Critic's Grade: A+

This particular version of The Secret Garden certainly won't be the last in it's class! I found the 1993 creation of this movie to be more brilliant and more thought provoking than the 1949 and 1987 renditions.

Kate Maberly will blow your heart away with her intuitively magical acting skills. She stars in the film as the young Mary Lennox who was cast away to Misselthwaite Manor after losing her parents to an earthquake at her home in India. She is sent to the Manor to live with her next of kin, her Uncle, Lord Archibald Craven (John Lynch) - who is the widowed husband of Mary's mother's twin sister!

Without ever even meeting her Uncle, she is looked after by the bitter, paranoid caretaker of the Manor, Mrs Medlock (Maggie Smith), who refuses to allow Mary any more freedom than the confinement of her own bedroom.

Eventually, Mary finds an escape route out of her curiosity of the strange noises she's been hearing at the estate. After several attempts at her investigation, she finally comes to the realization that the noises that have been keeping her awake at night belong to the cousin she never knew she had!

Her cousin, Colin Craven (Heydon Prowse), has been a family secret his entire life. Ever since his birth, he has been made clearly aware that he is dying. Mrs. Medlock and the other nurses kept strict measure at making sure he was never infected (wearing doctor's masks at all times), and would be outraged to know that the new burden, Mary Lennox, had ever discovered his existence.

However, the very instant that Mary enters the room, she literally steps into her cousin's life by convincing him that he is not dying, as he has always been told, and soon teaches him to enjoy the sun and the beauty of the earth that she has found in the great outdoors - The Secret Garden.

Together, Mary Lennox, Colin Craven, and Dickon (a farmhand - and Mary's friend - played by Andrew Knott) share in the splendor of life as they have never known it inside the garden that was once grown by Colin's own mother (a woman he never knew).

The garden was left to die after her death, and banished from anyone's entrance for all eternity - until the day that Mary discovered it herself, and the key to it's secret gate.

This movie will lift you up through emotional gates of joy that you have only forgotten since your own childhood. The magic of life and the understanding of forgiveness and friendship will keep you smiling for days to come. This is definitely a movie that you don't forget after your first view (nor the second, third, fourth, etc.)!

The music is chilling, and the cinematography is like candy to the eye. Rent or purchase this movie today and share it with the rest of the family! The Secret Garden is guaranteed to enlighten your perspective on life in ways you never imagined!

All Reviews by Kt Tatoe [Home page]
If you are the author of this review, you may edit it by signing in.