Review of The Secret Garden (1994) by Bethany F — 15 May 2008

This film has so many different versions that its hard to figure out which version you like the most.

My Grandmother had one version where at the beginning when Mary Lennox's parents die of some strange disease you see everyone half rotten and covered in flies.

I haven't seen that version since I was probably 10 years old, and haven't been able to find it since.

What I like about this film and this book, is that it brings a strange sense of child fantasy to the adults and a weird maturity to the children.

The children in this film have survived a lot of hardship and seem to be weaker in some places but much stronger than some of the adults in other places.

I love that in every version of the film, the film maker tried to make the garden so unbelievably gorgeous that you can barely believe such a garden would exist.

The lightness of the film is carried quite delicately over the harder substance matter of the story.

The acting by both the adults and children is exceptional and very hard to not feel for each character in their own struggles to find out who they are and what they need to be happy.

A truly wonderful film.