Search - Christy - A New Beginning on DVD

A new "Christy" story

mamasylvia | Cheyenne, WY United States | 08/15/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

"You're either a Christy fan or not, so I'm not going to bother summarizing the plot. If you're a Christy fan, you'll like it. However, I don't think I'd start a new Christy viewer out on these movies. They start after the series' end, with first "Return to Cutter Gap" and then "A Change of Seasons" and "A New Beginning." Start a Christy newbie with the first few series episodes. However, for returning Christy fans, this is another enjoyable movie with no objectionable language or behavior, and a pleasing addition to the Christy canon.What is new to these movies from the series (besides cast changes) is the envelope, discussions between the aged Christy and her daughter "Catherine" as Catherine brings her mother to revisit Cutter Gap. (Those who have read Catherine Marshall's book _Christy_, on which the series and now the movie are loosely based, know that the Christy character is somewhat based on Catherine Marshall's mother.) And the whole Margaret McNeill sub-plot is ignored as if it had never happened (which, in the book, it didn't -- Margaret died before Christy ever came to Cutter Gap and didn't keep popping up to torment Neil and Miss Alice.) But the envelope and occasional voice-overs by the "older" Christy are okay and the story is involving, with poachers and an early aviatrix descending on Cutter Gap. Interestingly, the aviatrix Harriet Quimby was a real person and this episode left me wondering whether she and Catherine Marshall's real-life mother ever met.The cast changes are neutral to slightly disappointing. Lauren Lee Smith's portrayal of Christy is as perky and naive as Kellie Martin's was. James Waterston doesn't have the presence of Randall Batinkoff's original David Grantland, and Diane Ladd seemed rather wishy-washy after Tyne Daly's characterization (and her "thee"s sounded totally artificial). But these are minor flaws. A flaw that bothered me more was the new Fairlight Spencer's emotional distance from Christy. Both in the book and in the series, their friendship was very important to both women, and I don't think Fairlight would have brushed Christy off no matter the provocation. Finally, a word of warning about confusing titles. "Return to Cutter Gap" was shown on Pax-TV recently as "Christy: The Movie." Two other Amazon "Christy" titles, "Christy: A Change of Seasons" and "Christy: A New Beginning" were just shown on Pax as "Christy: Choices of the Heart" parts 1 and 2 respectively. Why rename them? Other than to confuse the viewers, I mean?"

Christy

Reviewer | 03/20/2006

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Out of the three Christy movies done starring Laurn Lee Smith, this one is the best. It's a good movie. I thought Lauren Lee Smith did a good job. The only problem was she wasn't the Christy we started out with and know and love. Kellie Martin did a great job as Christy. She and Stewart Finlay McLennan had great chemistry. If the series had starred Lauren Lee Smith as Christy from the beginning, the movies would have gone over a lot better, I think. I did not like the woman who played Miss Alice. Yuck. The guy who played the preacher did pretty well. The woman who played Fairlight-- she was okay, but you can't hardly replace main characters. Watching the new movies was almost like watching a totally different story. Since almost none of the orginal actors and actresses (save Stewart Finlay McLennan/ Doctor MacNeil) it was hard to take as an end to Christy. I enjoyed Doctor MacNeil. : ) He is a good actor and did well with Lauren Lee Smith. I do like Lauren Lee Smith, too. She just didn't start out as Christy.

We get to know who Christy chooses to marry in this movie and that's great. She picks the right man. :p Christy also kept her relationship with God in the movies, which I was glad to see. It's a romantic, adventurous movie and it's decent-- it won't burn your eyes or make you blush. Give it a try."