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Summary: A GREAT DRAMA FOR ADULTS AND KIDS!
Review: USALLY WHEN YOU WATCH A DRAMA OR A TOACHING, POWERFUL MOVIE, SOME SCEANS MIGHT NOT BE SUTABLE FOR CHILDREN,BUT THIS MOVIE IS NOT LIKE THAT.IT IS PROBABLY ONE OF THE ONLY DRAMAS THAT ARE MENT FOR CHILDREN,I THINK ALL PARENT AND SMALL CHILDEN SHOULD SEE THIS CUTE,BEAUTIFUL,AND FUNNY MOVIE THAT IS FOR ALL AGES.
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Summary: It is full of hope and faith , it is a lesson of love.
Review: I think that whoever had the idea of this movie has a great sense of hope and faith in God.I've prayed all my life to find a place in my own heart and in other's where the magic of a secret garden will become real. This movie has helped me a lot when I've had moments of deep sadness and dispair, it has never let me down, no matter how sad I've been, it has always let a smile blossom in my face. I sincerely thank the creator of it with all my heart.
Rating: 
Summary: A lyrical, clear-eyed rendition
Review: This beautifully photographed film transforms the sickeningly sweet children's story it is based on. Agnieszka Holland's wonderful adaptation focuses on the theme of redemption through love without sentimentality. This meditative film may be better for adults than children, but there is much to enjoy in the fine performances and the sweeping Yorkshire scenery. I recommend it highly, along with all her other films.
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Summary: Simply good
Review: This is an excellent film adaption of an excellent novel. What more can I say? The kids do a good job, and Maggie Smith is memorable as Miss Minchin. The outdoor photography of Yorkshire is beautiful and poignant. Wonderful to see self-salvation against overwhelming odds.
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Summary: Wonderful film about two kids coming to life
Review: In 1993, I first saw the film "The Secret Garden", and loved it. I have the video today and whenever I look at it or think about it, it still thrills me.This film stars Kate Maberley as Mary Lennox, a girl about ten years old who lives in India. Sadly, Mary is neglected by her parents and spoiled by the servants who look after her. But things change when she loses her parents in an earthquake (not to cholera, as in the original book. I suspect they made the change because there's more drama in an earthquake than in a cholera epidemic). As a result, she has to go to England, where her uncle, Lord Craven, lives. But he's miserable because he lost his wife due to premature childbirth (she fell off a swing in her garden and it triggered the birth of her son, Colin). He locked up the garden and neglected Colin in sheer grief. Mrs. Medlock, trying to maintain order in the household, urges Mary not to go poking about. But sure enough, Mary does, finding first the key to the secret garden, then the garden itself, then Colin. And as she does so, both she and Colin begin to come alive, aided by Dickon, the brother of the Yorkshire servant, Martha. I especially loved two things about the movie: the music and the actors. The music was beautiful, especially the music associated with the garden. It made me appreciate the beauty of nature and of the garden, especially when the garden came alive. As for the actors, they were all excellent, especially the children. Kate, Heydon Prowse (Colin), and Andrew Knotts (Dickon) all looked like real children in a real situation. And both Kate and Heydon portrayed their characters' unlovable traits very well without forfeiting my affection for them. Also, John Lynch was fine as Lord Craven, and Maggie Smith was excellent as Mrs. Medlock, who may have seemed bad, but who was simply acting out of good, if misguided, intentions. Still, I wanted to tell her that Colin's legs were swollen and red because he was getting better, not because he was getting worse! The film doesn't have a whole lot of action, which is just fine for the film because the film probably would be hurt by a lot of action. But if you don't like films which take their time and create a great mood, don't see this film. If you do like films which take their time to create the appropriate mood, see The Secret Garden. You won't regret it! Belle Book
Rating: 
Summary: Nice Try
Review: I didnt like it. It was not true to the book wich is wonderful.They left out when Mary was in India completely and they interpret the magic Mary and Colin are always talking about all wrong. Also Mary didnt get locked in her room at all. It was a poor job and a great disapointment.
