Little Women: A Review

So in my last post, I promised a review on “Little Women” (the 1994) movie, would be forthcoming. Well here it is-coming forth. J Okay, sorry about that.

I read Little Women around…. Third grade? Fourth grade? I’m not exactly sure. I liked it. I liked An Old Fashioned Girl and A Rose in Bloom better though.

But it’s really growing on me. My problem with it was mostly this: Jo didn’t marry the cute, funny, sweet, and lonely Laurie. And they are so cute together! 

                                  

I always got the feeling Laurie just married Amy because he liked the March family so much and was determined to get in it, one way or another. I felt that Miss Alcott threw Professor Bhaer on us at the last minute and was like, “Do you really want Jo to end up with SOMEONE? Well then, you ASKED for it!” Mocking me with their incompatibility and extreme age difference. Humph.

Now my opinion isn’t exactly that. I still hold true to the statement that Jo and Laurie should have been together, but I grudgingly admit that Professor Bhaer has his virtues. There.

Now this is for the book, mind you. I just saw the 1994 movie about a month ago, and enjoyed myself hugely. I came to know Jo better. (I used to think her a bit boyish and over the top and semi revolutionary….) Now I feel I can connect with her more. I love to read, try to write, and I can get a bit mad and lose my temper at times too. (The scene where Amy burns Jo’s book is simply horrifying. If that EVER happened to me… well.)

                     

I also came to like Professor Bhaer better. (The Prof. Bhaer’s accent and cuteness in the movie helped quite a bit…) BUT I still hold on to my Jo/Laurie hopes a little. I can’t help it. I still think that if Laurie wasn’t going to end up with Jo, he shouldn’t go for Amy. No, no, no. I feel, as Amy said in the movie, that she thinks he likes her for her family and not for herself.

 One thing that really spoke to me as I got older was the familial ties, the March sisters loving and close relationship, the general “kindred spiritness” of it all. That’s what I really love about classics. They often feature simple, wonderful, surprising, unusual everyday life.

This movie should have had me ranting and raving about how it’s not true to the book, and it’s a bit short, etc. But… with all its inaccuracies, it’s a wonderful movie that caught the essence of Little Women and has a wonderful soundtrack. Which is always a huge plus. I also thought the characters were fairly well cast, though I don’t remember Marmee being quite so “revolutionary” in her views and sometimes rather forward. Mr. March was not how I pictured him, but luckily he wasn’t in it much. Winona Ryder was a wonderful Jo. I have no complaints on that score.

   

One thing I want to stick in that doesn’t necessarily pertain to Little Women, but does pertain to Louisa May Alcott…I think some film director out there should get a hold of An Old Fashioned Girl or A Rose in Bloom. I would LOVE that! But I (or someone who is a devoted reader of such books, like myself) should supervise and make sure things are done right. Because there’s nothing worse than film writers and directors who positively RUIN a wonderful book. It is better off unmade than made badly. That’s all for my Little Women/Louisa May Alcott post. I hope you enjoyed!

P.S. I'm not completely sure what is going on with the font but it sort of looks like a typewriter, no? Next time I'll try to get it back to normal.

P.P.S. The ending was so cute. That's when Prof. Bhaer kind of got to me. :) Enjoy