The beloved story from the author of the Secret Garden becomes 1995′s best reviewed film. A young girl must rely on her wits and imagination when she is separated from her soldier father and sent to a strict boarding school. Year: 1995 Director: Alfonso Cuaron Starring: Eleanor Bron, Liam Cunningham, Liesel Matthews
DVD Features:
Production Notes
Theatrical Trailer
After the critical success of 1993′s The Secret Garden, Warner Bros. returned to the novels of Frances Hodgson Burnett to create this 1995 adaptation of A Little Princess, which instantly ranked with The Secret Garden as one of the finest children’s films of the 1990s. Neither film was a huge box-office success, but their quality speaks for itself, and A Little Princess has all the ingredients of a timeless classic. A marvel of production design, the film features lavish sets built almost entirely on a studio backlot in Burbank, California. The story opens in New York just before the outbreak of World War I, when young Sara (Liesel Matthews) is enrolled in private boarding school while her father goes off to war. Under the domineering scrutiny of the school’s wicked headmistress, Miss Minchen (Eleanor Bron), Sara quickly becomes popular with her schoolmates, but fate intervenes and she soon faces a stern reversal of fortune, resorting to wild flights of fancy to cope with an unexpectedly harsh reality. Rather than label her fanciful tales as escapist fantasy, A Little Princess actively encourages a child’s power of imagination–a power that can be used to learn, grow, and adapt to a world that is often cruel and difficult. It’s also one of the most visually beautiful films of the ’90s and creates a fully detailed world within the boarding school–a place where imagination is vital to survival. A first-class production in every respect, this is one family film that should (if it’s not too stuffy to say it) be considered required viewing for parents and kids alike. –Jeff Shannon
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April 1, 2008
#1
This movie is for baby. So please do not buy one
April 1, 2008
#2
What a horrible movie. It should have had a different title and not pretended to be based on a book, or at least have had a lead character that wasn’t pretentious, spoiled and bratty.
There was some serious overacting, and Sara just didn’t look right for the part. I guess the people who made the movie didn’t read the book.
And there is one scene towards the end, where Sara is in her room and the girls play with the neighbour monkey- if you look at the locket as they hand it back to her, and then when Miss Minchin takes it, the photos are reversed. I guess the director thought we wouldn’t notice but I was so bored by the movie I happened to see it.
One of the worst movies I have ever seen, even for a children’s one…
April 1, 2008
#3
Horrible movie,felt like kicking the VCR .Should be awarded the worst movie of the decade award.
April 1, 2008
#4
This movie added a world war, changed the continent the story took place on, and then brought the dead back to life. To me, once the essential elements of the author’s story are that fundamentally altered, it’s not fair to use the title anymore. I realize a number of the changes are a ‘tribute’ to the Shirley Temple version, but I’d hoped that since the new version wasn’t a star vehicle they might have returned to more of the original storyline, but no. At least the first movie was on the correct continent! I like the movie, believe it or not, but it’s not the story I read until the first book fell apart, and the changes to the story I listed weren’t necessary, and it may have been nice to see that things can work out even when a parent stays dead.
April 1, 2008
#5
If you liked the book, don’t get this movie. I don’t know why they named it A Little Princess since the story is so different. I bought the VHS version thinking it would be good seeing what book it was based on. Boy was I wrong. In the movie Sara goes to New York to be at a boarding school to be safe while her Dad goes off to fight in WWI. In the book she is sent to London to learn to be a lady while her father stays in India apparently to do nothing and invest in diamond mines. In the movie Sara does naughty things all the time. You would never catch Frances Hodgeson Burnett’s Sara doing such a thing. There is also a feminist slant to this movie where you find 10 year old girls hanging on to wet brick walls by one finger. Sara does not act like a princess, all she does is go around boasting that it is every girl’s right to be a princess. It is not. Girls should act like princesses, be polite, kind and ladylike, not go around feeling haughty and better than every one else. Maybe the acting is suberb, I don’t know. I’ve probably watched less than 20 movies in my 16 years, but I was very disappointed with this one.