User reviews

Orphan Anne Shirley (Ella Ballentine) is living with Marilla (Sara Botsford) and her brother Matthew Cuthbert (Martin Sheen) on Green Gables in PEI. She is 12 going on 13. She grows up with her bosom friend Diana Barry and school rival/love Gilbert Blythe. Matthew is suffering from increasing dementia. This ends with Gilbert's rescue of Anne.

The events can be episodic in their nature. I never read the books but I did watch the '85 adaptation. The difference being that this seems a little more jagged in the flow. Ella is closer in age to the character and that works quite well. She's good although I want her hair to be redder. It can't ever hurt to have great actors like Botsford and Sheen. The acting can be uneven from world class to amateur kids. The production is bright and good TV level. This needs a bit of work to somehow adapt to the movie format. The material might work better as a TV series. They are crying out to be split into smaller one hour episodes. There's enough material to make a good 8 episode run.

Good, but nothing can really meet or eclipse the original series.

There were some very wacky moments that I do not remember at all from the books or the prior series. Definitely some questionable choices.

But I love L.M. Montgomery's characters so I will watch. Looking forward to the 3rd installment whenever PBS decides to air it!