Camilla Belle Movie:

Editorial Review:
In this sequel to The Secret Garden, set in 1946, an American orphan named Lizzie (Camilla Belle) gets to live at Misselthwaite Manor in England courtesy of Mary Craven (Cherie Lunghi), who grew up there. It's now an orphanage and Martha Sowerby (Joan Plowright) has become headmistress. Although the garden is no longer secret, neither is it as lush as it became under Mary's care. Because Lizzie also has a green thumb, Miss Sowerby allows her to work on it during Sundays, but it's off limits to children the rest of the week. Lizzie just can't stay away, so she breaks the rules and gets in trouble. By the end, she has found a way--with Miss Sowerby's permission--to make the garden bloom again. Although this film lacks the suspense of The Secret Garden, it's faithful to the spirit of the original and is suitable for the whole family. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Back to the Secret Garden [Region 2] Reviews:
The Secret Garden Secret
2009-08-28 - I love movies with a hidden message. This one almost got by me, it is so subtle but when realized, so very clear.
I believe The Garden represents the Garden of Eden. When Mary leaves Martha in charge, Martha decides that the children should only be allowed in the Garden on Sunday, after church, and then only as a place to learn life's lessons by a very strict teacher, such as the proper etiquite for taking tea. All very boring to the children and even leading to a fight amongst them. The Garden begins to die.
The Secret Door is significant enough. "Knock and it shall be opened". The door is hidden but to only a few "enlightned" children and covered with a veil of ivy. The door is revealed to Lilly who becomes the keeper of the "key" and discovers
"within herself", intuitively, the reason why the Garden is dying. She brings the children inside and as they begin playing, the Garden rejuvenates itself, flowers begin to bloom and it becomes alive once again.
In many eastern religions, it is believed that the world we see is nothing more than a dream (or nightmare) and the REAL world, as God created it, awaits us beyond the veil of this one. Wasn't the Garden of Eden originally created as a place for the children of God to "play" in love, peace and joy?
What a mess of things we have made! But all is not lost - the Garden awaits our Awakening. Since we are all One, it only takes one "keeper of the key" to open the door for all.
The movie was good and the message even more joyful.


Back to the Secret Garden
2009-01-07 - Back to the Secret Garden is an excellent story for families. The video is well produced with clear audio and video. I recommend it for everyone.

But they are cousins!
2008-11-25 - WOW! Ok, so if you know the story of the real secret garden DO NOT WATCH this! You will be very disturbed! I'm going to give two semi-spoilers, but they are little facts that get revealed very early on in the movie.

1. Dickon is dead! And the best part is the he died in War! (b/c his character who loved every living thing would so go to war!)

2. As disturbing as Dickon's death is...it gets worse. There is also the relationship between cousins Mary and Colin-ya I spent half the movie trying to figure out if they were married. (Oh, I'm not kidding!) Ya apparently incest is the new secret of the garden!
And while I watched this a long time ago, and refuse to see it again, I'm still pretty sure that they were actually married. Mary Lennox's name is Lady Mary Cravin according to IMDB.

So pretty much, either the writer, Steve Thompson, didn't read or watch the original OR he is an advocate of incest and thought no one would notice. The saddest part is that Frances Hodgson Burnett's name is attached to the movie because he created the characters. On the bright side he's not alive to see what they did to his work.

Secret Garden lovers
2008-11-23 - This movie was just not as good as the original. Little disappointed. I guess we truly just enjoyed "The Secret Garden" so much.

Secret Garden DVD
2008-09-05 - throughly enjoyed this movie. Sarah Hollis Andrews played the part well of Mary she is a wonderful actress. The actors played all their parts well I thought Dickon was the perfect actor for this part and was how I imagined him to be in the book as were all the actors Colin, Martha etc. I would rate this an excellent movie as I thought the story followed the book more.