User Reviews

(A longer version of this review can be found on Anne of Green Gables Wiki.)

I am a big Anne fan and caught this movie in a cinema in Australia.

When I first heard that Breakthrough Entertainment's production of Anne of Green Gables was going to be a 90-minute film instead of a TV series, I was disappointed, but curious about how much story they would try to fit in.

True to the early press releases, there were a few (brief) depictions of Anne's unhappy life before Green Gables. We get the sense that she's been starved for affection and made to work hard all her life. While telling her history to Marilla, Anne mentions the Thomas family, the Hammond family and Miss Carlyle from the orphanage (who appears in Before Green Gables). Visually, it's a very pretty movie, with gorgeous drone shots of Prince Edward Island that make you want to be there.

At the beginning, I thought Martin Sheen as Matthew was too talkative, but I quickly grew to like him. The scene with Abner the pig at the start of the movie was funny and offered a start contrast with the dim scene of Anne on the train with Lily Jones and Mrs Spencer. Sara Botsford was an excellent Marilla. Many other adaptations focus overly on the romance, but this movie focused on Anne's relationship with Marilla, which I appreciated and enjoyed.

Diana was passable (though I found the scene where she and Anne are talking about fairies a little out of character for her) and Josie's five minutes of fame were quite satisfactory. I was a bit disappointed that we barely saw Ruby at all, and Jane Andrews apparently wasn't included. Unfortunately, I didn't like this Gilbert much, even though I tried to. He didn't look at all like what Gilbert should, and the scenes he was in seemed less natural than the others. I thought Ella Ballentine did an excellent job as Anne. Her chatter was endearing and funny rather than annoying, and she looked the part. Her red hair (I know it's not natural) was just beautiful.

Since the film was only ninety minutes long, it was quite condensed. Still, I think it managed to capture the essence of the original book. It still contained many of the scenes, such as (these are not in order) Anne losing her temper at Mrs Lynde, the brooch incident, Anne and Diana becoming friends, Anne accidentally setting Diana drunk on currant wine, Anne hitting Gilbert with her slate after he calls her 'Carrots' and Anne saving Minnie May's life. There is no Lady of Shalott, Queen's Academy or death of Matthew, but no doubt the movie would have felt crowded.

It was interesting to see nods to the original novel or other adaptations. The story Anne tells Minnie May, for instance, is from the novel, and is 'The Jealous Rival', which Anne wrote for school. Also, Anne introduces herself by name to Matthew at the station, like she does in the 1934 and 1985 movies. In the book, she doesn't reveal her name until Marilla asks her.

It was sweet, and a nice continuity nod, the way Anne asked Matthew what made the roads red at the start of the movie, and he found out the answer and told her when they were waiting for the train at the end. On that note, the movie starting and ending with a train journey made for good bookends, and it was touching to see how Anne's relationship with Matthew and Marilla changed over the course of the movie.

I'm really glad I got a chance to see it, and overall, I would rate this film a solid seven out of ten. It's not mind-blowing, but it is a very nice film, and a lovely introduction to Anne. However, because I have read the book, I felt the ending of the movie seemed unfinished. If it had been a miniseries or a full series, I am sure it would have been even better, but because it was only one and a half hours long, the creators had to do their best with the limited length they had.

The characterizations seemed a little forced. I thought the boy playing Gilbert was mis-cast. He was too young. The locations were lovely. This was good, but not great. But I thought it was still a sweet story. Not on par with the CBC version of the 1980's, but better than that dreadful "Anne with an E".

I thought this was a cute movie. I watched it at home with my roommates and their daughter. They haven't read any of the books and they seemed to also enjoy it. I liked watching the book come to life in the movie. I think they followed the book pretty much word for word script wise except for the ending as they needed to change it a bit from the book to wrap it all up but they did it well. It was s light version and I know People are going to whine about it not being like the old ones but Ignore them. Some people are stuck in their old ways. I think this version is good as it is and I'm looking forward to seeing more . I hope the younger generations like it too. :) I also enjoyed hearing that it was filmed In Canada at Milton heritage site. That's lovely. Oh and I liked all of the acting but I really enjoyed Marilla's acting the best, then Anne and Matthew. I thought the casting was done well, except their Gilbert didn't look like the one in my head and Diana wasn't as chubby as the one in my head, haha.

I absolutely loved the 1980s 6 hour version. How dare they remake a classic! (actually the 1985 version was the 9th time they made Anne of Green Gables into a film). If you watched the 1985 version, do yourself a favor and just watch this as it is... a 1 and 1/2 hour movie based on the books of L.M. Montgomery. It's well done. The actors did great. It only covers the first part of Anne's story. Which I liked. I was wondering how they could cover so much material with only one and a half hours. It didn't stray much from the story as so many remakes do... trying to be new but was different enough to still feel fresh. I tried to hate it but couldn't

Spoilers

I truly love Martin Sheen's President Bartlet from West Wing. But why oh why was President Bartlet parachuted into Green Gables and into Matthew Cuthbert's coveralls?

Studio executives, "Let's make Anne of Green Gables, again. We need a big star to sell it (reaches into rando bag of movie stars) and let's cast Martin Sheen."

All sane people, "Um, the whole point of AoGG is the powerful dynamic between the FEMALE characters. I know men usually controlled everything, but in this story, on this little island, in this little town, it was definitely a matriarchy."

Studio executives, "I can see that, well why don't we cut Marilla's best lines or even better! give them to Matthew!"

I feel really sorry for the actress that played Marilla. Could you imagine auditioning for the part, finally getting it, then reading the whole script and finding you were playing a sparkless co-parent and second fiddle to of all people, Matthew?

I know the writers had an impossible job to get so much in so in 90 minutes. But there were so many unforced errors!

I just kept thinking, why is president Bartlet still talking? Why do we have to see him chase a pig for two minutes, but then not have enough time to follow Diana back home after she got drunk? Like Anne would have just waved her stumbling friend out the door then turned back to wash the dishes? Why was all that off screen?

And Marilla didn't marry the Blythe boy because of her mother? And Matthew went a courting? There were no reasons to change that. It's like the adults were embarrassed for the Cuthbert siblings and were saying, "Yeah, they are super cool. They have a boy/girlfriend but they go to a different school, and you wouldn't know them." Why?

Then they gutted Gilbert. He looked more like someone's greasy little brother that Anne would be babysitting rather than a peer, much less am eventual romantic interest (I know our boy was 18 when he was cast, but still).

Positives The girl who played Anne was good, a winning smile when she chose to deploy it.

Probably the only big character change that I actually like was the Let's Pretend-> Let's Find Out. She still has a big imagination, but showing her deep curiosity for the natural world (red dirt) foreshadowing her great success in not only literature, but STEM subjects.

I liked that we saw them all doing chores. That's a main plot point (they need a damn boy!), but in the 1985 one all we really see is Matthew following some cows and Marila leisurely cooking her award winning things, like an upper middle class lady, not a poorish farm woman.

Generally, I think everything was on the nose, overacted, over explained, "I just don't understand her." But I did like President Bartlet's quick turn about at the train station when he first saw Anne. I could easily have seen our Matthew doing that move.

The drone shots of the Island were beautiful.