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This is an enjoyable film but if you are expecting a film of the book you won't get it. It begins accurately enough but segues into pure fantasy. The secret garden, which should be a walled garden of ordinary size becomes a massive acreage. The whole point is that the garden is neglected and Mary's story is about rescuing the garden, tending it with Dickon, learning to sow and grow plants and through the garden saving Colin and herself. That was all lost here with the garden some sort of Eden that would be most unlikely in Yorkshire and totally unrealistic. Why make a film of a book and then completely ignore the book? Disappointing.

I nearly didn't watch it because of the awful reviews on this site. I"m glad I have learned to use my own discrepancy . I've seen all the original films and read the book. So I had an idea what to expect. I wanted a bit of fantasy and escapism. The Secret garden is comforting and familiar territory . Beautiful scenery, good acting nice familiar storyline. it was exactly what I needed during this miserable Covid-19 time. Please ignore the ridiculously negative reviews and snuggle down and with it for yourself.

The Secret Garden (2020) is a movie of two halves. The first half verges on excellent, with some creative and beautiful CGI used to represent Mary's imagination. The scenes in the chaos of golden, dusty India followed by the bleak grey of England are harrowing in different ways.

It starts so well: how could it finish so badly?

About half way through the whole thing devolves into a car crash of overblown CGI Disney schmaltz. Suddenly dream/imagination sequences are "real", there are ghosts, there's a bizarre attempt to create a mystery where there's no mystery in the book nor a need for one (isn't the Garden enough?) and weird themes of mental illness and maternal abandonment that simply don't add anything. That these children are orphaned is surely enough?

The child actress who plays Mary, Dixie Egerickx (she'll be spelling out that surname all her life) is superb. She has an "intelligent stillness" that sets her apart. I don't doubt she will go very far, and probably end up a Dame if she sticks with acting. She's very watchable.

Julie Walters is excellent as Mrs Medlock, but then she's always excellent! Isis Davis as Martha is also very enjoyable. Amir Wilson isn't given much of a role as her brother Dickon (I recall it as a larger, more interesting role in the book and other productions). Even in Midsummer when Mary's winter coat has changed to a light skirt and blouse, he appears to be wearing the same padded sack. Edan Hayhurst playing Colin is quite good.

And Colin Firth: poor Colin Firth. In this production he's given a hunchback and ultimately turned into Mrs Danvers, staggering through a burning house with a face like doom - why show us those beautiful frescoes/murals one moment if only to burn them to pieces the next? - while his beloved dead wife's preserved possessions are consumed by the flames. What an absurd ending: Mary and her uncle would have been unconscious within seconds from the heat and flames, but their escape goes on and on and on.

I was left wondering why I had gone to see The Secret Garden but emerged from a surreal production of Rebecca.

Not much happens in the film, and the characters are rather flat and dull. The colour scheme is beautiful, but it doesn't save the film from being a bore. I'm not the target demographic, so I thought it was pretty but boring.

This movie looks beautiful, it really does. And the acting is good. But why oh why did they feel they needed to upgrade an already amazing story? It's too embellished, and there are new storylines added that weren't in the book. Why? The story is magical enough as it is!

Frances Hodgson Burnett's novel is charming. This movie is a bloated melodrama. 1. Just because you can use CGI doesn't mean you have to. 2. Who needs all the ancillary backstory(ies) that aren't in the novel, and serve no useful narrative purpose. 3. In this film, the secret garden - which is, in the novel, a secret garden - is about the size of the county of Cornwall in England, and full of all sorts of exotic plants that are not in the garden in the novel. In the novel, the children gain agency in their lives by learning to take care of the secret garden, and bring order into a place that has been abandoned and left to go wild (as, in some respects, two of the children have been left uncared-for) - this is sort of the whole point of the story. It would take an army of professional gardeners months if not years to maintain the garden in this film. Read the book, watch the earlier movie. Miss this one.

If you have read the book, then prepare to be disappointed This doesn't do the book justice at all. The deviation from the original story lost everything that was special about the book.

If you haven't read the book then it's possible you may like this film, but if you are a fan of the book then avoid this film at all costs.

This is of course a remake of a film which has unfortunately been remade before and if you have seen the previous films this one will not seem as good but it is a good film in its own right. The characters and storyline vary a little, but the young actors and actress do bring their own style and life to their characters. Well worth a watch on a rainy day.

