This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

Review of A Little PrincessThis movie is one of the most enchanting movies I have ever seen because of the main character's imagination and stories that make you feel like you are standing beside her as she tells them. Sarah, the little princess, has a beautiful character, that is illuminated by her journey from privilege, through tragedy and back. Throughout these exciting events, she remains confident and kind to everyone. She enchants everyone even those who are determined not to like her. The movie has twists and turns that keep you on the edge of your seat and keep you rooting for the main character and the magical events that change her life. This movie is a great watch for family's as it offers something for adults and children alike and will offer a great discussion about kindness humanity and love

This is coming from a guy's perspective. I have seen this movie many times (I have seen most of the top 250 best rated movies on IMDM). This movie is one of my favorites of all time. I think, this movie is one of most under- rated movie there is. I have seen this movie when I was a young boy and this movie inspired me ever since. What inspired me is not the movie itself but the main character's (Sarah) characteristics. She has a wild imagination and is very creative, she dreams big, she is positive and caring, willing to stand her ground and best of all, she had a great personality. I always try to be like Sarah especially having wild imagination and being positive.

Alfonso Cuaron's adaptation of A Little Princess is a film filled with magically realism, whimsy and sickly sweetness. It is a popular film for young girls and women for these reasons.In 1914 Britain has entered into the First World War. Sara Crewe (Liesel Matthews) is a British girl (even though she has an American accent), living in India. She is a kind-hearted girl with a big imagine, intelligence and a keen storyteller. When her father (Liam Cunningham) is called up to serve in the war, Sara is sent to the same boarding school her descended mother went to, the Miss Minchin's Seminary for Girls in New York. Sara quickly becomes a popular girl at the school because of her wit, storytelling and willingness to stand up wrongdoing. But when her father is declared killed in action Sara's wealth is taken away and the crude hearted headmistress (Eleanor Bron) makes Sara into a servant girl. Despite Sara's grief she sets out to keep her dignity and her charitable spirit.A Little Princess was weighted around a strong performance from a talented young actress, Matthews. She gave a heart felt performance and mixed with Cuaron's emotionally manipulating direction you felt her pain and sorrow as she suffers from grief and the enforced poverty but keeps her determination and spirit. There is a theme of the rewards of charity and kindness, that if keep those attitudes and do not the world grind you then your good deals will be acknowledged. It is story about a girl needs to keep her determination, hope, kindness and imaginable that strength of friendship.I personally love Cuaron as a director, especially for his work on Harry Potter and Children of Men. With A Little Princess he was in full manipulation mode and it very much like a Spielberg film in the emotional scenes to more comically toned involving the girls causing mischief, playing jokes to a scene where the bully of school is 'cursed' and sees the outcome of it. Unfortunately because of the The art direction and cinematography are striking and fitting for the themes of the film, that India is a bright, colourful wondrous place, to the more harsh, cold reality of the street of New York in the winter. Peter Doyle's score added to getting the audience sunk into this world, using Indian music, a traditional score, a choir and a song sung by a young girl.A Little Princess is an orphan story similar in the vain of Oliver Twist, Annie and The Matchstick Girl, a young girl forced into the big bad city. Like Annie and The Matchstick Girl Sara is forced into servitude and the emotional scenes on the streets was very much like The Matchstick Girl. Because of the boarding school setting and Sara's background it is clear why Cuaron was a sensible choice to take on Harry Potter.A big criticism is the setting. The film changes the location from London to New York to cater to American auditions (seeing that the film flopped in America that change was pointless) and the time from the Victorian era to 1914. By changing it to 1914 it made the scenario less believable, that Sara becomes slave labour when she should would be education and child labour is still being used when in most Western countries had at this point introduced some sort of compulsory education.A Little Princess truly is a family film, children of all ages will find something to enjoy in this whimsical film.7.5/10

From director Alfonso Cuarón (Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Children of Men), I had seen the trailer for this film many times and always been curious to try the film, especially with it being rated the full five out of five stars, so when it was available I watched enthusiastically. Basically eleven year old Sara Crewe (introducing Liesel Matthews) and her wealthy father Capt. Crewe (Liam Cunningham) leave their home in India and move to New York, and he leaves her in an all girls boarding school while he enlists in the British Army. The school is run by the severe Miss Minchin (Eleanor Bron), and soon enough the bored and mundane lives of the girls are made better by Sara who becomes popular with her stories of "The Ramayana", much to the dislike of Miss Minchin and the irritation of spoilt bully Lavinia (Taylor Fry). After throwing a lavish birthday party, in which Miss Minchin wanted to extract money from Sara's father, word reaches them that he has apparently died in action, and with his estate seized by the British government the headmistress forces the innocent little girl to become a servant, alongside black servant Becky (The Lost World: Jurassic Park's Vanessa Lee Chester). Forced to stop telling stories and have her possessions, including her father's locket, taken from her, Sara only has her spirits lifted with the girls being on her side and helping her however they can, and with her belief that "every girl is a princess". Next door to the school is the mansion of rich old Charles Randolph (Arthur Malet) who wants his son to return from the war, and an injured soldier is brought to his home, it is not his son, but Capt. Crewe, suffering temporary blindness and memory loss, but Indian immigrant Ram Dass (Errol Sitahal) insists he be taken care of. One night Miss Minchin catches the other girls with Sara telling stories, and she punishes her and Becky with no food the next night, but they awaken to find a feast and palace setting, they originally imagined it, courtesy of Ram Dass. After Miss Minchin finds this she decides the police should be involved, because of possible stealing, and using a long plank Sara makes her escape across to Randolph's mansion next door. It is there she obviously is shocked and happy to see her father alive, but he does not recognise her, and Miss Minchin cruelly says that she has no family to get her away from him, but Ram Dass helps him remember and rescue her. In the end, Capt. Crewe has his fortune restored and buys himself the boarding school as the new headmaster and to make life for the girls much better, Miss Minchin is forced to be a chimney sweep alongside a young boy she originally mistreated, and Sara and Becky are going back to India together to live happily ever after, and all the girls, including Lavinia, saying their tearful goodbyes. Also starring Rusty Schwimmer as Amelia Minchin, Heather DeLoach as Ermengarde, Vincent Schiavelli as Mr. Barrow, The Ring's Rachael Bella as Betsy, The Lost World: Jurassic Park's Camilla Belle as Jane and Kelsey Mulrooney as Lottie. Matthews is wonderful as the imaginative and sweet young girl with her good spirit pushed to the limit, and Bron is fantastically vulgar as the subtly but equally knowingly evil (like Nurse Ratched style) villain headmistress, it is charming story with plenty of delightful and sweet moments, as well as true emotion, and the special effects give us moments in a surreal magical world, and it is a film that will appeal both to the adults and the children watching, a brilliant period fantasy drama. It was nominated the Oscars for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration and Best Cinematography. Very good!