Regardless of the naysaying bookworms-whom often chuck their self-righteous opinions based on their own interpretation of a book-this series is quietly addicting. I strongly recommend it as wholesome family viewing, given the loud, cynical, and commercially-driven claptrap that's currently being offered on the idiot box.
No, I never read the saga of "Emily of New Moon," but I will NOW because of this meticulously paced, directed, acted, and written for the screen. There are many wonderful and genuine performances on display here, and the story is very riveting.
And, if the book differs from this brilliant production, so be it. They're not supposed to be exact, based on the media being employed here.
It's a period piece, and this is all that matters to me. This is a solid drama depicting an age before the overwhelming and deleterious hold of today's technological age.
'Emily' conveys the ongoing imagination of a uniquely perspective young schoolgirl in a time when teachers disciplined children sternly in the classroom, chores were a routine part of daily life, and poetry mattered. There were no cars, rap music, or phony celebrities, just survival and the trials and tribulations of making it from one day to the next.
Indeed, there's no shortage of annoying and eye-rolling moments of "female issues" in a cast of largely female characters predominant in a drama seemingly befit for a daytime soap opera, but IT WORKS. As I always say, behind every great mass-murderer there's always a mother who failed him and a father who either checked out by fleeing the scene or dying. Yeah, there's some of that, too.
Notwithstanding my societal digression, I still find the series worthy of interest, at least from a historical perspective, when things were simpler, albeit equally dysfunctional.
Even Christopher Dedrick's opening and closing credits musical score is haunting and mystifying.
My rating: *****
No, I never read the saga of "Emily of New Moon," but I will NOW because of this meticulously paced, directed, acted, and written for the screen. There are many wonderful and genuine performances on display here, and the story is very riveting.
And, if the book differs from this brilliant production, so be it. They're not supposed to be exact, based on the media being employed here.
It's a period piece, and this is all that matters to me. This is a solid drama depicting an age before the overwhelming and deleterious hold of today's technological age.
'Emily' conveys the ongoing imagination of a uniquely perspective young schoolgirl in a time when teachers disciplined children sternly in the classroom, chores were a routine part of daily life, and poetry mattered. There were no cars, rap music, or phony celebrities, just survival and the trials and tribulations of making it from one day to the next.
Indeed, there's no shortage of annoying and eye-rolling moments of "female issues" in a cast of largely female characters predominant in a drama seemingly befit for a daytime soap opera, but IT WORKS. As I always say, behind every great mass-murderer there's always a mother who failed him and a father who either checked out by fleeing the scene or dying. Yeah, there's some of that, too.
Notwithstanding my societal digression, I still find the series worthy of interest, at least from a historical perspective, when things were simpler, albeit equally dysfunctional.
Even Christopher Dedrick's opening and closing credits musical score is haunting and mystifying.
My rating: *****