Family Fragments
Having been executor to his close friends will many years earlier Arthur Patterson (Donald Moffat - The Best of Times) had to make the tough decision to split up their three daughters in order to make sure they had good homes. Now having grown old and facing dying he feels a need to track down and reunite the sisters so hires private investigator John Chapman (Perry King - Fatal Love) to find them. But right from the word go it proves to be more difficult than he expected when eldest daughter Hilary Walker (Jaclyn Smith - The Night They Saved Christmas) refuses to be involved as she blames Arthur for leaving her with a family who abused her. Undeterred John tracks down the other sisters whilst working on Hilary, persistently hanging around her.
How many plot lines can you cram in to 96 minutes, well if you watch "Danielle Steel's 'Kaleidoscope'" it will feel endless. There is betrayal, abuse, marriage issues, secrets, difficulties trying to get pregnant, a society wife and of course a touch of romance. I stopped counting at 7 which might not seem a lot but each of these plots lines are of the type which deserves more than just a few minutes which is all they get here.
But then having watched a few Danielle Steel movies this mix of plot lines which make up "Kaleidoscope" didn't surprise me as this a typical Danielle Steel movie. By that what I really mean is that it has that soap opera quality where everything from the music to the dialogue and the camera work is melodramatic. And that also means that almost 25 years after it was made "Kaleidoscope" is both dated and cheesy almost in an entertaining way.
There isn't a lot else to say as whilst "Kaleidoscope" features some recognizable names and faces such as Patricia Kalember, Donald Moffat and for British audiences a young Kim Thomson the focus is on Jaclyn Smith and Perry King two familiar faces from 90s TV movies playing the sorts of character they often played. I suppose what that really means is that the characters in this movie are purely the generic variety, the sort of cliche characters with cliche issues you could find in many made for TV movies from the 90s.
What this all boils down to is that "Kaleidoscope" is watchable if you are either a fan of the Danielle Steel movies or enjoy the soap opera style melodrama of the 90s, but it isn't for anyone else.
Tags: Danielle Steel Movies
