Okay, so MsFish and I watched the second Anne of Green Gables movie last night. I think it was originally released as Anne of Avonlea, but on the DVD we were watching it was called Anne of Green Gables--The Sequel, not to be confused with the third movie which is called Anne of Green Gables--The Story Continues.
And I think I see why they called them such derivative names--because that's what they are, derivative. They are riding solely on the hope that the people who loved the characters in the first movie will endure the meandering and weak plotlines of the next two. The first movie was excellent. MsFish and I were entranced--we loved Anne's story, her adventures, and her little love interest with Gilbert Blythe. So we were really excited to watch the second movie. We had heard that the third one was terrible, but no one had said any such thing about the second.
We were severely disappointed.
It was the most random, meandering movie we had ever seen. MsFish kept complaining, but I had high hopes that it would work out in the end. Afterall, I *knew* Anne ended up with Gilbert, because they were married in the preview the movie had for the third movie. When it became apparent, though, that there were only like ten minutes left, and there had been no time for Gilbert and Anne to actually develop a relationship beyond what they had told us in the first part of the movie, my hopes dashed. And then I could not help laughing at the deathbed scene. It was SO soap opera dramatic! And the movie had been so ridiculous up to that point, that it did not earn that deep emotional moment. I started venting at that point--the movie had been long and convoluted and I felt like it had wasted my time and abused the trust the story had earned from the first movie.
Perhaps if I had watched it when I was younger, I would have enjoyed it more. But I was severely disappointed when it was over. The storylines seemed random and unconnected. Everyone had problems and only Anne could solve them. And we never got to see Anne and Gilbert develop a relationship--we saw it with some other guy, in fact, and then she refused him because she wanted to live in Avonlea. But when Gilbert was dying, she suddenly realized what a fool she had been, and that she had loved him all along, even though she had brutally refused him on several occasions. Okaaaaay. It just all kind of fell flat for me.
MsFish pointed out that perhaps, in book form, the story worked better. Books CAN be a bit meandering--there's more leeway. But it did not work as a movie.
So I am sorry for any of you who adore the second Anne movie. It just did not work for me. The first, I still maintain, was excellent, and I'm glad I watched it. But I will not waste another three hours on the second again.