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Summary: Beautifuly done but "creative" with the plot
Review: This is a beautiful film, there is absolutely no denying that. It is also exceptionally well cast: Mary's transformation from sour little brat to glowing wee lass is completely believable, and the bratty, dour Colin makes a perfect "to the manor born" invalid. My only problem is the liberties taken with the plot. Having the parents die in an earthquake while Mary is watching is a needless, though minor liberty (though it does mean that the touching line about "there's no one left to come" must be left out). But there was no need to change the plot to make the housekeeper (a wasted Maggie Smith) evil, and the chanting around the campfire is just weird. The movie is worth watching for the scenery alone, but make sure that you read the book first. It is much better.
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Summary: I Loved this Movie! Now I Have to Read the Book!
Review: The Secret Garden movie is adapted from a book of the same name by Frances Hodgson Burnett. I didn't read the book but I had seen some of this 1993 movie adaptaion of The Secret Garden on TV though I had missed the beginning and I liked what I saw so much I bought the DVD which presents the movie in both anamorphic widescreen and Pan and scan fullscreen and I really liked watching it in widescreen. This is a very lovely movie and I thought the whole cast was great, Kate Maberly, Maggie Smith, etc and I have to say that I liked every scene, including the chanting scene around the bonfire that has gotten some flack from conservative Christian reviewers. I'm a Christian too and I was not offended by that scene at all and I just thought it was a fun, scene that really added to the magical feeling of the garden and represented a different culture and I don't think there was anything scary about it at all and I also have noticed reviewers saying that Maggie Smith's characher Mrs. Medlock was evil, she wasn't evil, she was just a control freak who truly thought she was doing what was best for Colin. Yes she went overboard with how she treated Colin and Mary but I Think she really cared about Colin and didn't realize that she was being mean with all of her controlling ways. It was another movie version of The Secret Garden that depicted Mrs. Medlock as being a nasty uncaring person with no redeeming qualities but not having read the book I don't know what the character is like in the book. This is a great movie and I highly recommend the DVD! Btw: I have never read the book but this movie has made me want to read it and I will definitely be buying it!
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Summary: Adults looking for magic should grab this one
Review: My daughter is almost 21 and no longer lives at home, so my review is purely from an adult's point of view. If you're an adult looking for a change of pace in your movie viewing, this is an excellent place to start.
The characters in this movie are almost all pegged to some sort of extreme mood or behavior: the angry Miss from India who has just lost the parents who didn't love her to begin with; the "Type A" housekeeper striding the halls of the Gothic mansion, keys jangling from her belt like a jail warden; the mysterious hermit uncle whose life ended the day his wife died; the know-it-all hypochondriac boy who has never been out of his bedroom; the almost psychopathically cheerful chambermaid who has agreed to dress the demanding "I Never Dress Myself!" little girl.
The mansion is gloomy, spooky, far too big for its oft-absent owner, and stuck by itself in the middle of the lonely, wind-and-rain-swept English moors. You wonder how on Earth the abandoned little girl is ever going to find a secret garden in this forsaken, dysfunctional environment. But she does. A robin as full of personality and smarts as any of the people in this film shows her the way.
The casting of this movie was superb. That they found a little girl who could so convincingly render the angry, puffy, emotionally abused facial expressions of the early scenes and later transform herself into the cherub of the secret garden is a marvel. The sickly boy's temper tantrums are top-notch and the hermit uncle's weirdly handsome decline into self-ruin is perfect. Maggie Smith as the housekeeper is the ultimate in self-righteous control freaks . . . and only the business-like Maggie Smith could properly pull off her epiphany at the end without appearing saccharine or hypocritical.
Rating:
Summary: Still A Secret
Review: There is always a place you want to call your own. In this film adaptation of a beloved children's classic, that place is a garden hidden away on the estate of a bitter widower and his sickly son. With the arrival of a young orphan to the estate, the long neglected garden becomes the sanctuary for the young orphan and soon her care of the garden brings new life to those around her. Beautifully filmed and acted. The garden appears magical and as scenic as any pastoral painting.
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