The Secret Garden – Adequate But Lacks Magic

Not having had the chance to read Frances Hodgson Burnett’s classic children’s book The Secret Garden, this reviewer was smitten by 1993’s version directed by Agnieszka Holland. Being around the same age the characters were at the time, and that magical, adventurous story was so engrossing. At this point, we can pretty much agree that our favorite films of our childhood and adolescence are infallible. Our tastes had not yet matured, we were not too critical or even logical in where we laid our love and devotion. We were… well… kids, and the films we loved, we loved then deeply.

The purpose of the above introduction was to highlight the fact that this latest version of The Secret Garden has quite the challenge to pull off in trying to rekindle those same feelings and memories. Unfortunately, this did not happen this time around but that is not an indictment by any means as there is still plenty of good to be had here. This version sees Mary Lennox (Egerickx), an orphan girl who grew up in India with her parents until their tragic deaths. Following that, she is sent to live at her uncle’s estate in England where life has abandoned the premises. Lord Archibald Craven (Firth) is a cold, distant man, deeply scarred by the loss of his beloved wife. Meanwhile, Mary is tended by Mrs. Medlock (Walters), the very strict head of staff. Mary is alone and without love until she stumbles upon a secret, lifeless garden that belonged to her dead aunt.

Later, Mary discovers her cousin Colin (Edan Hayhurst), a crippled boy her age who can’t walk and suffers from terminal diseases. Though after a while, she suspects that it may not be the case. The Secret Garden is a touching story of about the power of love and human connection and what can happen to those who fall out of it. The blossoming of the garden serves as a clear metaphor of this. It’s a perfect English story, since it deals with cold, distant people rediscovering each other.

Visually, the film is pretty great, emulating Pan’s Labyrinth moods and energy through a darker pallet. It may be interesting and works to a point, but in the end, it is still lacking something here. The Secret Garden should feel dark and realistic when it’s dealing with life at the house (which the film accomplishes) but when the kids venture into the title’s place, it should feel sunny and otherworldly. It should wow us, overwhelm us. It should make us think the garden is not real at all, not because it isn’t but rather because we could not believe nature could spawn in such a way. The beauty of its predecessor was that the garden was actually real, there were no special effects involved. Though it was a stunning place, it was still grounded in reality and pulled viewers in. We wanted to go there, to live there forever. That feeling was achieved through lighting, set decoration and landscapes. Here, the garden never feels like a real place which was quite disappointing.

The story still works very well, but again, this version of The Secret Garden never quite elicits the right emotions. It’s perfectly fine and capable and that’s it. Not having read the book, it’s unclear which version is more faithful to the original, however, both endings are quite different. While this one felt rushed and quite anticlimactic, the older version had such a beautiful, emotional and poetic final moments.

In the end, The Secret Garden is a nice new version of a classic tale but it is not the definitive version of this story.

still courtesy of Elevation Pictures

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