V.C. Andrews' Pearl in the Mist

This is possible my favourite movie in the series. Ruby and Giselle are twins in the real world and they flow really nicely together with delicious sparks shooting everywhere. The storyline continues to be and over-the-top and extreme baloney. If this is your jam you will love it. Some great and complex interactions between good and evil are showcased.

As a VC Andrews reader, I've seen the Lifetime adaptations of the books. You have to go in with low expectations of a true adaptation. This movie was OK. I think the best so far are Ruby and All That Glitters. Pearl in the Mist is a good "filler" movie meaning it's watchable. It has the same problem as the others in that it goes from scene to scene, event to event, in almost a whiplash kind of way. You're really just watching plot points happen versus a soapy dramatic family saga. If that makes sense. However, as I've said in my reviews of the other movies, the twins are good. Good on Lifetime for using real sisters (unlike in A Sister's Secret) and both play their parts well. I find most of the characters are well acted. Loved seeing Marilu Henner in this. It's worth a watch and it's better than most of the movies the network churns out.

This is the second movie in the series following Ruby. Wheelchair-bound Gisselle Dumas is bitter and schemes against her twin Ruby. They are both sent to Greenwood School for Girls which is run by Miss Ironwood who is prejudiced against swamp people. The story has certainly placed a couple of potential coupling in Ruby's path. I don't think all that is necessary or good for the story. They are never trying that hard. Louis should have been a straight forward friend from the start. Maybe Ruby could set him up with Abby and they can be a trio of friends. I do like Gisselle's scheming but she could do a few more schemes. She needs more screen time being evil but she gets overshadowed by the cartoon villainy of Ironwood. This is more of the same trashiness. That's both good and bad. I can almost read the trashy novel in between the lines. There is fun in trashiness.

Put Heidi, Tammy and the Bachelor and The Secret Garden into a blender and pour the brown muck you get into the Canadian Film Industry's TV movie fuel tank and the result is this button-pusher, compulsively watchable with jaw dropped.