A Little Princess (1995) part 1

Film: A Little Princess
Directed by Alfonso Cuaron
USA (1995)
Childhood Drama/Fantasy
7 parts/90 mins

Synopsis:

A privileged, free-spirited young girl tries to adapt to life in a strict boarding school in this charming, critically acclaimed children's fantasy. Adapting a novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett, also the author of The Secret Garden, the film shifts the story's setting to World War I. 10 year-old Sara Crewe (Liesel Matthews) has been left in a respected New York City boarding school while her British father heads overseas to fight. Filled with wild stories and a playful attitude, the unconventional Sara becomes popular amongst her classmates but quickly comes into conflict with the harsh headmistress, Miss Minchin (Eleanor Bron), who attempts to quash the child's individuality. The young girl's situation takes a serious turn for the worse when she unexpectedly receives word of her father's death, and, suddenly impoverished, is forced into life as a servant. Treated as a lesser class of person by her former companions, Sara instead befriends her fellow servants and turns to the power of imagination in order to maintain hope for the future.

Review:

An astonishing work of studio artifice, "A Little Princess" is that rarest of creations, a children's film that plays equally well to kids and adults. Springing from the world of gloomy privilege that shaped Frances Hodgson Burnett's stories ("Little Lord Fauntleroy," "The Secret Garden"), the new film version of A Little Princess" achieves something irresistible: a bright, beautiful and enchantingly childlike vision.

Shaking off the solemnity that smothers many a well-meaning, high-minded family film, this one revels in an exuberant sense of play, drawing its audience into the wittily heightened reality of a fairy tale. The material, like the title, is a tad precious, but the finished film is much too spirited and pretty for that to matter. "A Little Princess" also arrives without benefit of big names or a whopping Hollywood pedigree. That makes it even more of an unself-conscious delight.

Imagination is a precious gift, and too many films hammer it down into submissiveness. Children sit transfixed before films and TV shows that substitute action for fancy; cartoon characters fly through space and blast one another endlessly, providing kids with the impression of a story without the substance. Movies like "A Little Princess" contain a sense of wonder, and a message: The world is a vast and challenging place, through which a child can find its way with pluck and intelligence. It is about a girl who finds it more useful to speak French than to fire a raygun.

From the huge head of an Indian deity, used as a place where stories are told and children play, to the agile way a tear drips from Sara's eye to a letter read by her father in the rain, "A Little Princess" has been conceived, staged and edited with special grace. Less an actors' film than a series of elaborate tableaux, it has a visual eloquence that extends well beyond the limits of its story. To see Sara whirling ecstatically in her attic room on a snowy night, exulting in the feelings summoned by an evocative sight in a nearby window, is to know just how stirringly lovely a children's film can be. This is more than just a children's film, however. It is a family film. Its power comes from the fact that it takes the children in the film as seriously as it does the adults. It doesn't play down to the level of children. It raises them up to the level of adults.

Category:

Film & Animation

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[Pritza]

This is one of the most beautiful stories ever, thanks so much for the upload!

[BbysShh17]

i used to watch this as a little girl...i watched it soo many times!!! it was my favourite and still is now that im 21.

[nannacat3]

yes i found this!!! =)

[goldex1819]

it's a really clear copy

[rememrald30]

english invasion of the middle east

[0687ruthybaby]

Thank you for uploading

[ZeniJocasta]

One of my all time favorite movies! I finally got a chance to read the book as well, and am now seeing how different they really are.

[swpl1993]

wow. i ALWAAAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS watched this as a kid :)

brings back some memories :)

[corazondeazul1]

POINTS. SO MANY POINTS FOR THE UPLOAD

[artfuldodgeret]

Anyone notice how Rama and the Princess in the story are played by the same actors as Sarah's Parents? :D like mr. Darling and Captain hook, too!

[HumberGirl77]

I've been looking for this film forever! was my favourite movie as a kid.

[mamatforeve]

I luv this movie one of the best movies ever .i felt like crying wen she was screaming "daddy" at the end