Rating: 
Summary: Romantic Predictability...
Review: A & E's production of R.D. Blackmore's novel of forbidden love between two hostile families is lushly filmed, action-filled, and surprisingly dull. Yes, there are a few surprises here and there; however, the story runs into predictable territory come the last hour and a half, and the characters become too melodramatic to be considered real. The star-crossed lovers do play off each other well, embracing the invisible struggle surrounding their union. Amelia Warner (Lorna Doone) gives the right amount of innocence against ambition, creating a lovely, yearning picture of a woman finding her way into the world. Her love (John Ridd), played by the ravishing Richard Coyle, battles endlessly for her deliverance from a power-hungry family. Scenes of swordplay, gun fighting, and warring words dominate the film, along with the green and black tones of the Doone's aura. Their home and demeanor is cold and dark, in stark contrast to that of the Ridd's. Yet despite these dynamic action and aesthetic backdrops, I found myself jumping ahead at various points simply because I was already ahead of the film itself. The characters, though well played, were standard stock-acting fare. Aidan Gillen's performance of Lorna's rejected suitor was extremely cartoonish. Each time he was told he should give up his pursuit of Lorna, he would restate his devotion to her then stomp away like a child. I kept expecting him to grab a skateboard along the way, riding off to his pouting place. I will say that the romantic standard of hero/villain/heroine is not an easy foundation upon which to build an unpredictable storyline, especially when given a rather caricature-esque setting. Yet director Mike Barker does his best with Adrian Hodges screenplay, and makes a film for inspired romantics. Although it is predictable at most points, the tale does give the audience the desire to rise in hopeful bliss for two souls so like their own. Lorna and John may be of a different time, yet love burns deep in all of us, no matter the age or circumstances. If it is to be, there is no death for love. Lorna and John teach us this, as we rise.
Rating: 
Summary: excellent period piece with wonderful actors
Review: A wonderful film - the two lead actors are perfect. Don't miss this one!!
Rating:
Summary: Romance, heroism and treachery
Review: Condensing an approximately 650 page book, full of political intrigue with many twists and turns, into a 2 hour movie is a very formidable challenge and this movie probably did the best that could be expected. Having read the book I can understand the challenges the makers of this film faced. Overall, Lorna Doone is a very good film. Richard Coyle and beautiful Amelia Warner are wonderful as farmer John Ridd and the aristocratic Lorna. The love story between John and Lorna is very touching and simple. Aiden Gillen does a good job as the despicable Carver Doone. When John is 12 the Doones kill his father. Later John meets and falls in love with Lorna Doone, and rescues her from an impending marriage with the vicious Carver. Needless to say John's family is not happy and the taking of Lorna leads to conflict with the Doones. The story of Lorna Doone is set during the end of the reign of King Charles II. When Charles dies his Catholic son James ascends to the throne. Charles' illegitimate Protestant son, the Duke of Monmouth, leads a rebellion to overthrow the king. When the Doones join the Monmouth Rebellion they become enemies of the King, which leads to an assault on the Doones lead by John. So the story is both a romance and an action movie (as well as historical fiction).
Fans of the book will be disappointed at some aspects of the movie. Hardly any of the dialogue in the movie comes from the book. Also, some aspects of the movie are flawed. In the book Lorna tells John that her name is Lorna Doone when they first meet as children. In the movie, John finds out at their third meeting. Considering that they were meeting in Doone Valley it should have been obvious that she was a Doone. Later, when John tells Lorna that her mother and brother were killed by the Doones she happily exclaims that she told him the Doones were liars. However, in the book Lorna almosts faints from shock, which is the obvious reaction someone would have to such news. In the movie, when John is arrested as a rebel he is given the option of execution or leading an assault against the Doones. In the book, Lorna gets John a pardon and John leads the assault against the Doones after they kill a toddler for fun. In the movie, Gwenny is a wimp. In the book, Gwenny is tough and unafraid and Lorna describes her as having 'no kind of fear even of our roughest men'. If the movie had been about one hour longer, it would have been possible to stick more closely to the book. Unfortunately, the movie is too short to really adequately lay out the plot. Some reviewers have complained that Carver did not age in the movie. I did not think this was a flaw because Carver was about 25 at the beginning of the story and about 35 at the end, so little physical aging would realistically have taken place.
Despite its flaws, I stilled enjoyed this movie. It is one that I recommend adding to your collection. It is good clean fun that the whole family will enjoy, and the scenery is beautiful. I also highly recommend the book by R.D. Blackmore.
Rating:
Summary: A Promise to Keep
Review: Fortunately I was able to catch this originally when it ran on A&E and was so captivated I pre-ordered both the video and DVD. The video version differs only slightly from the DVD; the color is not as good. That's it. Overall it's a very good purchase at a reasonable price for such an excellent film. Fans of A&E's lush romances like Pride & Prejudice, Victoria & Albert, and Emma will enjoy Lorna Doone. It's a blend of romance, adventure, mystery, and something of the sinister, with a Romeo & Julietish twist. The acting is stellar, particularly in the casting of Aidan Gillen as Carver Doone. He completely overpowers the screne whenever present and makes a loathable and yet empathetic villain. Richard Coyle is doubly good as the heroic John Ridd, and Amelia Warner proves she can play leads effortly as the spirited but puzzling Lorna. It's a film my entire family enjoyed... there was enough romance for the girls, some action scenes for the guys, and enough lush English countryside and magnificent costuming for one and all. Rent it, buy it, borrow it -- see it.
