THE SECRET GARDEN

1993, Warner Brothers

Live action

Rating: G

Approx. 101 mins.

THE STORY:

10 year old Mary Lennox (Kate Maberly) is living a spoiled, privileged life in colonial India when she is suddenly orphaned and forced to return to England. She is sent to live with her uncle, Lord Craven (John Lynch), the widow of her mother's twin sister. His is a dour, dark house presided over in the Lord's frequent absence by a stern housekeeper, Mrs. Medlock (Maggie Smith). 

Before long the snobbish Mary meets some children who start to soften her temper. She also makes some surprising discoveries, particularly a beautiful but unloved garden that has been locked up, and a cousin her own age. Presumed sickly and fragile, Colin (Haydon Prowse) has been restricted to bed such that his legs have atrophied and constitution weakened to match everyone's expectations of his weakness. With a bit of encouragement from Mary, both Colin and the garden are able to flourish.

QUESTIONABLE LANGUAGE:

• none

VIOLENCE:

• none

TEACHING POINTS:

• don't live down to others' expectations; live up to your own

THE UPSHOT:

It's a lot slower paced than most kids' movies, especially the animated ones. The grown-ups in the room didn't think that was a bad thing; but it was an adjustment for the 6 year old in the room. The sensitive 6 year old in the room also got extremely upset in a flashback scene where a crying baby is not comforted by a parent. The deaths of 3 parents was fine, but a crying baby was more than she could bear.

It's a pretty simple story with not a lot of action or complicated details to process, so was kind of like easy listening for the eyes. Nothing to write home about, but nice and relaxing.

3/5

OZ the GREAT and POWERFUL

2013, Walt Disney Pictures

Live action

Rating: PG

Approx. 129 mins.

THE STORY:

Oz (James Franco), a travelling magician slash womanizer slash small-time con man, is caught up in a tornado that delivers him into the magical land of Oz. The residents immediately take him for the wizard prophesied by the late king, and he does nothing to correct them. He also finds himself the object of witch Theodora's (Mila Kunis) affections.

Things become complicated when Theodora's sister, Evanora (Rachel Weisz), is revealed to be the wicked witch she has been warning others about. She poisons her sister both figuratively and literally, turning her into a hag mired in jealousy over Oz's inconsistency.

Oz teams up with good witch Glinda (Michelle Williams), Finley the flying monkey (Zach Braff) and a china doll (Joey King) to lead the residents of Oz against the 2 wicked witches. He ends up surprising even himself with his strength of character and capacity for good.

QUESTIONABLE LANGUAGE:

• damn

VIOLENCE:

• lots of fighting, aggression and menace, but no one actually dies
• frequent mentions of killing and unsuccessful attempts 

TEACHING POINTS:

• good triumphs over evil
• belief brings power
• if you want others to believe in you, you have to believe in yourself

THE UPSHOT:

I think attempting to make a prequel to (what I, at least, consider to be) one of the greatest films ever made is a bit of a losing proposition. The special effects were impressive and the aspects that pay homage to their forbear (the intensely saturated colour, the origination myths established for many elements of The Wizard of Oz, etc.) are nice. But that's it.

The acting is mediocre-- James Franco seems completely miscast, Mila Kunis is just plain irritating, Michelle Williams is just OK-- and the script could have used some editing. But what really bothered me was the reduction of the Wicked Witch to a woman made evil and ugly mostly through jealousy. It seems over-simplistic and on the misogynistic side.

Without the  W of O association, the screenplay would probably never have made it beyond the page. And that wouldn't be the worst thing on earth. 

2.5/5