Board Thread:Adaptation Adventures/@comment-3493059-20160614135809/@comment-839630-20160810153645

I ordered it on dvd from Amazon.de as it has been released in Germany with  english audio on it as well as a german dub and sub. Overall I think they got the spirit of the novel  though some of the plot points are different or in different order to the novel. Some of the characterisation was very good, Botsford's Marilla particularly. I liked Martin sheens slightly more vocal Mattew too. I know he is supposed to be almost paralytically shy but this is hard to do on screen without making him look like a simpleton. The focus is much more on the relationship between anne and marilla and  mathhew. I liked rachel who is appropriatly outspoken but also has alot of warmth and I though Diana was very sweet, her mothere was well done too as was the nosey post minstress. Anne herself was better than I expected too. Less over dramatic than the trailer. Annes back story, though glanced on was also very well done. I liked the scene in the train on the way to the island where she hugs lilly jones.

I have a few gripes however. I felt very rushed. barely any of the secondary caracters got a look in. those that feature are in the main, reasonably well cast. Gilbert however is too young. I liked the actor but he seemed a bit miscast, more suited to one of the younger boys in Avonlea, like Paul Irving,  than Gilbert. he looks about 10 and Gilbert is supposed to be nearly 14 when Anne first meets him. (John Crombie was 18 and Tom Brown 21 when they played Gilbert, so maybe I am used to seing older actors in the part).

It also only covers about half the novel and the ending is very sudden. I have heard since that Martin Sheen will be back for a second series, peresumably covering the second half of the book. I hope so as in it's present state, it feels unfinished.