Rating:
Summary: A Promise to Keep
Review: Fortunately I was able to catch this originally when it ran on A&E and was so captivated I pre-ordered both the video and DVD. The video version differs only slightly from the DVD; the color is not as good. That's it. Overall it's a very good purchase at a reasonable price for such an excellent film. Fans of A&E's lush romances like Pride & Prejudice, Victoria & Albert, and Emma will enjoy Lorna Doone. It's a blend of romance, adventure, mystery, and something of the sinister, with a Romeo & Julietish twist. The acting is stellar, particularly in the casting of Aidan Gillen as Carver Doone. He completely overpowers the screne whenever present and makes a loathable and yet empathetic villain. Richard Coyle is doubly good as the heroic John Ridd, and Amelia Warner proves she can play leads effortly as the spirited but puzzling Lorna. It's a film my entire family enjoyed... there was enough romance for the girls, some action scenes for the guys, and enough lush English countryside and magnificent costuming for one and all. Rent it, buy it, borrow it -- see it.
Rating:
Summary: Aidan Gillen-my vote for SEXY villian....:)
Review: great swashbuckling romantic adventure. A great movie to watch on a rainy afternoon. Aiden Gillen is SO believable as a villian-most Americans probably will know him as the villian in Shanghi Knights. A man you will love to hate:)-LOL. If you are a fan of period pieces (with true heroes, villians and happy endings) like Pride and Prejudice, Moll Flanders, Sense and Sensibilty then I recommend this movie.
Rating: 
Summary: Swashbuckling romance -- works for me!
Review: I bought this film because I am a fan of the BBC comedy Coupling, and in the bio notes on actor Richard Coyle, this piece is listed prominently among his previous screen credits. I was amazed -- the same actor who plays sex-obsessed, socially inept Jeff on Coupling, as a dashing, heroic, romantic leading man in a period piece? This, I had to see, so I set out to hunt this down.
Well, I have now watched the film twice, and I am glad I spent my money on it. I vaguely remember the original book (read it more years ago that I care to admit to), and what I remember, the film follows fairly well. I am not up on the nuances of that period of history, so if there are anachronisms, they went right past me and didn't in any way spoil my enjoyment.
Richard Coyle filled the boots of noble farmer John Ridd in excellent style, and I discovered that the man is devilishly handsome, especially when he smiles, a fact that escaped my notice in his portrayal of Jeff, whose manic, left of center personality distracts you from paying attention to that. I'd wondered how far his range would stretch -- well, it appears to have the elasticity of a bungee cord; I didn't flash on Jeff once in the entire two and a half hours, which is a tribute to the actor's skill.
Amanda Warner, as Lorna, was everything she should have been; innocent in many ways, much too wise in others, cameo pretty and with unexpected backbone. Her confrontation with John over the letters was very well done, as Lorna tries to remain aloof as her heart breaks over the supposed abandonment (I'm really not sure why she allowed Gwennie to remain with her after that, I'm not sure I'd have been that forgiving).
The supporting cast was uniformly excellent -- special nods to the performers playing Judge Jeffries, Counsellor Doone, Captain Stickles, and Ruth Huckaback (my apologies for not listing names here, I can't remember them .... )who truly stood out in the ensemble.
My only true gripe with the performances, and I don't know if I can put the blame on the performer, the writer, or the director, must fall on Aiden Gillen. His Carver was just a bit too over the top, and played as more of a caricature than a character -- I never felt that he really cared for Lorna, more that he saw her as a means to an end, a possession (got the same feeling from Billy Zane's character in Titanic, too). If they could have made his feelings come out more, I probably would have been all right with the rest.
In all, I was very pleased with the film, and I will cheerfully watch it again. If you want an absorbing period piece to whisk you into another time and place, I recommend this one.
Rating: 
Summary: Dissapointingly below my expectations...
Review: I discovered this DVD at my local library, and curiously decided to rent it because of A&E's renown classics (Pride and Prejudice, Les Miserables...)and the synopsis on the back which made it seem like a very captivating movie. Unfortunately, this movie seemed very poorly produced (if you notice, though Karver is at least 10 years John's senior, he doesn't seemed to have aged from the moment he kills john's father when john was little to the moment he is out to kill John as an adult...)with weak and trite dialogue spoken by obvious amateurs. The plot was fairly good (though very cliche in some aspects), and I won't totally discredit the book for all of the imperfections I have pointed out in the movie (though I have not read it), but I do think that the book probably deserves more credit than the movie does.
Rating:
Summary: A Weak Link
Review: I got this DVD as part of the A&E Literary Classics Romance Collection, and it's one of the few weak links in that otherwise superb box set (a must for lovers of period films and literary adaptations). Lorna Doone is a fun little romp through 17th-century England if you're willing to lower your standards for a few hours, but in all honesty it's really just a clumsy, formulaic Romeo and Juliet tale. The main villain is a sneering cardboard cutout. The central romance is unbelievable: Lorna is never fleshed out (and is no great beauty, either, to be frank), so you never see why John falls in love with her--unless it's just simple infatuation because of the "forbidden fruit" factor. You just have to take the whole relationship on faith since it rarely feels real or compelling. On top of that, the clumsy direction makes a total mess of the fight scenes: there's no sense of focus, pacing, momentum, or drama. (There are little historical anachronisms, too, like John's sister wearing the kind of modern eyeglasses with side bows that hadn't been invented in the West at that time--no big problem, obviously, but sloppy and distracting nonetheless.) On the bright side, this version of Lorna Doone (many have been filmed over the years) features a few memorable performances, like the droll Michael Kitchen as Judge Jeffreys. Plus, there aren't a whole lot of period pieces focusing on 17th-century England; most choose the Middle Ages or the 18th or 19th centuries. So, at least the time period is refreshing. 2.5 stars.
Rating:
Summary: The Best
Review: I think that this movie was sooo goood! I enjoyed it immensely and i could watch it with my little sister, my mom, and my older brother all at once! I loved the story line. I loved every single actor, and everything kept you in suspense! I loved all of the surprises!
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