A Little Princess - Wonderworks Family Movie

A Little Princess - Wonderworks Family Movie
Customer Review: Wonderworks shows should be released to DVD
This film version of 'The Little Princess' is the closest version to the book that I've ever seen. The book needs no improvement; no text added or removed. The film version is the same. I have been hoping for years that the Wonderworks series would all go to DVD, so that this version would instantly find a much wider audience. As many people as possible should see this version! Sara Crewe has both good and bad times once her father leaves her in England and returns to India. The problems that Sara Crewe encountered in Miss Minchin's Select Seminary for Young Ladies must be retained in the film version, as they are in this production, because it is the revelation of Sara's character when she suffers loss and hardship that is so very important for readers of the book and viewers of the movie. For example, Miss Minchin's cruelty is starkly revealed when she tells Sara that her father has died of 'jungle fever' during her birthday party. The woman is so greedy and venal that she couldn't even wait until the party was over in order to allow the girl to enjoy her last hours in a carefree state of mind. This scene and others like it are what give the book its incredible power. Remove them, and you remove the message, too.
Customer Review: Ditto to all!
All are correct! In general, all WONDERWORKS adaptations are not only more faithful to the original written works, but they somehow manage to capture the spirit of the words visually. Their version of HEIDI is equally great. (The characters are not as black or white as usually portrayed. For example, Fraulein Rottenmeyer, Clara's governess, is actually an intelligent and well meaning woman who, until Heidi starts sleepwalking, sincerely believes she is better off in Frankfurt, not the heartless bitch she is made out to be in the significantly inferior Shirley Temple version.) The entire WONDERWORKS series is long overdue for DVD reissue.