Anne of Green Gables – Which Anne is your favorite?

Posted on by Shannon Eddings

I’m a big ‘ole fan of L.M. Montgomery and her Anne stories. I’ve read them all, so it should come as no surprise that any Anne movie would be on my watch list.

I’ve been putting it off, but finally got around to watching last year’s Anne of Green Gables. It wasn’t bad, but after watching it I would have to agree with Variety’s assessment– “it’s a mediocre adaptation.” It only covers about ½ the book, the characters aren’t well developed, and to top it off Martin Sheen is the wrong guy to play shy and timid Matthew. He’s just too engaging (IMHO).

That being said, the adaption I’d recommend is the 1985 Anne with Megan Follows. This movie has my heart and it’s the main reason I drug my feet to watch last year’s Anne. This movie is everything the new one isn’t. The actors gave superb performances and the movie stayed faithfully true to the book. I took an informal poll at lunch and all my lunch friends agree – this adaption is the bee’s knees!

Word on the street is there’s a new Anne in town. It’s called Anne with an E. The trailer looks like a little darker and maybe a more modern take on the Montgomery books. This one is a Netflix series that premiered in May, and Toronto Life reviewed the first episode. So far, Megan Follows is the best Anne, but I’ll be waiting patiently for the DVD to see how this new adaption measures up!

So which Anne is your favorite? Please share!

Shannon is movie-obsessed and her infatuation with the silver screen can be traced back to a single event. After helping her move into her first apartment, her mom left her with this parting remark: “Don’t spend all your money at the movies!” From that point on, thanks to her library card, Shannon continues to feed her obsession! She is the library's Database Administrator.

One thought on “Anne of Green Gables – Which Anne is your favorite?”

  1. The Anne of the books! While Sullivan’s first adaptation wasn’t too bad, he went sadly off the rails in the second and the third was pretty much made up out of whole cloth, just borrowing the names of Montgomery’s characters.

    And then there’s always the animated series… (not!)

    Wasn’t a big fan of the Martin Sheen version, but a friend in Toronto tells me there’s a much better adaptation done recently, possibly the one on Netflix.

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