Stometer Save your money for something good and enjoyable

Fairaher The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

Taraparain Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

Siflutter It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

mary-hammond2 This series is my favourite television series of all and I am watching it episode by episode as Sky True Entertainment is showing it each day at the moment. I showed two episodes to my 6 year old granddaughter yesterday and she seemed to really like it as well. The scenery of Prince Edward Island looks so gorgeous that it makes me want to go there for a holiday. The stories are beautifully written, and the children are just such fun. Sarah is such an enchanting little girl and Felix seems such a typically naughty and cheeky boy. I just love the whole series! I think my daughter-in-law was rather worried that the innocent world portrayed in RTA, where Sarah goes into strangers houses and doesn't show any fear or wariness of possible danger from them, might be a bad example to children, whereas now they are always warned to beware of strangers. But of course we are looking at a different world then, which seems full of charm and magic.

TxMike My public library has the 3-disk DVD set of the first season of "Tales from Avonlea". Sarah was supposed to be 10, but young actress Sarah Polley looks more like 8. It is remarkable that a series would be built around such a young actress, but it works because she is so good and so believable.The first episode on the disk recounts how Sarah ended up in Avonlea, a rural town on Prince Edward Island, a far cry from her home of privilege and wealth in Montreal. Her mother had become sick and died when Sarah was only a small child, and since then she had been cared for by her dad Blair Stanley, with the help of a very protective governess.When some business criminal charges are brought against Mr. Stanley, he makes arrangements for young Sarah to go live, temporarily, with aunts, uncles, and cousins in Avonlea. Of course, if convicted and imprisoned, it could be longer than temporary.Naturally young Sarah travels to Avonlea with her governess, who expected to stay with Sarah. "Show me to my room, please, and bring those bags." But the governess was met with a rather rude welcome, no place for her and she was made to leave. Young Sarah had to fend for herself for the first time. But being smart, capable and resilient, young Sarah does just fine. She does more than just fine and becomes a fixture in Avonlea, creating her own lore.This is a very fine TV series, with good stories and good acting. Of course young Sarah Polley, who has grown into a very fine adult actress, easily carries the series with her fine acting.

SincerelyMichael I was born in 1989, and I watched this show growing up. It was amazingly realistic and portrays Islanders exactly how they were. I was surprised that people from the United States and all over the world watched Road to Avonlea. When I was young, I thought it was just local.I loved the characters in the show, and how the buildings and houses reminded me of where I lived. In fact, the white church shown in the theme song is 200 metres from my house. It's part of a community called Orwell, where I live. Actually it's a historic village called Orwell Corner Historic Village, it has been there since the 1800's. I actually worked as a tour guide there last summer, and cleaned and polished that church many times. Of course most of the sets are in Ontario but lot's of background scenery and stock footage is actually from here.Oh yeah, and for those who don't know this Avonlea is a made up place based on a real place in PEI called Cavendish. Cavendish is a tourist spot and has an attraction called Avonlea village which is based upon Lucy Maud's Avonlea. ^.^ So come visit us in PEI!! I'll probably be working at Orwell Corner this summer so stop by and say hi if you come.

Lee-107 ROAD TO AVONLEA (RTA) is adapted from L.M. Montgomery's short stories on Avonlea. Spanning 7 seasons, 91 episodes in all, this series follows the life of its three main protagonists - Sara Stanley (Sarah Polley), Felicity King (Gema Zamprogna) and Felix King (Zachary Bennett), from the time they're around nine years old till they reach adulthood. Jackie Burroughs, Cedric Smith, Lally Cadeau, and Mag Ruffman, who play the rest of the King family, also have dominant roles in the series. Many of its themes and issues have been shown from their perspective. For those familiar with Kevin Sullivan's 'Anne of Green Gables' and its Sequel, RTA is meant to be a show that explores life in Avonlea after Anne Shirley has left to settle elsewhere. Therefore, some of the 'Anne' characters do appear in RTA like Marilla Cuthbert (Colleen Dewhurst), Rachel Lynde (Patricia Hamilton), and Muriel Stacy (Marilyn Lightstone).One of the many reasons why this series is so endearing and memorable is its right mixture of drama and comedy. The comic element is explored thoroughly through the characters of Felix and Hetty King and also through those working at the White Sands Hotel - a venue for many an Avonlea adventure! Jackie Burroughs has given one of the best performances playing Hetty King - a school teacher who is at times a rigid, even shrewish spinster and the next, an eloquent novelist of popular romance! Her character fluctuates from the impossibly strict to the ridiculously silly! The series started with the focus on Sara Stanley and then shifted to Felicity King and it is her life that has been most faithfully charted - from being a typical, bossy elder sister to a sensitive, young woman. Micheal Mahonen plays Gus Pike, Felicity's love interest. His character is granted all the elements of a romantic hero - a passion for the seas, a lighthouse dwelling, mystery, initial orphanhood, and then a fortunate family lineage. The characters of Sara and Felix have been given almost equal treatment; with Sara, being an independent, self-seeking woman exiting the show in Season 6 to seek a literary career in Paris. Felix's story is one of gradual maturation through what seems like an endless series of scrapes and messes! From Season 6, the show focused more on other characters in Avonlea, like the town gossips, the Pettibone family and Davy and Dora Keith. What made RTA interesting was its social and historical realism - from focusing on the suffragette movement, to the scientific inventions explored through the character of Jasper Dale (R.H. Thomson), to the encroachment of builders wanting to turn Avonlea into a city. Supported by an amazing team of costume and location designers and five music directors, RTA is as authentic as any period show can get. I loved the music given for this series, especially the tune given by John Welsman for Gus Pike's character - a violin tune, it evokes all the beauty and pathos of his character. RTA ended on a bitter-sweet note. The sweet note being the much-awaited marriage of Felicity to Gus and the bitter note being the planned departure of one of the show's sweetest couples - Olivia and Jasper Dale. Their decision to leave Avonlea is a metaphorical announcement that things have changed in Avonlea - with the cannery disaster being a milder version of what Avonlea will face with the advent of the World War I. One can say that Kevin Sullivan has explored that element in his RTA reunion movie 'Happy Christmas Miss King' and in 'Anne of Green Gables: The Continuing Story'. As to the cast of RTA, they're all brilliant in their roles. I found myself especially identifying with Sarah Polley and Gema Z's character and the various predicaments they fall into. RTA is a representation of Kevin Sullivan at his best - never has the combination (in a TV costume drama series) of romance, comedy, and social and historical realism been more entertaining, endearing, and authentic! Road to Avonlea is one of my all-time favourite shows. So much so that, when I visited Prince Edward Island, I took time out to visit Dalvay-By-The-Sea - Avonlea's White Sands Hotel. Visiting the hotel was a surreal experience. I felt like (or rather wished) Hetty and Felix would walk right past me arguing over some nor something! Avonlea will always be special for me - always there to provide comfort and companionship when I need it.