora. This young woman, who is a very lovely person, is just not Aurora. And Sally? Are you kidding us? Definitely not a step up. And don't even start on the love interest for Aurora. Arthur is just so different from how someone who watched the original would think.

I love that Marilu is back as Aurora's mother but she even looked confused by all these strange new characters.

There are so many different mystery stories they could turn into movies. Leave Aurora alone. Unless you can get CCB back.

Sadly I couldn't get into this movie - it would have been more convincing with the young actors from the previous movie continuing for this prequel. Marilu Henner is amazing but otherwise it looks like a different show too much, I just couldn't get my bearings - it reminds me of the Emmerdale soap special when they recast everyone except the character who got dementia, so they viewer would be just as confused! Maybe if this was a series I would settle into it better, because it is fun to explore the backstory and I'm quite sad this didn't quite work out as I hoped. Perhaps better on a second viewing - although the youngeractors' diction is faster and harder to follow than Bure and co. I hope Hallmark do more mysteries starring over 40s - and preferably without murders.

I was excited to see a new Aurora Teagarden movie, however, after I started watching it, I quickly noticed that it just doesn't have the same feel as the other movies. It's missing the heart. I like that they kept Marilu Henner as Aida, Aurora's mother, and brought Karen Kruper back as Sally's Aunt Gladys. But felt like they could have included other characters from the original series, especially John, Sally's uncle and her cousin Lizzie Allison. I feel like these characters would have been there for Sally for her wedding.

It's missing the opening sequence with a shot of the Lawrenceton water tower, streets downtown, and the waterfall (which is really in NY not WA). And I'm not sure if it included the same music at the beginning as the original series. Other reviewers mentioned the change of sets not giving it that small town feel, especially the change in Aurora's and Aida's house. But their house, especially Aurora's changed a lot through all the movies. In one of the later movies I think they even made a joke about it with Sally saying how Aurora kept moving. One thing I found confusing was that the house they used for the wedding venue seemed like it was the same house they used in the original series as Aunt Gladys's house. But in this movie, it wasn't her house.

I like seeing Steve Bacic in this movie as the detective. This makes his 3rd Hallmark Mystery Movies series he's appeared in after Garage Sale Mysteries and Murder 101. I also felt that Evan Roderick did a good job staying true to playing Arthur. He felt like a younger version of Peter Benson's character. I can't say the same for Aurora and Sally. While I applaud Hallmark for trying to keep a fan favorite series alive after some of the lead actors have left, I don't feel this movie did the series justice. It just doesn't feel the same.

The movie was okay as a prequel. Of course people are supposed to be younger and that is to be expected. However, height at the college age has been established especially for females. The actress playing the young Sally was way too short. (And not as skinny as the older Sally but exercise and eating right can fix that). She did sound like Sally which was a plus but it was so hard to get past her height.

Yes, the background of getting to know the early characters was enjoyable. Seeing Aida not being as confident in her real estate business was interesting.

However, I didn't keep it on the DVR.