WTOP's Jason Fraley reviews 'The Secret Garden'
We may still be a few weeks away from movies widely returning to theaters, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t some family-friendly options debuting straight to streaming.
This Friday, we get a remake of “The Secret Garden,” which might not rival the 1993 children’s flick but still provides a warm blanket of familiarity during a chaotic time.
Based on the 1911 novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett, the story opens in 1947 India, where the daughter of British colonials is orphaned by cholera and sent to live with her uncle in Yorkshire, England.
She tries to entertain herself by wandering the labyrinthian hallways of his vast estate, only to discover a magical garden located on the grounds.
The success of the movie hinges on 14-year-old lead actress Dixie Egerickx. Born on Halloween, she fittingly broke through in the horror film “The Little Stranger” (2018) by Lenny Abrahamson (“Room”). In “Secret Garden,” she capably carries the film by giving Mary a mischievous self-sufficiency to which young viewers will certainly relate.
Her relative inexperience is balanced by British screen veterans in the adult roles. Oscar winner Colin Firth (“The King’s Speech”) is believably detached and grieving as her uncle Archibald Craven, while Golden Globe winner Julie Walters (“Educating Rita”) is imposing as the strict caretaker Mrs. Medlock. Think of her as a less sinister take on Mrs. Danvers.
The one disappointing role is the bedridden Colin Craven, not a fault of child actor Edan Hayhurst but rather in a shift in presentation. We understand his atrophied legs in a wheelchair, but the 1993 film did a better job at emphasizing his pale skin due to a lack of sunlight.
This created more of a gothic tone that made his cries in the night scarier.
Thus, the 1993 film remains the definitive version thanks to director Agnieszka Holland (“Europa Europa”), cinematographer Roger Deakins (“1917”) and executive producer Francis Ford Coppola (“The Godfather”). Not only did it earn a BAFTA nomination for Maggie Smith, but it also launched Kate Maberly to play Wendy in “Finding Neverland” (2004).
And yet, it’s unfair to say, “How dare they remake it!” After all, the 1993 version was itself a remake of the 1919 Paramount silent film and the 1949 MGM talkie starring Margaret O’Brien as Mary and Dean Stockwell as Colin. Both were black and white, though the later used Technicolor for the restored garden scene a la “The Wizard of Oz” (1939).
The 2020 remake delivers an equally wondrous garden revelation, from a golden flower canopy to larger-than-life green plants like “Honey I Shrunk the Kids.” Three-time BAFTA winner Marc Munden contrasts the lush garden visuals with a muted palette in the estate.
This subdued tone might test kids’ patience, but the garden will surely knock them out.
Adapted by screenwriter Jack Thorne (“Wonder”), the script changes a few things from the book, opening in India on the Eve of Partition between India and Pakistan, flashing back to the dead parents, casting people of color (Amir Wilson and Isis Davis) as Dickon and Martha Sowerby, respectively, and changing a dog’s name from Jemima to Hector.
It all builds to the most drastic change: a fiery finale with echoes of Manderley in Alfred Hitchcock’s “Rebecca” (1940), which gets its own Netflix remake on Oct. 21. It’s a risky move to turn Frances Hodgson Burnett into Daphne du Maurier, but the homage allows for supernatural glimpses of ghostly parents lovingly appearing between the flames.
At the very least, it may inspire you to see the 1993 film, one of the British Film Institute’s 50 films to watch before age 14. The remake doesn’t break new ground, but we’ve seen enough surprises in the real world this year.
It’s nice to a have a familiar story to wrap ourselves in like a warm blanket. “If you look the right way, the whole world is a garden.”
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Review: ‘Secret Garden’ pales to 1993 film, but is warm blanket of familiarity - WTOP
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