A Little Princess

Rating:
Summary: "All the Women of this World are Princesses"
Review: Warner Brothers' "A Little Princess" followed the critical success of their previous adaptation of Frances Hodgeson Burnett's classic story "The Secret Garden", which despite being one of the best children's movies recently created had a reasonably quiet (though by no means unsuccessful) run at the box-office. Sadly it seemed that children needed explosions and action and strobe lights and goodness knows what else in order to justify their time at the movies. But this didn't stop Warner Brothers' from creating "A Little Princess" and I for one am glad they did. Wonderful casting, beautiful visuals and a tearful ending make this a family classic.

Sara Crewe is the daughter of an adoring father; Captain Crewe, a high-ranking army officer stationed in exotic India. Raised under the belief that she and every other woman in the world is naturally a princess, she knows of no hardships in her life. But the year is 1914, and war is on the horizon. With her father called away to fight, Sara is taken to a New York boarding school for girls under the control of the stately Miss Minchin. It is with this matriarch that Sara goes head-to-head with, as their philosophies on life are so utterly opposite. Harbouring resentment and jealously toward the little princess, it is as much cruelty as it is kindess when Miss Minchin employs Sara as a servant girl after news of her father's death.

Suddenly Sara has gone from the girl who has everything to the girl who has nothing. Her faith in magic and storytelling shattered, she refuses to acknowledge the good she has already done in befriending several classmates, and it is up to the very real presence of magic in her life to intervene: watch how one "coincidental" gust of wind blows her shawl into the feet of someone who can change her fortunes once more, setting off a chain reaction that just might lead her once more to her father...

Liesel Matthews begins her debut as Sara Crewe, and creates her wonderfully - youthful innocence and wisdom beyond her years combine to create this wonderful character who brings joy to the life of so many, from the distraught Lottie to the servant girl Becky, with whom all contact is strictly forbidden. Her fall from grace to her gradual renewal of faith is just beautiful to watch in a performance not matched until Rachel Hurd-Wood played Wendy in 2003's "Peter Pan". Likewise, Liam Cunningham as Captain Crewe plays a devoted father, and I loved how his scenes of war coincided with Sara's storytelling: the magic poison of the demon Ravana becomes mustard-gas in the trenches, and Ravana's roars become the scream of war-planes overhead.

Eleanor Bron excellently plays the aristocratic Miss Minchin, with her exterior of charisma, grace and culture underlying her inner spite and nastiness. However, Bron does not play her simply as the one-dimensional bad guy, and neither is she without her moments of humanity: she obviously finds it difficult in telling Sara that her father has died, and when Sara finally confronts her head-on, Minchin's hastily wiped-away tears tell us better than any words that she never had a father as loving as Sara's was.

Alfonso Cuaron directs "A Little Princess" and does so beautifully, from the povery-stricken streets of New York, where a single yellow rose is the only splash of colour, to the bright and exotic worlds of India that appear at intervals as Sara tells the mythological tale of Rama and Sita throughout the movie(and it's interesting to note that the actors that play these two lovers are the same that play Sara's own mother and father!) There are some sublime moments of imagery and beauty captured here, including the flower-sellers in the streets, Sara threading the dew-covered rose in the handle of the door, the black-clad lawyer watching the laughing girls, Sara spinning in the snow storm at her window...I could go on. And as all these scenes are coupled with appropriate music, be it strains of exotic India or a sorrowful choir, they remain in your mind for a very long time. In the simplist possible terms, this is a beautiful movie.

There are some things I didn't particulary like, such as the amnesia plot device that they use on Captain Crewe (though I admit there wasn't really a way around this), the fact that Sara has the upper body strength of a grown man when she manages to hoist herself up on the windowsill by her fingertips, and the completely un-neccessary love story between Minchin's sister and the milkman. However, worst for me was the last scene in which Miss Minchin appears: beforehand we had witnessed the depths of her her wickedness when she lies about Sara's parentage even though Captain Crewe is standing right before her. After the father and daughter's tearful reunion, we see her standing in the rain and turning away, alone with her hate. Her story should have ended here with this powerful scene, but instead we get a truly awful continuation where she is working as a chimney-sweep - a conclusion as implausible as it is silly. I close my eyes and fast-forward every time I see it.

Although ultimately I think I liked "The Secret Garden" more, "A Little Princess" is its more than worthy follow-up, with almost every particular magnificently created (though incredibly different from the original novel!) See it - it's a thousand times better than any of the rubbish aimed at kids these days ("The Cat in the Hat" anyone?) and I look forward to seeing more of Alfonso Cuaron's work in the next "Harry Potter"!

Rating:
Summary: A Little Princess
Review: A Little Princess
By: Frances Hodgson Burnett
Reviewed By: J. Lee
Period: P.1

This book is about a girl named Sara Crewe. Her father is a captain, and he is very rich. Sara Crewe is sent to a school so she will be educated, while her father goes on a journey. At first, no one likes her, because she is so rich, but she makes a friend named Ermengarde. There is also a young girl named Lottie, who has no mother like Sara, herself. Sara becomes close with her as well and acts like a mother to her. Sara tells many stories to little children, and they all become to like her. However, Miss Minchin and her sister are not very welcoming. All they care is for Sara's money and inheritance. But on Sara's 11th birthday, a tragic thing happens. Sara finds out that her father died from a fever and his friend lost all of their money. Sara becomes poor and is immediately put into rags. She starts to dwell in the attic, and she runs errands on the worst days. The cooks don't feed her well, and she is tired, however, Sara still has her warm, caring heart. She makes friends with a mouse up in the attic and she provides him and his family with crumbs. Sara now knows how it feels to be hungry and cold, but what she doesn't know is that her father's friend is looking for her. He never actually lost their fortune. It was that he just thought he did. So, he looked and looked for the girl, not knowing how she looked like or even her name. But he found her right next door, at the school, in the attic. He of course, handed her the fortune, and decided to take care of her. When Miss Minchin found out that there actually were diamond mines and that it belonged to Sara Crewe, she was in shock. Miss Minchin acted as she never treated Sara badly, and suggested her to stay at her school. But of course, Sara knew better, and she refused. Sara decided to help the hungry, and the needy, because she knew how it felt to be in that situation.
I liked this book because it had much description in the chapters that I could actually imagine and feel what the author was thinking and writing about. I could feel as if I was in the character's shoes and it was an experience reading this book. The first sentence of this book got me interested in reading this book. "Once on a dark winter's day, when the yellow fog hung so thick and heavy in the streets of London that the lamps were lighted and the shop windows glazed as they do at night, an odd-looking girl sat in a cab with her father and was rather driven slowly through the big thoroughfares." I was able to imagine this scene, and it made the story livelier. Towards the end of the story, Sara Crewe says,
"You know much more why I wouldn't stay at your school." I was shocked when she said this, but I was pleased at the same time. I realized that Miss Minchin got what she deserved. She treated Sara badly, so in return, Miss Minchin didn't get Sara's money. I learned that you should truly act to others as you would want to be treated.
My favorite part of the book was when Sara woke up in the middle of the night and found great things. A warm bed, cozy fire, delicious food, and everything she could think of. I liked this part because Sara believed that it was magical. This is what she really needed, and that night, her wish got granted. Also, I like it when people keep their hopes up high. I realized that those who keep wishing and those who believe that things can come true somehow end up getting what they've needed or wanted. As for the people who just laugh and say, "That'll never come true," never receive anything. Sara kept her hopes high even though she was in a rough situation. She believed that things could really happen and it did.

Rating:
Summary: A little princess
Review: Brilliant best film in the world five stars is not enough

Rating:
Summary: MAGICAL AND ENCHANTING!
Review: A movie based on the novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett, is an enchanting masterpiece, that will take you to another place only by listenig to it, this movie is magical, an teachs valueble lessons to everyone, not just children, that money isn't all in this life, how can you have all a loose it in a minute. Sara the little princes is a wealthy kid, orphan only my mother, his father has to go to the war and sents her to an exclusive school in New York City, were she's treated like a princess, until her dad supposedly dies in action, everything changes, she becomes a servant in the school, but she never stop believing in magic, and telling her wonderful stories about "India", great movie, magnificent scenary, great movie for you to own.....magical....

Rating:
Summary: The Imagination is Important
Review: The Little Princess
The book that I have just read is called the Little Princess and the author is Frances Hodgson Burnett. It is a fictional story about a young girl named Sara Crewe. She and her father, Captain Ralph Crewe, are very rich and fortunate people. While Captain Crew has to deal with some business in India, Sara is sent to a boarding school in London. Suddenly the girl's life takes an unexpected turn, and finds herself with nothing. Sara uses her wonderful imagination to save herself from suffering her unfortunate fate. In the end though, Sara finds a lifelong companion, and doesn't realize how close he's always been to her.
The Little Princess is a great book and has many strengths. It is so descriptive and it makes you feel like you are one of the characters. The author has you understand the view points if everyone in the story about how they feel about something. Another good quality about the book is that when you are reading it, you'll probably think about how thankful you are for what you have, and how others don't have as much as you. These are just a few of the many strengths about the Little Princess.
Now matter how good a book is, though, there is usually a couple weaknesses and this one is no different. The one major thing I found in this story is that sometimes a character is mentioned a lot in the beginning of the book, so you think that they are very important and then Frances Hodgson Burnett doesn't mention them any more. Overall, that is probably the only weakness I could find.
I think the author, Frances Hodgson Burnett, wanted her readers, after reading the book, to realize and be thankful for what they do have. She also wants people to share with others, and be generous, just like Sara Crewe was.
I would recommend the Little Princess to young girls because they are around the main characters age and probably have had similar experiences with peers and teachers. If you like fictional stories about sad events that turn out happy in the end, then you'd most likely enjoy reading the heart- warming story, the Little Princess.

Rating:
Summary: Amazing
Review: This is one of the books that makes you sit and think after you read it. I love this book and recommend it to anyoe becuase its just great-- beyond words. Buy it-- Its amazing and even thoguh Im 14, I love it and read it over and over again.

Rating:
Summary: Simply Magical
Review: This is a story of young Sara Crewe,daughter of a wealthy man who is suddenly called to military service. Everyone at Miss Minchin's school for girls treats Sara with the respect of that of a princess. But when Captain Crewe's fortune is lost, Sara is treated no more than a scullery maid. She however finds comfort in believing that she is and always will be "daddy's little Princess."

Rating:
Summary: Tears my heart out!
Review: When I was six years old, I somehow became convinced that I was a princess. As a result, I now have a copy of this book inscribed "Christmas 1976...From the Queen".

I hadn't read it before, but it instantly became one of my favorites. I was reading it in bed when I got to the scene where Sara finds out her father is dead; I had to stop reading and cry myself to sleep.

There are other scenes, though, that didn't make me cry then, but they sure do now. "Guy Clarence" giving his sixpence to Sara, so convinced that he's setting her up for life. Sara giving away the currant buns to the real beggar child, and the shopkeeper's reaction: "Left just one for herself. And she could have eaten the whole six. I saw it in her eyes." And the very last scene: "Her name is Anne. She has no other."

Another scene that doesn't make me cry, but is still very moving, is when Ram Dass drops into Sara's attic to retrieve the monkey. That conversation plays on so many levels. First of all, he's respectful because she's white and female: kind of creepy from today's perspective, but OTOH, it's been a long time, at that point, since anyone has shown her any real respect. But, because they are both servants, he can be forthright with her, not just say "Yes, Missee Sahib" as he might have when she was wealthy. And moreover, it's refreshing for her to talk with him about India, which she apparently misses a lot. She was never miserable there, at any rate!

And this scene is crucial, because after he leaves, she is face to face with the realization that her life is not going to get any better (as it stood, without Burnett's plot machinations). She mulls this, then decides, "Whatever comes cannot alter one thing. If I am a princess in rags and tatters, I can be a princess inside." Much more inspiring than that sappy "All girls are princesses" junk from the movie.

Also, I realize now that Ermengarde really is dumb! Early on, Sara didn't need to be told that Becky was hungry, and having so much to spare, she freely shared food with her; nutritious stuff as well as delicacies. But Ermengarde has to be hit over the head with the concept before she timidly asks, "Sara...Are *you* ever hungry?" DUH! Miss Michin breaking up the feast was brutal beyond redemption, but Ermengarde was also remiss. She could have been smuggling food to Sara all along!

My only regret is that my copy does not have the Tasha Tudor illustrations. I have seen them, and they are very fine, but I'm not giving up my copy at this stage!

Rating:
Summary: Family Favorite
Review: Our family loves this story. We like this version and the original also. I think this version has better acting and script for the "little princess" and does not concern itself with too many side stories. In this story Sarah must live in a boarding school away from the land she loves (India) and the man she loves (her father). It is difficult enough for a lively girl with a big imagination to thrive in the stifling school, but when Sarah's circumstances change for the worse her imagination, belief in magic and determination serve her well. This movie will pull at your heartstrings and inspire you; I would give it 10 starts if I could.

Rating:
Summary: A Beautiful Movie
Review: A Little Princess is a wonderful remake of the Shirley Temple version, and far better in my opinion! The story and how it unfolds gradually builds up tension so that you can never take your eyes off of it. The music and soundtrack are superb, enhancing the ever-present mystery and imagination. I thoroughly enjoy watching this movie again and again.