Luke, Rani and Clyde's art class wins the rare chance to see the Mona Lisa. However all isn't as it seems and the world's most famous painted lady wants to enact 500 years of pent up vengeance. Oh, and Luke gets in trouble for having a messy room.
Appreciating this story requires the viewer to accept the absurd idea that the Mona Lisa would be transported to London and then stored without a protective glass covering. Then again, this is a show about a trio of teenagers saving the world from alien monsters each week - so believing that the world's most famous painting would be transported in such a way shouldn't be too much trouble.
The strongest aspect of Mona Lisa's Revenge is the plot, which is surprisingly imaginative and holds up to a repeat viewing. The climax is particularly clever and should give fans of K9 a good smile. The revelations about how and why Lisa came to life after 500 years in canvas, as well as her intentions are slowly drawn out and sustain intrerest throughout most of the episode. However towards the end of epsidoe one the story falters as too much running around fills the gaps which really required more plot or character development.
Sarah Jane is almost a minor character in this story, however Liz Sladen gets some good material to work on and it's interesting, if somewhat upsetting, seeing Sarah Jane and Luke fighting.
An aspect that appears to be dividing opinion on this story is the acting. The actors playing Mr, Harding, Miss Trupp and Mona Lisa herself deliberately give over-the-top performances which many viewers found irritating. I wasn't bothered by this approach as a once-off as it helped make the story quite fun, as it did in Revenge of the Slitheen.
Mona Lisa's Revenge is a clever, inventive and funny episode only let down by some hammy acting and a script that falters towards the end of Episode One.
4/5
P.S. This week's song is by Michael Buble. I find it relevant because to me the idea of someone being in love with a painting is taking things a bit far!
