A Little Princess (G)
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Caution: spoilers.
This came out in 1995, but I didn't see it until 2013, when I got it on a DVD that also contains the movie The Secret Garden. It's based on a 1905 book by Frances Hodgson Burnett, which I haven't read; though Wikipedia tells me there are a number of differences from the book. It's set in 1914, during World War I, which obviously Burnett couldn't have written about in 1905. I wasn't sure whether to put my review under "family" or "period," especially considering the film specifies the year (unlike some period films). I'd also been unsure of where to put my review of "The Secret Garden" (which I watched the night before this movie), but ultimately went with "family," which is partly why I chose to put this review under that category. Anyway, there have been previous adaptations of the book, none of which I've seen.
It begins in India, where a smart and sweet young girl named Sara Crewe lives with her father, a captain in the British army. (Her mother had died when Sara was much younger, so I'm not sure she ever knew her at all.) The title of the movie comes from the fact that an Indian woman Sara knows tells her that all women are princesses, a sentiment that her father later affirms. (It's a sentiment that Sara holds to throughout the film, and which she extends even to those who mistreat her.) Sara and her father are very close- really, the movie effortlessly makes it evident how sweet their relationship is- so of course it's distressing to both of them when the war starts, and Captain Crewe must leave Sara at a boarding school in New York (which her mother had previously attended). At first I thought all the girls who were already enrolled there would hate her, but actually they almost all quickly come to like her. All except Lavinia, the previous queen bee, who was mean and self-centered and really didn't like Sara's immediate popularity. Of course, it makes sense that the other girls all like her, because of her kind personality, and the fact that she actually stands up for herself to the stern headmistress, Miss Minchin, who obviously doesn't like Sara. And the fact that Sara has a wonderful imagination, and is constantly telling exciting stories. She also tries to befriend an African-American servant girl named Becky, though it's against the rules to talk to her.
Aside from missing her father and having to put up with Miss Minchin often being unfair, things seem to be going pretty well for Sara. (Incidentally, she's so well-behaved that even when I feel like Miss Minchin deserves to be yelled at, at the least, Sara obeys quietly and without complaint. She even seems to assume she herself must be doing something wrong, which she simply doesn't understand because she never had to learn all these strange rules, growing up in India. I said before that she stood up for herself, but actually I just meant that she speaks her mind before she learns there's a rule against something, which she couldn't have guessed because, as I said, the rules are strange to her. Once she does learn a rule exists, she follows it, in spite of its not making sense.) And then one day, the girls are celebrating Sara's birthday, and even Miss Minchin seemed reasonably nice, for a change. But in the midst of the celebration, Captain Crewe's solicitor shows up at the school and tells Miss Minchin that Captain Crewe had been killed in the war, and the British government had seized all his assets. This means, obviously, that no one will be paying for Sara to stay there, and she has no other family she can stay with. Now, I understand that Miss Minchin isn't running a charity, she's running a business. I can hardly blame her for not continuing to treat Sara as a paying customer. I can't even blame her for making her become a servant, or making her move out of her large, comfortable room into a small, dank one. But she didn't have to be such an unmitigated... well, this being a G-rated movie, I won't say what she was. But if I disliked her before, now I just outright hated her. A lot.
So, anyway, it becomes a sort of Cinderella story, but the hardest part is how much she misses her father. And of course none of the other girls are allowed to talk to Sara anymore; and of course Lavinia enjoys making her life even harder. But at least she can talk to Becky, now. And it's not too long before the other girls start sneaking into her room to continue their friendship with her. And eventually, Sara really does stand up for herself... though Minchin, predictably, reacts badly to that.
There's also a minor subplot involving Miss Minchin's much nicer (but timid) sister Amelia. And a very important subplot about Charles Randolph, a wealthy old man who lives across the street from the school. He has an Indian servant or advisor or something, who has a pet monkey. Wikipedia says the guy's name is Ram Dass, though I never heard it spoken in the movie. Anyway, he and his monkey sort of befriend Sara, though Ram Dass himself never actually talks to her. (The monkey doesn't talk either, but it directly interacts with her more than Ram Dass does.) And... Ram Dass is helping Randolph search for his son John, who was lost in the war. I don't want to say any more about that, because it would be too much of a spoiler. So I won't reveal any more of the plot, except to say it has a happy ending (after some very dramatic and frightening events). And Miss Minchin gets an amusing and well-deserved comeuppance, even though I don't think it makes any sense at all.
The story didn't seem particularly original, but it was a good story, in terms of drama, humor, and good old-fashioned heartstring-tugging. I thought all the actors did a fine job, particularly Liesel Matthews as Sara. (It's disappointing to see that she only has two other credits to her name, neither of which I'm likely to ever see.) I also wanted to say that the movie has a beautiful soundtrack, composed by Patrick Doyle. (I don't believe I'd ever heard of him, but he has a most impressive list of credits to his name.) And... I guess that's all I can think to say.