STORY- An orphaned girl discovers a magical garden hidden at her strict uncle’s estate.
REVIEW- Even though 27 long years have passed since its last screen adaptation. There has been no shortage of movies that honoured Frances Burnett’s classic English novel “The Secret Garden,” published in 1911.
Loyal to its roots like Agnieszka Holland’s fanciful 1993 iteration. And entirely fresh for anyone who hasn’t yet discovered the mysteries of the titular garden or the grand Misselthwaite Manor it’s connected to. “The Secret Garden” both respects and admires children’s imagination as its young characters discover their way to grapple with loss.
Suppose the timing of it all sounds a bit too eerily opportune. In that case, that’s because it is—stuck within every day of the ongoing Covid-19 crisis away from their friend. Kids in the real world have been living with doses of grim realities for months now, with no perceivable end in sight. So “The Secret Garden” might fill a gaping hope in their lives these days, feeling like a warm, cosy supply of comfort. This movie is a two-hour sanctuary where they can process the aforesaid grown-up ideas in their own pace.
In the boundlessness of this world, Mary gets to know the members of her new squad one by one. The dynamics are involved—even the doggie infuses the tale with a significant twist—and Thorne balances out all the moving pieces carefully. With the aid of a simple yet sweet score by Dario Marianelli. Throughout the film’s compact running time that capably shuffles dark gothic interiors with bright outdoors, the trio grows individually. They heal in a visceral sense with a little help from one another under the garden’s protective wing.
