In 1946, after her husband becomes British ambassador to the United States, Lady Mary Craven must leave the Misslethwaite orphanage in England. She puts Martha in charge, although Martha doesn't feel quite ready. Part of Martha's duty will be to keep the key that opens the door to the secret garden Martha's late husband started. The garden is not in the best of shape, and Martha cannot see how Mary found the door when Mary opens it for her.
When Mary leaves, she announces that Penelope will be able to go the United States to have an operation she can only get there, and that an orphan from the United States will be chosen to take Penelope's place while she is gone.
Once in the United States, Mary visits an orphanage outside Washington, D.C. and finds several children interested in going to England. But Mary chooses Lizzie, a loner who loves taking care of the garden.
After Martha is on her own, she looks and looks and can only see ivy covering the stone wall. So she has an opening made for a new door.
Lizzie arrives at Misslethwaite and immediately learns to break the rules. She loves the secret garden and sneaks in, and she discovers that door Martha can't find from the outside. The animals in the garden love Lizzie and gather around her. Martha soon realizes Lizzie was meant to care for the garden and puts her in charge of the key.
There is the usual boy-girl romance and love-triangle story one might expect here, and more breaking of rules, with appropriate consequences.
The big question: will Lizzie be able to make the garden what it once was?
I probably watched a movie called "The Secret Garden" but don't have any memory of it. Whether it was one of the great classics I can't say, but that's what I recall. This sequel wouldn't rank that high, but it is still very good. and if I can't remember the original, I have no problems with anything that might not be consistent with that movie.
Joan Plowright gives her usual wonderful performance. There are many other very good performances here. Camilla Belle starts off slow but eventually shows talent matching that of the others.
This is a movie kids can watch, but it has plenty of adult content (the good kind, meaning intelligent writing) which their parents can enjoy too. In fact, one doesn't even need to have kids to watch this.
I am curious as to whether some of the expressions used by the kids were actually in people's vocabularies back in 1946. Nevertheless, today's kids will like hearing them.
It's a good family film.
2 out of 3 found this helpful