Book vs Movie: "Anne of Green Gables"

I'm sure this has been done before, I know I'm not that inventive.  But I've wanted to do this special for a while now and hadn't come up with the perfect book/movie yet. Until now. :) Obviously I could have done Harry Potter first, but I know it's been done lots. Well, I just watched the Anne of Green Gables movie and decided this would be the perfect opportunity for my first "Book vs Movie". For these, I'm going to assume you've either read the book or seen the movie, so spoilers abound!

(click here for links)

If you'll recall, I immediately fell in love with Anne and all her misadventures in the first book. I kind of feel like Mark reading Harry Potter for the first time. I have no idea what's going to happen and didn't even know there was a movie (or more than one) til someone mentioned it to me! As soon as I finish up the 2 books I have going right now, I'm going to pick up the 2nd Anne-girl book. :) I do have a question though, for those in the know: do the movies go right along with the books or do they combine one or two? I would like to watch the 2nd movie after the 2nd book and so on, but wasn't sure if that was right. Please let me know (without spoiling!) if that is feasible.



Okay, on to the movie. I watched the 1985 version with Megan Follows (per friend's recommendation). Compared to the book, I'd give it a 4/5 probably. I really, really enjoyed it, even though it was 3 hours!! Yikes. My sister was a little apprehensive about it at first, but she really liked it too and totally cried at the end. In her words though, "I liked Secret Garden, why wouldn't I like this?" Whatever. I felt they did a decent job of staying true to the book, there were some minor discrepancies (that I'll get to in a minute), but overall it was very faithful. To make it easy, how about a list of the things I loved and not-so-much-liked. (Not hate, because I didn't *hate* any of it!)

Loved:
-Gilbert was ever so handsome in the movies...when he winks at Anne, I swooned a little. (That clip is mesmerizing btw, go watch it.)
-Anne/Megan was great, her hysterics and theatrics were perfect, her disdain for Gilbert beautiful.
-The scene where Gilbert saves her on the boat is great.
-Marilla was perfect.
-I grew to love movie Matthew and was just as sad at the end when he died.
-Seeing Anne's (mis)adventures on the screen.
-Seeing Anne and Gilbert's relationship growing. (And did I mention the winking?)
-The beginning scenes showing Anne at the mean lady's (I can't remember her name) house with all the kids...ugh, that was awful, but I liked the extra scene. My sis was like "Why is she so mean???" And then later with Marilla: "Aw, is she going to be mean too??"

Not-So-Much:
-The ages were off, too much at first. Book Anne was 11, but Movie Anne was 13. That felt like too big a jump for me, but I got used to it. And Diana seemed to be a good 2 years older than Anne?
-I pictured Matthew completely differently. Taller and thinner and maybe bald? And I wanted them to show more how he was afraid of girls. But I loved Movie Matthew still too.
-They dragged out Anne's "trial" far too long in the movie, Marilla decided basically the next day that Anne was staying in the book.
-At the end of the movie, when Diana and Anne are talking about Gilbert...I don't remember Book Diana ever saying she might like Gilbert?? I know I mentioned in my book review that they never fought, so maybe they were setting that up a little more clearly for conflict in the next movie? :(
-The fluffy sideburns/mutton chops on some of the guys. Ew-yuck.
-Also ew, Mr Philips, the teacher. Although he did play the part perfectly. Creepers gotta creep. (Side note: when my sis and I see some creeper guy, we sign the letters for C-G-C lol. We're so weird.)