V.C. Andrews' Heaven

This is literally the worst movie ever made. The acting is awful. The writing and plot make zero sense. The characters are so bad. I don't know how this got made. If you can't laugh at it, there's no point. Seriously is so nonsensical I don't even know where to begin. I feel like the only ones to blame for this piece of crap are the producers, and they should be run out of Hollywood on a rail for this thing existing. Worst most horrific thing that has ever been produced, I don't think even the 1986 Flowers in the Attic is worse than this thing. I cannot believe it's gotten above one star ever. So very, very awful.

This was horrific and a really shameful portrayal of Andrew's stunning writing. I've read this book at different decades of my life and I must say I've enjoyed the series more as I've aged. Furthermore, I have taught English for 20 years and am also an avid reader of all narratives. So my level of expertise doesn't limit me to Virginia Andrew's writing.

So many poignant details that hold so much importance throughout the series were changed and it baffles me to as of why? The hair colours? The level of poverty? The occupations and historical backgrounds? The integral dialogue and narrative that holds deep relevance to the series as a whole!?!?! The TV series writers who chose these creative changes had little to no understanding of the narrative presented and the metaphorical purpose of these choices.

It's a shame.

I adore this series. My favourite of Andrew's. This TV series, in this day and age, had so much potential when it had such an intricate and visually passionate narrative to work with. It failed beyond belief!!!

There are a lot of issues with this adaption of a fantastic book. The acting is ok but the actress playing heaven is somewhat stagnant and lacks emotional range.

The other issue is the actresses chosen to play Leigh, heaven and fanny, whilst lovely, are not attractive enough to play the characters they are supposed to be playing. Not that these women are in any way unattractive, but heaven and Leigh are said to be absolutely stunning in addition to Leigh being blonde like Jillian and heaven is certainly not a redhead.

The character of kitty Denison was also very disappointing to me. She is described as red headed, voluptuous and callous in the books, not a blonde sweet as pie stick figure that occasionally looks daggers rather than the constant violent beatings in the book.

The other issue I had is the sets. Farthingale manor is nowhere near as grand as described in the books, and the cabin the casteel family live in is far too modern, large, filled with furniture and well maintained rather than the dingy shack in the book that makes heaven's story that much more incredible.

So much was left out of the movie from the books that the whole mood is gone and this feels more like a bold and the beautiful episode at times. We also don't see enough of heaven's introduction to her new wealthy life.

Now onto the positives.

Jason priestly was a great tony, and Jillian was well acted. Fanny and heaven were too stiff and underwhelming for me but they had an alright delivery. For a stand alone movie it's ok, but as a tribute to the book it was upsetting and not recognizable apart from the characters names.

I really wanted to like these movies. I love the books and was excited for them to be made into movies. But come on. A huge part of the story is that Heaven has black hair. The second one is literally called Dark Angel because of her hair. She looks just like her mom except she had black hair, Casteel hair.

Leigh had silverly blond hair which was another important point in the series. They cast a red head for the dark haired character and a dark haired actress for the one with blond hair.

Farthinggale Manor was another disappointment. That house doesn't even come close to what it was supposed to be.

Being Gen-x I did like Jason Priestley as Tony Tatterton but everything else was a pitiful attempt that ignored the source material.

Here's the sad truth. Jason Priestley and Kelly Rutherford are much better at the craft of acting than the performances the give in this series. Why they are delivering their lines in such horrific fashion is beyond my comprehension. Did the director say, "Deliver it like you're brand new to the craft."? As for the other actors, I had low expectations. But it's really sad to watch pros utterly bomb in from of the camera.