Peter Sharp Movies

The Canadian-Australian fantasy series Guinevere Jones offered a hip 21st century spin on the King Arthur legend. The heroine, 14-year-old Gwen Jones (Tamara Hope), was abruptly uprooted from her Canadian home town by her mother and moved to suburban Melbourne, Australia. Resentful over being thrust into an alien environment with kids she didn't like, Gwen had no way of knowing that her mom had done this to save her life. It seemed that Gwen was the descendant of King Arthur of Camelot, and as such was in danger of being destroyed by the combined dark forces of her ancestor's enemies, chief among them the sorceress Morgana La Fey (Mercia Deane). When her mom was declared insane and put in an institution, Gwen was placed in a foster home, where she at last found a few friends and kindred spirits in the forms of her foster brother and sister. Meanwhile, the spirit of Merlin the Magician (Ted Hamilton) hovered about to make certain that Gwen was able to thwart evil and restore old-fashioned honor and chivalry to the world -- whether she wanted to or not. Debuting over Canada's YTV cable service on May 4, 2002, Guinevere Jones premiered six days later on Australia's 10 Network. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The works of prolific British children's author Enid Blyton have been adapted to television scores of times, but seldom as vividly as in a brace of multipart Anglo-New Zealand series of the mid-'90s. The first of these began airing over Britain's Disney Channel on July 21, 1996. The Enid Blyton Adventure Series consisted of eight different serials, each comprised of three half-hour episodes. All of these serials followed the standard Blyton formula of pitting a group of intelligent rural kids against a vast array of snarling adult villains in a variety of baffling mysteries which the children invariably solved. Individual titles included "Island of Adventure," "Woods of Adventure," "Sea of Adventure," "Valley of Adventure," "Sea of Adventure," and so on and so forth. The Enid Blyton Adventure Series was followed in 1997 by another group of literary adaptations, The Enid Blyton Secret Series. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Johnny and Lily form unusual alliances with a French Canadian logger and a militant prohibitionist woman, respectively. ~ All Movie Guide

A Canadian-Australian co-production, the 20-episode adventure series Gold was set in New Zealand during that country's "gold rush" in the 1860s. The central character was Johnny Rogan (Yannick Bisson), an 18-year-old Canadian who accompanied his older brother to the Land Down Under in hopes of striking it rich. After his brother's death, Johnny pitched camp in the town of Dunstan, entering into a partnership with rogueish prospector Henry Garrick (Andy Anderson) and finding time to squire the local pubkeeper's daughter, Lily Owens (Lucy Bayler). Originally shown on Canadian TV through the auspices of Alliance Atlantis, Gold was later released to video in "feature film" form, with selected half-hour episodes stitched together and rechristened with such titles as Gold: A Fistful of Gold, Gold: The Merchants of Venus, and Gold: The World's a Play. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Dead Man's Float is a very short and occasionally sweet juvenile melodrama. A cheeky bunch of children who think they're pretty smart are in for a rude awakening when they confront a gang of drug smugglers who play for keeps. Since the film is aimed at the kiddie trade, the youngsters prevail over the villains, though it's nip and tuck for a while there. The film is nothing if not energetic, with its cast of unknowns breezing through the proceedings with confidence. Filmed in Australia, Dead Man's Float entertains during its swift 75 minutes, even though it doesn't stick to the ribs. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide