A Little Princess

Rating:
Summary: The best family film ever.
Review: In my opinion, the 1995 film "A Little Princess" is the best family film ever made, along with the 1993 "Secret Garden". This is also better than the 1939 Shirley Temple film version. The cinematography and musical score are on par with "Secret Garden". Liesel Matthews gives one of the absolute best child performances in film history as Sara Crewe. She looks very striking and attractive, and her voice is so soothing and natural. My favorite scene is the snow dance in the middle of the film. It reminds me of Winona Ryder in the ice dance scene in "Edward Scissorhands". The plot of the film kind of closely resembles "An American Tail", but it's somehow much better. If you parents out there are looking for a film for your kids, rent this one.

Rating:
Summary: Heart-warming, beautiful movie
Review: The main character in this movie grabs you by the sleeve and you go tumbling with her on a series of very high highs and very low lows and the whole time you are spell-bound by her imagination and stories of India and lovely cinematography and sets of the movie. It's a sweet movie, but not so sweet that it becomese trite.

Rating:
Summary: Beautiful
Review: This movie is so beautiful. It really lets you see life from a different point of view. Ever since I saw this movie I've tried to change my old selfish habits, and to be more like the character Sarah. This is my all-time favorite movie.

Rating:
Summary: A wonderful story
Review: I first read this book when I was ten years old. I still remember being transported from my Boise, Idaho sunroom, circa summer vacation 1976, back to the foggy gaslit streets of Victorian London. I don't believe that I moved off that sunroom couch until I had devoured this entire book. I loved the whole idea of A Little Princess -- the beautiful clothes (watered silk and petticoats!), the food (gruel!), and Sara's suffering in the garrett. Sara's life was so different from mine. Reading this book was like travelling to a different continent.

In some ways, this is a formula book for girls -- although it might be fair to say that this book invented the formula: plucky, mistreated orphan (mysteriously stripped of her fortune), who never loses hope and remains truly good transformed through a mysterious benefactor into a girl rich beyond her wildest dreams (see also: the Boxcar Children; Little Orphan Annie, etc).

Sara is an extremely engaging character. She is almost too good to be true -- kind to the servants, smarter than the headmistress, and able to tell stories that ensnare her listeners. Sara's stories enable her, first to make friends, and then later, to cope with the rather significant blows that life (and the author) deal her.

And, in the best of tradition of this type of story, Sara is rescued, her wealth is restored, she remains a perfectly lovely little girl, and the horrible headmistress who mistreated her gets her comeuppance. All is right with the world once again.

Rating:
Summary: A Classic for all time!
Review: A Little Princess is truly a classic novel that will forever be popular. Mothers read it to their daughters and their daughters read it with their daughters, and so on. Sara Crewe and her triumphant story of overcoming poverty and despair by pretending that she is a princess is comforting to readers. Frances Hodgson-Burnett has a way of writing to relate to her readers. Her use of imagery is spectacular. She describes even the simplest of things, allowing the reader to get a vivid image in their minds of what Sara and her "cell-mate" Becky had to go through at Miss Minchins Seminary. Also, the characterization is extraordinary! Every time that a new character is introduced, the description that Burnett uses, makes one feel as if they are a student at the seminary, meeting Sara Crewe for the first time as well.

I recommend this novel to young girls and their mothers. This storyline has a way of bringing people of all ages together. The combination of courage, strength, despair and joy force the reader to empathize with Sara as she embarks on her journey from wealth to penniless. I definitely suggest reading this book, as it will make you laugh and cry at the same time!!!

Rating:
Summary: One Fantastic Story!
Review: This has always been one of my favorite stories. I loved the Little Princess from the first time I read it, and eventually I bought a copy of it for myself. The characters are realistic, well-rounded and memorable, showing a wide range of human personalities and emotions. The villian is Miss Minchin, the high-and-mighty headmistress whose true colors are revealed when Sara's father dies and Sara has nowhere else to go. She keeps Sara only because she's afraid that turning her out might harm the reputation of the school, not because she really cares one whit for Sara. She is a character you really end up hating before very long. Then there's Captain Crewe, Sara's doting father, and Ermengarde, a fat little girl who is considered the dunce of the school but who proves a very loyal friend to Sara. There's Becky, the poor, uneducated scullery maid who also loves Sara with a fierce devotion. Then there's snobby Lavinia and her friend Jessie, spoiled little Lottie who "adopts" Sara as a substitute mother, and even Melchisadec, Sara's pet rat.
Undoutably the best character is the main one - Sara Crewe. F.H. Burnett did a wonderful job with all the characters, but Sara is the most remarkable. Sara has plenty to brag about, being smart as well as very wealthy, but she doesn't let it go to her head. She's kindhearted, sensitive and compassionate, willing to reach out to people like Becky, Lottie and Ermengarde who are shunned by the others, but at the same time, she's isn't the sweet-little-girl type that remains impossibly and angelically good no matter what happens to her. She has some backbone of her own, and refuses to let cruel-minded people like Lavinia, Miss Minchin and the cook break her spirit. Even when everything she owns is snatched out from under her and she is treated like a slave (which she essentially is) she refuses to resort to self-pity, resolving to act like a princess no matter what happens. Toward the end of the book, she discovers that she has some friends in high places, and soon life will begin anew for her. It's the kind of book where everything turns out all right in the end -- the ultimate happy ending. If you're a book lover and want an excellent addition to your home library, I recommend this one. Although it's really a children's story, even a grown woman will enjoy this book!

