"A Little Princess" is a fantasy targeted to young girls, of about the age of ten. This means that adult males whose notion of a great movie is watching Clint Eastwood get the bad guys (sometimes that can be my idea of a great movie as well) will likely find the film unwatchable.
If you watch a film for action, "A Little Princess" is painfully slow. But if you are looking for emotion, the film delivers the goods: privilege, injustice, revenge, liberation, generosity, and suffering are among the themes. The story merely provides a vehicle for displaying the intense emotions that a little girl can feel.
If the plot seems familiar, it's because you've probably read it or seen it before. The original story is from the children's novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett. There were four earlier cinematic versions, including a silent from 1917. The most famous version is a Shirley Temple vehicle from 1939, which is also an excellent film.
Sara (Liesel Matthews) is a young girl dotingly raised in India by her wealthy and widowed father. He must fight in World War I, so he places her in a New York boarding school run by the intimidating Miss Minchin (Eleanor Bron). Sara becomes very popular, earning the jealousy of schoolmate Amelia (Rusty Schwimmer). However, Sara's father is injured in the war, and his assets are seized. Her tuition cannot be paid, and she is forced into servitude, much to the pleasure of Minchin and Amelia. But a magical Indian servant (Errol Sitahal) takes an interest in her fortunes.
Bron has the best role, in the fine tradition of Louise Fletcher from "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest". She dislikes the independent Sara, but tolerates her as long as the bills are paid. When Sara can no longer afford tuition, Bron dresses her in black, steals her possessions and relegates her to the attic. This isn't all bad, as Sara is now able to be with the shunned servant girl, and can show her generosity by buying flowers from street beggars. Your contribution becomes more generous when you are nearly a beggar yourself.
The sets, such as World War I battlefields and New York alleys, are well done. The film's budget requires them to be small in scale, however. The magical Indian is present to validate Sara's childish fantasy stories, and to make plausible the incredible coincidences behind the reuniting of father and daughter. (86/100)
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