You know what's disappointing?
Reading the same book for 17 years, only to have a pathetic movie made about it.
Lifetime network has been making the VC Andrews books into TV movies over the past few years.
It started with the Dollanganger series (starting with Flowers in the attic), then My Sweet Audrina (a stand alone story only until recently) and now the Casteel series (starting with Heaven).
SPOILER ALERT. I write as if you have read the whole story. Also, I rant a lot *grins*
Based in the 60's,
Heaven is the story of the Casteels, hillbilly trash that live in Virginia. 5 children - Heaven, Tom, Fanny, Keith and "Our Jane" - live with their parents, Sarah and Luke, and Luke's parents Toby and Annie. They are known as "the scum of the hills" as they are one of the poorest families around and the reputation of the Casteel boys (Luke's brothers) precedes them.
As they struggle to make ends-meet and have at least one meal a day (usually of biscuits and lard-gravy), Heaven remains strong willed that things will be better, with the help of her brother Tom to keep her optimistic. Until the faithful day that Sarah leaves, Granny dies, and Luke decides that his children would be better off if they had other families. So he sells them all. For $500 a piece.
Now, the movie.
I hated it.
Sure, it would've been fine as a general movie but as an adaptation?
The heart of it was missing.
The tiny shack where all 4 kids sleep in the same bed?
Now bunk beds.
Modern everything.
THEY HAVE A PIANO FFS!
Where is the struggle to survive? How are we supposed to feel compassion for these kids? (I mean, sure, they don't live in a mansion, but they have a new outfit in almost every scene and Heaven even has a purse!)
Keep in mind, the storyline of book vs movie is all over the place and choppy so it's hard to review this in a linear way.
Fanny is one of the fanbases' most love-to-hate character, as she is stuck up, slutty and always trying to prove to Heaven that she is Pa's favourite. Her attitude toward her sister, and the family situation, is terrible but she does provide some "comedic relief" if you will with her ridiculous antics.
Movie Fanny is timid, covered up and does not lash out at Heaven the way she should. Many who were chatting with this reviewer agreed that the actress who played Fanny would have made a more convincing Heaven (and she had the right hair colour).
Writing out the grandpa was a bad move. He plays an intricate part of the story later on and now they will have to come up with another way for the events of the story to take place.
When the children go with their new families, the reactions are not at all as they should be. Heaven is upset at the two smallest leaving (who are NOT twins btw), Fanny's performance is confusing - book Fanny wanted to go and have a better life that she feels she is entitled too, but movie Fanny just walks out sombrely.
Tom and Heaven's goodbye, when Tom goes off to his "job" that Pa got him, is more like a brother going out with his friends than a separating of best friends/siblings. Tom fights harder to stay with Heaven, and not be taken as a work-mule for a local farmer.
In the story, Luke is there for each child being picked up. Movie Luke is no where to be seen, except for the smallest two leaving. Luke's overbearing presence, and his distaste for Heaven, is not anywhere to be seen. Luke is not present much in the story, we learn about his behaviour more from Heaven's dialogue, but when he is there you can feel his strong-will seeping off the pages. They really dropped the ball on his attitude towards his life.
Finally, we get to Heaven's new family. While I understand the choice to not give Heaven a choice between two families (for timing and the relationship with Luke being ignored), I still think there should have been more of a confrontation with daughter and father when Kitty and Cal show up. At least they got the fact that Kitty and Cal live in Atlanta right.
Also, while we are on this note, the only confrontation we see is Luke being inappropriate with Heaven, thinking that she is her dead mother. Leigh "Angel" VanVoreen is the biological mother of Heaven, who dies giving birth to her. This causes Luke to resent her for her whole life, and is a trigger for the relationship with her and Fanny. Heaven is also supposed to be identical to her mother, except in hair colour (blonde mother, brunette daughter) but movie Heaven has red hair. Uhm, what?! This plot point becomes a catalyst for many of the events to follow, but the directors etc have ignored that completely. Most fans are outraged at this.
So, back to Kitty and Cal Dennison. Heaven's new parents. Book wise, Kitty is a fierce and crass red-headed, hairdresser, obsessed with cleanliness and the want to stay young and fresh.
Movie Kitty is a blonde, alcoholic dental hygienist who is barely around. The abuse she delivers to Heaven for 2 years is completely missing in the movie. A few moments of her downward spiral into madness, caused by age and illness, come through in the portrayal of our beloved Kitty. Her hillbilly past never comes through, and her relationship with Cal is not accurate - book wise, they are not a loving, happy couple, where we get those vibes more so on screen.
Since Kitty is supposed to be in high demand at her salon, Cal and Heaven end up together a lot for dinners and weekends. Book Heaven is supposed to be in school, but that got deleted completely since the semester was ending soon so Kitty decides she should wait for the new one. Which we never see.
Movie wise, she just works a lot and demands Heaven clean the entire house daily... Cal ends up helping out since he is a stay-at-home writer (which made this reader laugh). The two act more like a newlywed couple than a father-daughter. Book wise, the grooming and seduction of Heaven takes a long time. Cal knows how to play Kitty's jealously and uses Heaven against her. Eventually, Cal has his way with Heaven... though on screen it looked random and more consentual than it was. All of the sudden, they were sleeping together. Where is the set up for this? besides a few stolen glances at each other does not a taboo-relationship make, lifetime.
There are pivotal scenes that happen in the story that are glossed over or omitted. Heaven's mother had a suitcase full of her stuff at the cabin that Heaven had brought with her. This contained her mother's outfits, vanity items and a doll that is made to look identical to her. Book Kitty ends up burning this in a jealous fit during the story, but instead Heaven comes home to Kitty stroking it and lashing out with the thought of Luke and his Angel (since Kitty was in love with him and is using Heaven as the daughter she never had with Luke Casteel) causing her to bash the doll into pieces, and then Heaven into a table. Book wise, this whole scene takes place after a major confrontation and accusations from Kitty about how Heaven is not the clean daughter Kitty dreamed of.
When Kitty gets sick, they go back to the town of Winnerrow so Kitty's mother can help take care of her. Heaven reunites with Tom and Logan Stonewall, her boyfriend (who is much more important in the series than we see in this first movie). Cal's jealously of both of these men in her life cause him to lash out in non-Cal ways. Book Cal was much more sombre and lost as a person, than this young, attractive man we see. Like Kitty, the portrayal of Kitty's strong-willed mother is missing. Also, Kitty's siblings are missing. Now, while I understand why, her sister Maise is a minor character who does some damage later on. They seem to put this responsibility into the hands of Mrs Stonewall, who is a substitute teacher (WHAT?)
On a side note, none of the jobs of these characters are correct. Small things like this really annoy fans. Why is it necessary to change the little things?
Book wise, Heaven does not connect with her father again, but he does come through for her. Luke writes to Leigh's parents in Boston and has arranged that Heaven go visit them. Heaven does not demand it and that whole movie scene was laughable. "Get on your knees" ? really. Who wrote this garbage.
Overall, I give it a 1 star for getting most of the names right. None of the characters were true to their book counterpart, and many of the themes were glossed over or overlooked. For an adaptation, it feels like someone read the book years ago and only remembered the basic story of children being sold off.
4 more movies to go, and I would categorise them under Comedy vs Drama as it was a joke.
Lifetime, STOP MAKING THESE CRAPPY MOVIES. Thank you.