Rating:
Summary: Doesn't the ending seem just like Shirley Temple's version?
Review: I liked this film alot. The scenery and costumes were beautiful, and the acting was brilliant. I especially enjoyed the presence of Ermengarde and Lottie, two wonderful characters from the book who were not in the previous Shirely Temple version. However, I've noticed that the filmmakers borrowed some scenes from Shirley's film, especially toward the end. The climax of the film is very similar to Shirley's: The Indian servant sneaks into their room at night, decorates it all up nicely, and then later Miss Minchin comes in and blames the girls for stealing the stuff. She locks them in their rooms and calls the police. The girls attempt escape by going out on the ledge and into the window of the house next door. Sara makes it but Becky gets caught. Sara hides in the house (in the ST version she manages to get to the hospital) and, while still on the run, happens to find her father, who doesn't remember her. Just as she's about to be caught by the police, her father remembers her and comes to her rescue -- and all is happily ever after.
The original story ends differently. In the book, the Indian servant comes back night after night with new additions and good food, and the girls' newly decorated attic room is never discovered by anyone else. The old man who lives next door is actually a very kindhearted gentleman, as opposed to the bitter, cold man in the film who hardly gives Sara a second glance. He secretly sends Sara some fine, new clothing and Miss Minchin, who believes Sara has some wealthy, distant relative, allows her to wear them and begins treating her more decently, even allowing her to resume her lessons in the classroom. One night, the Indian servant's monkey escapes into Sara's room. She goes over to the house next door to return it, and starts a conversation with the old man. Upon telling him her name, she finds that he is a friend of her father's who has been looking for her for two years. Although Sara's father really does die in the book, the ending is still very happy. While I enjoyed this film, I think the directors should have stuck closer to the original story than the previous film version. Otherwise, great movie.

Rating:
Summary: Great Movie
Review: I felt this was a great adapation of a much loved children's book. I enjoyed it much more than the older Shirley Temple version. The acting is good, the costumes and set believable and the interweaving of Hindu mythology that parallels the plot of the movie is nicely done. The one thing I did not like was the portrayal of Indians in the film, but this is also a fault of the book. They fell into the old stereotypes of Indians and India as exotic, mysterious, and mystical. The Indian servant of Mr. Randolph, though central to the plot, reminded me so much of portrayals of black servants and slaves in earlier movies, as servile, loyal, always smiling, wise beyond their station and years, and mysterious. Yet, I liked the racial reconcilliation portrayed in the friendship between Sarah and Becky and like how Becky is adopted by Sarah's father at the end. This is one part where I really loved this version much more than Shirley Temple's version in which so much was left unresolved.

Rating:
Summary: Not sure what to think of this one...
Review: When I was about 5 or 6 years old, my mom read the book "A Little Princess" to me and I was fascinated (I have reread parts of it several times since.) A few years later, I saw the BBC movie "A Little Princess." Just yesterday, I saw Warner Brothers' version.

It was a good movie in its own way, but I was really bothered by how much they changed the story. The worst part was probably how Sara herself acted. Instead of being kind and considerate of all people's feelings, she instead waltzes down the stairs--Lottie, I can't study when you're making so much noise!" And in the book, she was at least polite towards the snobby girl, Lavinia. In this movie, she acted just as snobby back to her.

Also, in the book, Miss Minchin treated Sara just like a princess, let her have whatever she wanted, and pampered her. Only after Captain Crewe died did Miss Minchin mistreat her in any way.

Oh, and what's with the ending? Captain Crewe did not--NOT--live. Actually, he wasn't even in the war at all. This was WAY before World War I even started. Instead, he invested all his money in diamond mines and (supposedly) lost it, which put a strain on his already indelicate health, causing him to become very ill and die. This movie, however, has the happy ending of Sara's finding her father.

Somany things were added into this movie that were not in the book that I can't even count them. I admit that this movie is exciting, funny, dramatic, etc, and I would reccommend seeing it.

I think this film could have stood on its own feet without being based on "A Little Princess."

Rating:
Summary: BBC did it better.
Review: This is a classic children's book that is definitely more appealing to girls since they are the focus of the story, but that has a worthwhile message for anyone. There have been several film versions of this movie made but so far the best one that I have seen is the BBC version. The Warner Bros. version is notable for its dramatization of Sara's stories which are very stylized and lavish and focus on the folktales of Krishna, Vishnu and the like. That is the one aspect of this movie which makes it special besides a brief scene of Sara's childhood in India. However, I felt that changing the nationality of Sara, the oversimplification of Miss Minchin as a classic Hollywood bad guy with no redeeming qualities, and the pathetic slapstick romance of her sister Amelia detracted greatly from the overall story.
Most importantly of all, the focus of this movie on the supposition that "All girls are really princesses." undermined what I have always felt was this story's greatest strength. Sara treated everyone as equals and rose above her difficulties because of her belief in herself. She voiced this belief in terms of being a princess but the basis was really that if someone is special and has advantages then they have a responsibility to those around them to treat them fairly and to share those advantages whenever possible. Someone who is truly special does not need to belittle others and can trust themselves to handle whatever life may give them. Saying that "All girls are really princesses." is something which, in my opinion, hands worth to people on the basis of merely being female and thus removes the necessary value of the need to earn that privilege. It is a syrupy sentiment that says that females are special because they are female, a supposition which has been a part of the whole "project self-esteem" debacle and its feminist counterpart. A more useful idea, I believe, is that all people are capable of being special and have special qualities within them which, if they develop them and work to make the best use of them, will naturally help them to create the person they want to be. I think that the BBC version of this movie handles that aspect of the story much better than this one does.