An old essay I came across in my mom’s external hard drive, written by my brother in 6th grade:
Movie Review: A Little Princess
By Benison Waung
Life in an all-girls boarding school can be boring and sad, especially when your dad dies in war and you become a servant girl. As if this story weren’t bad enough, the way A Little Princess shows it makes it even worse.
To understand the weaknesses of A Little Princess, it helps to know the basics of the plot. The story unfolds at Miss Minchin’s Seminary for Girls. The main character, Sara Crewe, is one of the unlucky girls to go there. She lives there because her dad is in a British regiment and her mother and sister have died.
Because her father is wealthy, Sara is quite spoiled in terms of items and toys at the school. However, this luxury comes quickly to an end. At her birthday party, Sara learns that her father has just passed away. Shocked by the expense of keeping Sara, greedy and evil Miss Minchin takes all of Sara’s belongings. Sara is forced to become a servant girl and to work for room and board.
At a low point, Miss Minchin accuses Sara of stealing and tries to get Sara arrested. Sara tries to escape from the attic on a board, but then she slips and falls. She catches herself on a ledge and climbs to the window next door. When she crawls through the window, the police are banging on the door and shouting for her to come out. While Sara cowers in a corner, a strange man talks to her. When she looks up, she sees a very familiar face. It’s her dad! The only problem is that he has amnesia and doesn’t remember Sara. The police barge in and drag Sara away. Fortunately, Sara’s dad miraculously regains his memory and saves her.
Although this plot seems dramatic, I have only described the few exciting moments in the story. For the most part, A Little Princess actually has many times where there is no action. While watching, I found it hard to stay awake, particularly when Sara was crying herself to sleep. I also dozed when she opened a book or told her friends stories. I woke up whenever someone was screaming—for instance, when the fake beast roared, or when a little girl pretended to have a tantrum. Mostly, I just woke up for loud noises or dramatic actions. In short, I wouldn’t recommend this movie for boys, and I don’t understand why girls would like it so much either.
Another weakness of this movie is that it is a little unrealistic, especially when Sara falls off the board and catches herself on a ledge. I also think that the movie has too many unbelievable coincidences. Most unbelievable is the fact that Mr. Randolph, the neighbor, has adopted Captain Crewe, all because Mr. Randolph’s son had been in the same regiment as Captain Crewe. That is a little far-fetched. The next-door neighbor has adopted Sara’s supposedly dead dad. In summary, this movie has way too many ridiculous coincidences.
A final problem I have with this movie is that it is too black and white. For instance, Miss Minchin has to be the evil headmistress of the boarding school. She is like the wicked stepmother in Cinderella, or like Count Olaf in A Series of Unfortunate Events. Of course there has to be a Lavinia, who is good on the outside, but rotten on the inside. We see her character in Cinderella’s stepsisters and in Harry Potter’s rival, Draco Malfoy. Draco pretends to be good in front of his teachers, but is rotten when he’s with other children.
As for characters that are too good to be true, we have Sara. She is super-fluent in French and Latin. She’s so intelligent that the French teacher says that she should tutor Miss Minchin. Apparently, Sara must be athletic as well; otherwise, she couldn’t have caught herself on the ledge. Finally, Sara makes too many friends too quickly. If you go to a boarding school, you might be able to make one friend after a while, but you don’t usually turn everyone into your friend within a month or so. In short, Sara is just too good to be true.
To conclude, A Little Princess is at the bottom of my list of movies. It has a good plot, but too many unrealistic coincidences. It also has unrealistic characters that aren’t well-rounded. I think that this movie could be improved with more action and less crying. It could also use a character like Tom Sawyer, someone you like, but is a little troublemaker.
……..
Obviously, my brother is a boy. I LOVE THIS BOOK. And I don’t recall the movie, exactly, but it seems they embellished the novel (typical) to befit Shirley Temple.
They just don’t make movies like that anymore. Oh, and as a concluding, bedtime-inducing last thought, this is my favorite quote from the actual book The Little Princess, one of my all-time favorite quotes, period:
“When people are insulting you, there is nothing so good for them as not to say a word — just to look at them and think…
When you will not fly into a passion people know you are stronger than they are, because you are strong enough to hold in your rage, and they are not, and they say stupid things they wish they hadn’t said afterward.
There’s nothing so strong as rage, except what makes you hold it in — that’s stronger. It’s a good thing not to answer your enemies. I scarcely ever do.”
