spikeluvr

I've always loved Candace Cameron. Bure in any movies she appeared in. This movie was a real disservice to the persona she has built into all of her characters-optimism, consideration of others and attentiveness. Her character in this movie was oblivious to the needs of anyone but herself. Her family seemed like it was just an extension of her own need for control. She claimed she wanted to help her brother and niece through their grief yet she consistently ignored everything they wanted. It was painful watching how dysfunctional she made her entire family. I'm not sure what the writers were trying to achieve. She didn't seem to have a genuine epiphany and her family just grudgingly went along for the hellish ride she put them on. I finally turned it off three quarters of the way through. It felt like it took three hours just to get that far. I'm sure they finished the movie with some sort of personal revelation but it just wasn't worth it to me.

Other than the scenery and costumes, the movie had no redeeming qualities. Poirot seems to stumble from one scene to the next without gathering details or making astute observations. The "diversity" plot points are superfluous and don't add to the story. The acting was overdone by all and led by the King of Hams, Kenneth Branagh. He disgraced the character of Poirot. The fact that Branagh thinks he could remake a character already done to perfection by David Suchet shows how arrogant he is. His attempts to "humanize" Poirot only make him seem pathetic rather than sympathetic. Hopefully Hollywood puts this "franchise" out to pasture.