Editor Reviews:

Amazon.com essential video:
Filmed before (and quite nicely) in 1949, Frances Hodgson Burnett's classic children's story was remade for this admirable 1993 release, executive produced by Francis Ford Coppola and directed by acclaimed Polish filmmaker Agnieszka Holland. Splendidly adapted by Edward Scissorhands screenwriter Caroline Thompson, the film opens in India during the early 1900s, when young Mary Lennox (Kate Maberly) is orphaned and sent to England to live in Misselthwaite Manor, the gloomy estate of her brooding and melancholy uncle, Lord Craven (John Lynch). Because the uncle is almost always away on travels, struggling to forget the death of his beloved wife, Mary is left mostly alone to explore the estate. Eventually she befriends the young brother of a staff maid and Lord Craven's apparently crippled son, who has been needlessly bedridden for years. Together the three children restore a neglected garden on the estate grounds, and in doing so they set the stage for a moving reaffirmation of life and love. Filmed with graceful style and careful attention to the intelligence and cleverness of young children, The Secret Garden is that rarest breed of family film that transcends its own generic category, encouraging a sense of wonder and optimism to become a rewarding experience for viewers of any age. --Jeff Shannon

Rating : - Simply enchanting
This was one of those titles I recognized but never read or watched the movies.

We meet Mary Lenox a neglected child born and raised in India. Her neglectful parents die in a massive earth quake and she has to go to England to live with her uncle.

Her arrival in less then eventful as the other orphans make fun of her and nobody meets her on the docks. She travels to the middle of nowhere and learns her new home is as large as a castle and it's her prison. Her uncle does not want to meet her. Her aunt is dead and to her surprise she learns she was the twin sister of her mother. The cold and stern house keeper Mrs. Medlock aptly played by Maggie Smith orders her to stay in her room.

She finally makes a friend who is a maid named Martha who is kind hearted and takes Mary's abuse for the most part in stride. Poor Mary doesn't even know how to dress herself but Martha does help her. When Mary later expresses a desire to play with somebody; Martha mentions her brother Dikon. They eventually meet and learn they share the same love of gardening. Dikon like his sister is a gentle soul and you see the affect they have on Mary who starts to change as she has friends.

Another discovery is the unknown cousin Colin. A bedridden sickly and very spoiled child. Born after the death of his mother; he becomes a reminder of to his father who can't deal with the death of his wife and the assumed pending death of his son. Colin is not likable and overly spoiled he starts to change when Mary stands up to his ways. As she comments that nobody sickly would scream as much as he does. Eventually; they start making it out to the secret garden and Colin starts to get healthy as he gets air and exercise.

Mary after facing death brought life to a dead household and in turn found a home that wanted her.

This is a great story and a fun movie. Normally, I avoid movies centering on children these days as they tend to be "smarmy" or the children overly smart-mouthed. This was anything but that. It's a warm story of children who make the best of what they have.

Now it's time to read the book....