24449 people are playing today...

SmallMediumLarge
A Little Princess
Written by Lex Walker
Thursday, 07 May 2009   
A Little Princess
Movie:
 
 7.0
Picture:
 
 7.0
Sound:
 
 6.0
Extras:
 
 1.0
Score:
 
 7.0
Director(s): Carol Wiseman
Writer(s): Frances Hodgson Burnett
Starring: Maureen Lipman • Amelia Shankley • Nigel Havers • David Yelland
Genre: Children & Family • Drama • Television
Release Date: May 05, 2009
List Price: DVD - $14.99
Amazon:

Frances Hodgson Burnett wrote one of the classic tales of every girl's childhood when she wrote Secret Garden. With A Little Princess, Burnett further solidified her spot in literary history. Little girls everywhere fall in love with Sara Crewe as she wavers in between luxury and poverty in a school for girls in London. The 1995 film version of A Little Princess receives considerably more press than all the others, but of all the incarnations none receives as much credit for literary faithfulness as the 1986 made-for-TV version. A Little Princess (1986), while not a strong visual foray, takes the classic story and explores it in a way no version has matched since.

Captain Crewe (David Yelland) served faithfully in the British armed forces and still found time to rain down adoration on his daughter Sara (Amelia Shankley). With his daughter off at boarding school, Captain Crewe decided to invest in a diamond mine proposition offered by his friend Carrisford (Nigel Havers). Despite Carrisford's promises of guaranteed wealth, the investment comes up short and the Crewes find themselves impoverished. For whatever reason, Captain Crewe suddenly takes ill and dies -leaving Sara in the care of headmaster Minchin (Maureen Lipman) at the boarding school. The luxury Sara once enjoyed vanishes leaving her scrounging for meals, running errands for Miss Minchin and dreaming of a day when she'll be rich again.

Wait, that's the lesson girls learn? Not to take joy in what you have, but to keep dreaming for some fluke to make you rich again? Don't rise above your surroundings, don't better yourself and don't try to do anything on your own behalf - such good lessons for the aspiring women of a new generation. In fact, the only definite lesson Sara seems to learn from all of it is that she should lean on her friends with no regard for the punishments they might receive. I understand every girl likes to imagine herself a princess with a life of privilege, but A Little Princess just doesn't have any positive redeeming message for its audience.

Amelia Shankley pulls off the spoilt girl gone poor admirably. She's still a child actress, however, which means her performance lacks more than about two emotions: joy and sadness. She has no in between. Consequently, the story's multi-faceted plot seems to pass over Sara until she can express joy or sadness in context.

The real star of A Little Princess is Maureen Lipman as Miss Minchin. Cruel nurses, headmasters, principals and wardens make the best villains. Miss Minchin wields her authority with hypocritical aim; she's shameless when it comes to shifting the blame as it suits her needs. Lipman offers an overly-theatrical take on the character but considering she has to carry the story opposite of the talentless younger Shankley, Lipman makes A Little Princess into a worthwhile dramatic work.

The only other force to be reckoned with on the cast is Nigel Havers. David Yelland would be deserving of mention had he not died off in the first episode of the series. So be it. Havers has just the right enough of sleaze to his persona to make the opening purpose of his character entirely believable. Did Carrisford run off with Captain Crewe's money? Was the mine actually a bust? Havers's performance leaves you uncertain of what to think - and that's perfect for the sake of the plot.

The 150 minute runtime of A Little Princess helps this rendition stay true to the source material in ways that a traditional 90 minute feature film doesn't allow. The characters get fleshed out, the story goes through its natural paces and the drama builds properly for the conclusion. A Little Princess might not have the best values for your children - but if they're just watching for entertainment you can't do much better than this.

DVD Bonus Features

The DVD is barren. All we have are the traditional subtitle and audio options - no retrospectives and featurettes. Too bad.