sailrusako

Okay, yes it's been a good 10-15 years since the first two movies came out. But Anne's husky voice, lackluster skin, wrinkles around the mouth, and general lack of Anne-ness (she just sounds ridiculous now when she bloviates her poetry) is purely due to Megan Follow's smoking (I think she started up in the sequel). And man, it shows! The story deviates completely from the books, and Sullivan made the mistake by thinking he could write better than Lucy Maude Montgomery. Gilbert shouldn't be working in a hospital, the whole charm was that he was a country doctor. And Anne being a writer doesn't work - she was a pioneer by virtue of being a wife and mother that other housewives could relate to, not by breaking into the "man's world" of publishing.

And the whole thing with Jack is just idiotic. It's contrary to Anne's character. Period.

Now, the lack of chemistry between Anne and Gilbert I don't mind so much. Anyone who's been engaged/married/in a relationship for more than 5 years knows that this is actually a realistic portrayal of what a relationship looks like 5 years down the road. Nothing romantic, nothing exciting, but comfortable. So I thought it was the only realism element in the movie.

Basically, this is Kevin Sullivan trying to milk the Green Gables industry beyond its means. It doesn't work. The charm is completely lost in this movie. I don't like the feminist Anne Shirley-Blythe. It's really rare for a set of books to glamourize housewives and praising the work they do, like this set did. And the movie takes that message and just craps all over it. Shame, Mr. Sullivan!