Wolff rating: FAIR
Plot summary: The March daughters come of age during the civil war in this adaptation of Louisa May Alcott's novel.
Biased, pithy comments: Every shot was beautiful in some way. That is to say, every shot was a Hallmark moment, or something out of a Norman Rockwell painting. I was overwhelmed by how much every scene was stuffed to the brim with vintage craft-store colonial junk. Oh, sure, craft stores are selling nostalgia for this time long past, but Armstrong has chosen not to show the Civil War era for what it was---smelly and a little rough. At the same time, while smoothing over the visuals, she's also cut the courage out of the original book---Alcott, in her own way, was a free radical about women's rights, transcendentalism (which is blown by in one scene here), and what really constitutes familial obligation. Instead, it's replaced by Sarandon spewing out boring, obvious political dogma about a women's right to choose her destiny. There are also repeated shots of men crawling---I guess it's a woman thing, but it sure left me confused. Ah, well---between the screeds and greeting-card looks, there's a good movie desperate to get out, with Dunst, Alvarado, Byrne, Ryder, Danes, and Bale acting like mad, but undercut by the truncated script and sickly-sweet set design. Oy. Just not worth it---read Alcott instead.
Other Notes: Worse yet, they re-novelized the movie! Apparently Alcott used too many big words or something.
How many times I have seen it: x1
Starring: Winona Ryder, Gabriel Byrne, Trini Alvarado, Samantha Mathis, Kirsten Dunst, Claire Danes, Christian Bale, and even Eric Stolz!
Directed by: Gillian Armstrong