The classic novel “Wuthering Heights,” written by Emily Bronte, was given a modern-day twist by MTV. The novel captures the essence of Heathcliff and lovely Kate, while the MTV movie version butchered the story into a ” let’s make out,” “he loves me, he loves me not” adolescent flick that screams horrific.For those of you who have never experienced the love of Heathcliff and Kate, I’ll give you a little run-down of the story. Heath is an orphan who comes into the lives of Kate and her brother Hendrix, through their father Crenshaw. As the three children grow up together, Hendrix feels like an outcast from his family, and Heath and Kate fall in love. The temptation of another world away from The Heights (where they live) draws Kate, causing Heath and Kate to drift apart from each other. In either case, they never stop loving each other, but go their separate ways, of course never forgetting one another. While Kate gets married and pregnant, Heath buries himself in sadness and songs. I think you get the picture. Basically, it is the ultimate love story.
MTV called in some well-known faces to help them pull the movie together. For instance, Erika Christensen from “Swim-Fan” stars as the love-struck Kate. Katherine Heigl, from “Roswell” plays the overdramatic Isabel and even Aimee Osbourne, daughter of Sharon and Ozzy, appears in the movie for a short period of time as Raquelle. Johnny Whitworth plays the role of Hendrix, and Mike Vogel portrays the character of Heath. The movie is sure to be a crowd-pleaser for the younger generation, but overall it just lacks the same beauty as the novel. The actors that contributed to the movie have proven to be worthy of praise in other roles, but in these, the acting was overdone, and was painful to watch.
I have mentioned a lot of negatives, but there is one positive to the movie. The music selected to capture every scene and each emotion of the characters was great. The music definitely set the scene for a great movie. If anything I would go and purchase the CD, but the DVD or VHS should be left on the store shelf at all cost!
“Wuthering Heights” has several versions but this is by far the worst one that’s been released. I think that MTV could have done better and I was disappointed with the outcome. I hope that the next “MTV Original” is better than this one!
Movie: D-
DVD Features: C