Stilted and disappointing production was like a pantomime of the original story. It was emotionally flat, lacked development of characters and relationships and offered a clichéd take that steamrolled the provincial charm and historical accuracy of the time and PEI. The emotional development was confusing and disjointed with sentiment and delivery that intermittently veered modern or seemed displaced. Martin Sheen failed to channel Matthew and seemed not even to try. Gilbert was all but written out, replaced by a bit part for a smarmy, under-aged sociopath. Diana was good, if a little one-note, and Anne might have been played well but was misdirected. Drab set design, lack of vision, pointless reinvention of plot, weak dialog, misguided acting and odd insertions of violence failed to deliver the imagination and inspiration of Lucy Maud Montgomery and Anne.
Review of Anne of Green Gables
