When a director is brave enough to make a movie with no big stars, he better have a strong story and/or an interesting screenplay that will bring people to the theaters and keep them in their seats. Kanna has neither. While its story is too flimsy to carry a movie, its screenplay doesn't make it interesting. It has a couple of good messages at the end but doesn't do enough to keep us watching until that.

Annapoorni(Sheela), a 10th standard student, is part of a loving family. While on an educational tour to Ooty, she meets Eric(Raja), a florist who ends up as their guide during their stay. Though constantly fighting with him as long as she is in Ooty, she realizes that she is in love with him after coming back to Coimbatore. So after confiding only in one of her friends, she goes to Ooty after her dad drops her off in school.

The basic problem is that Kanna doesn't have a story meaty enough to take two and a half hours to tell. With only 4 primary characters and no subplots, the director has enough material for maybe a half-hour episode of a TV serial but definitely not a feature film. So he has struggled to fill up the time. While he can be lauded for not resorting to the usual unconnected comedy track or unnecessary fights, the things he does come up with are not particularly interesting and sometimes, seem just plain weird(like the 'Venniraadai' Moorthy segment). So the movie, inspite of things happening on the screen, appears to have a glacial pace and tests our patience.

Seeing a young girl in trouble does involve us. Though Sheela has done something wrong and her situation is a result of her own doing, its easy to sympathise with her when we see her in trouble. So the movie manages to invoke a sense of dread initially as Sheela is caught in some situations(even seeing three guys walking along makes us fear the worst, which is a good sign of our involvement in the movie). But she quickly loses that sympathy through her subsequent actions. It would be easy to accept her actions if she actually found Raja and spent time with him since its believable that one forgets time when one is with a loved one. But as she goes to a stranger's house, freshens up and even has dinner there, her behavior becomes unrealistic and stupid, and the movie itself loses our involvement, which is crucial to us sympathizing with her predicament.

The movie shows some admirable restraint towards the end. Prakashraj's conversation with Sheela's school's principal as well as Sheela's behavior at the end do convey some nice messages that are quite topical. But the movie never puts these in words. It respects our intelligence and understands that pictures speak louder than words. So we are not subjected to any long, preachy advice and we understand through the characters' expressions and actions, just what they are feeling and what the director is trying to say.

Sheela looks a bit too old to play a 10th std girl but is good otherwise. She spends most of the second half looking scared and manages to do that convincingly. Prakashraj is solid as always. He struggles between trusting his daughter and worrying about her and conveys that very well. Seetha hardly plays a part in the proceedings. Livingston plays an effeminate teacher(kinda like an older version of Ajith's dance in Varalaaru) and is caught between trying to make us laugh and earning our sympathy. Needless to say, he does neither. Ranjit Barot, who came back to Tamil cinema after a long break in Urchaagam, comes up with another good soundtrack here. Kuyil Paadum... is fun and portrays Sheela's fun-loving family(the rap bits are picturized in a cute fashion too). Sembaruthi... is brought in quite awkwardly as Sheela hitchhikes on a lorry carrying a wedding party but it is catchy and tells a cute story too. Ragasiya Kanna... is a nice romantic melody.