Review of The Secret Garden

The 1993 version was utter rubbish. The steam punk version should be banned for horrors unto the book. This was superb. This is the closest to how I remember, (not exact, but close) on reading this as a girl, that Mary would have felt in that ugly, indolent aristocratic dwelling and how she would have felt on discovering the 'garden.' They have taken far less stupid and pointless liberties with the book than the other versions and have retained the most important point: adults ruled, even incredibly stupid, self-absorbed ones, that children were not considered too important, that outright child abuse is closer than 'nice' people think and that ultimately, nature has a way of showing us something much more than we seem to contain, ourselves. Exquisite to look at. Delightfully astute. Beautifully acted. I read some of the reviews... seems a large portion of the reviewers have this version mixed up with that trash made in 1993 and the others with that ghastly steam punk abomination. If you're a reader who loved the book. If you're a garden and nature lover. If you love dogs. If you understand that children require listening to and nurturing. If you have a clue about how messed up some parents are. This is a wonderful, wonderful film. Watch it. Slow, real, beautiful.