Little Women (1994, PG)

I loved this movie when I first saw it as a kid and have revisited it numerous times over the years; I often associate it with Christmas, but really, it’s good for any time.  This was my window into the March family, and reading Louisa May Alcott’s book a few years later was probably my window into enjoying classics in general.

The March women – sisters Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy, and their “Marmee” – have been getting by on their own since the family patriarch has been away in the Civil War.  All four girls experience the ups and downs of growing up in Concord, Massachusetts, struggling with reduced circumstances but dreaming of better things.  The arrival of an amiable young man next door shakes up their small circle, but while it expands to admit new members, the story as its heart rests on the four sisters.

By now, I’m well aware of the liberties the film takes with the book, and while a few of the changes don’t really work for me, I still think the movie does a great job capturing the spirit of the book.  All the characters feel like their book counterparts come to life, and iconic scenes from the book are really well-executed.  Because the book’s narrative is quite long and can feel episodic at times, there are places where the movie feels like a string of incidents rather than a purposeful storyline, but a lot of the tangents are entertaining, affecting, or both, and I love the cozy, lived-in feel of all the little incidental scenes that just show what life is like in the March household.

If the movie has a major fault, it’s that, by and large, the first half is a lot more engrossing than the second (which I find to be true of the book as well.)  After the time jump, the characters are more scattered, which is a blow when the film’s chief asset is the interactions between the sisters, Marmee, and Laurie.  The first half is so charming and sweet that it’s hard for the second half to measure up, although there are definitely later scenes that are every bit as effective as the earlier ones.

This movie was my introduction to all kinds of well-known actors, even if I was too young (9, maybe?) to be aware of it at the time – for years afterward, I’d see one of these performers in another role and go, “Hey, it’s Amy!”  “It’s Beth!”  “It’s Marmee!”  This is the first film I saw any of the following cool people in:  Susan Sarandon, Winona Ryder, Claire Danes, Kirsten Dunst, Christian Bale, and Gabriel Byrne.  All of them, in my admittedly-biased opinion, kill it as their characters, with special mention going to Sarandon as Marmee and Bale as Laurie.  And although I’m not as familiar with Trini Alvarado as I now am with the others, I can’t leave her out, since she’s equally great as Meg.

Warnings

A bit of swearing, smoking/drinking, a teeny bit of suggestiveness, and some thematic elements.