When a movie is filmed nearly a decade ago and doesn't see any release for that amount of time, you know the ride isn't going to be a smooth one. Even though The Woodlanders is based on a best selling novel written in 1887 by Thomas Hardy, the film would have been better off left on the shelf to collect dust.

While the movie may star some notable names like Rufus Sewell, Emily Woof and Polly Walker, it never feels like more than a made for TV drama. The characters are mostly unlikable, the pacing is extremely slow and the movie is anti-climactic (not to mention depressing as all hell). At its heart The Woodlandersis a tale about love, betrayal and yearning, though the movie doesn't represent it well.

The time period is the Victorian era in Britain and our characters find themselves living in a remote woodland village where nothing happens other than apples growing on trees. Grace Melbury (Emily Woof) comes home from her schooling to find that nothing has really changed and that her childhood sweetheart, Giles (Rufus Sewell), still pines for her. Her father wants a better life for her though and forbids the two from getting serious and eventually gets Grace hooked up with the local doctor.

As she turns away from Giles and falls for Dr. Fitzpier's bearded visage she finds herself being led down a path of heartbreak and betrayal. You see, the good doctor is quite the scumbag and has found his way around the neighborhood making "house calls" to many a lady. Without giving too much away, Grace discovers the man she married for what he really is and has second thoughts.

While the story sounds tragic on paper, in reality I just didn't care what happened to Grace, Giles or any of the other miserable folk in this movie. The only chemistry between two characters comes from Sewell and Woof's performances, but even that spark is dim at best. The "romance" between the doctor and Grace is so forced and hollow that it's impossible to see the two falling madly in love or even carry on a conversation (which doesn't really happen either).

The fact that the acting features more wooden performances than the many apple trees in the orchard isn't the only thing that hurts this film, oddly enough. The editing and directing is so erratic that the film often cuts from one scene to the next without any provocation or reason. At many points a note will come up on screen telling you it's "next spring" or "3 months later", but honestly the film jumps around so much it royally buggers up the pacing.

I thought I was sitting down to watch a touching story with true emotion, but instead I got a tedious romp through the countryside that left me bewildered and depressed. The film drags on and on from the moment it starts and more than once I bored enough that my attention wavered. It's understandable that The Woodlanders never saw a theatrical or home release until now and frankly it could have sat on the shelf for a while longer for all I cared. Unlike wine, this movie does not get better with age.

If you are a fan of Hardy's classic novel, stick with it and don't bother watching the film adaptation. You'll find yourself filling in the blanks with bits that were cut out and ultimately this movie is not a good representation of his work. As I said earlier, the overall production quality and feel of this movie make it come off as a made for TV drama, and a bad one at that.

The Woodlanders is presented with in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen and features a pretty dirty transfer. The image has a lot of grain and dirt that is quite evident in the lighter areas of the film. Sharpness is another issue and at times the movie ping-pongs between soft and crisp, while a few bits of edge enhancement creep in. Overall the quality is fairly low even though there are times that the movie does look acceptable, despite all of its flaws.

Considering this movie is all about talking, yearning and human drama you're going to get an earful of dialogue. The only problem is that it's extremely soft most of the time whereas the rest of the audio is quite louder when compared. There are also many moments where characters will just sit and stare at each other, with little or no background sound at all. That all being said this DVD features English 2.0 with some optional subtitles and is fairly barebones in terms of quality.

Aside from some previews that run when you first put the disc in, there are absolutely no special features on this disc. This is about as naked as a DVD gets in terms of bonus features and audio/video quality.

If you can't tell, I found The Woodlandersextremely difficult to watch. The story was chopped up in a way that created a lot of plot holes and poor pacing, the acting for the most part was stiff and the overall telling of the tale left a lot to be desired. While the tale as a whole may be faithful to Hardy's book, the journey just isn't worth undertaking.

Taking that into consideration along with the lack of any extras and poor video and audio quality means that this one deserves to be skipped. Skip it

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