In quite a few ways, I was not looking forward to this one.
While part of that could be due to my inexperience with the series this film
spawned from, it’s not as if that’s been an issue in the past. I haven’t seen
any episodes of Dance Academy or Sword Art Online, and yet I left those films
quite pleased with the results.
No, my apprehension here is more to do with the genre, as I
have stated in previous reviews that costume dramas really aren’t my thing, and
the writer and director bringing it together. Between Crooked House, which was
less film as it was malformed audiobook, and The Chaperone, which as a possible
road-test for Downton Abbey-style storytelling in a feature-length production
ended up crashing into a ditch with all its wheels punctured, I wasn’t
expecting much out of this. And yet, while still not entirely being on board
with it, I walked away from this a lot more chipper than I would’ve guessed.