This was one of those stories I remember being read to as a child. It was good quality time with my mum and I always remembered how much she loved reading it even though as a child I could tell it was probably more girly than I'd want. I loved the classic superhero stuff as a boy. I always thought the film with Maggie Smith was a bit odd, especially between the cousins but enjoyed the story anyway. Now I'm older, maybe I just appreciate it more, but I thought this was really heartwarming. I felt like the CGI worked well and wasn't overdone but understand if people see it as otherwise, I felt like it fed the imagination of the writer or director reading their own version of the story and it just seemed like a bonus if anything. I think the storyline was much clearer than the 1993 version and could really help those struggling with loss with a ton of happy emotions. The actors were great and for those annoyed by the children, they're not supposed to be likeable characters in the story, that should be fairly obvious but I don't understand how people can't appreciate the growth of a character. I think this would be a great film to watch with the family and I'm looking forward to sharing it with my girl when she's grown and we've read through the book together. I also think it might help children who find it hard to process their emotions and can potentially be too introverted. I remember as a child, because of this story I felt inspired to have an imagination and with the added bonus of the CGI in this, it'll surely help children express their creativity on what they see. Give it a go! It's a stunning film.

The Secret Garden is a fantasy drama film based on the novel of the same name by Frances Hodgson Burnett. Starring Colin Firth and Julie Walters, it is a bright, colourful looking update to a classic children's novel that may or may not win over modern audiences.

In 1947, young Mary Lennox (Dixie Egerickx) is taken away from her home in India to live at her strict uncle Lord Craven's (Colin Firth) large mansion in Yorkshire, England after both of her parents die from cholera. Due to the neglected nature of her upbringing, Mary has great difficulty expressing her emotions and struggles to open up to other people. Upon arriving at the mansion, Mary soon discovers that it hides various secrets and mysteries, including that of a large beautiful garden locked away from the rest of the estate. Over time, Mary befriends a stray dog she names Jemima, a young boy named Dickon (Amir Wilson), the brother of one of her uncle's maids, and also meets her bedridden cousin Colin (Edan Hayhurst), the latter of which she believes spending time in the garden will cure him of all his ailments.

Up to this point, there have been three previous film adaptations of "The Secret Garden", with the 1993 version considered to be the one that most people fondly remember. This 2020 reimagining doesn't so much feel like a remake of that film but rather its own unique take on what I can only guess made the original novel a classic in the first place. I have not read the novel but I have seen and enjoyed the 1993 film so this is the only thing I am able to compare this one to. With that said, although I think the 1993 film is superior, I did like how the 2020 film kept its important moral intact, being that the story is essentially a metaphor for personal growth and self-improvement. Both films communicate this message over to children in a relatively easy to understand manner, not once feeling as though it is talking down to them or belittling them for the changes they may be going through. Instead, they are shown that life can be unfair at certain points and that the only way to get through it is to work at your problems and find new methods of progressing forward.

What I feel is this film's biggest issue is its choppily edited first act. The whole time it seemed as though the director wanted to tell Mary's backstory through some oddly placed flashbacks and hallucinations during her stay at the mansion. This proved highly distracting and made it difficult to take in the atmosphere of her new environment when it kept jumping back and forth between Mary's life in India and her life in England. A technique like this may have worked better on paper, but on screen it just felt like an awkward afterthought added in post-production. On the other hand, one thing I think this film does considerably better than its 1993 predecessor was the visual style. I loved the use of vibrant colours in the titular secret garden juxtaposed against the backdrop of the gloomy lurid looking mansion. It really gave the sense that this garden was a magical place of escapism that the children can play in without a care in the world.

All of the film's child actors did a fine job in their roles, with Dixie Egerickx clearly being the standout as Mary. It is never easy for most people to step out of their comfort zone as they try to adjust to living in a new area, and Egerickx's performance definitely gave off that feeling that anyone who is going through such a thing will be able to find something to relate to. I also loved the adorable dog known as Jemima, who wasn't in any previous adaptations as far as I know and it really added a nice air of cuteness to the story. However, I was disappointed with how underused all of the adults were. Colin Firth barely has enough screen time to leave an impression, which is a shame because I was genuinely curious to see how he could have played his character in comparison to the actor in the 1993 film. The same can be said for Julie Walters, whose 1993 counterpart to her role was played by Maggie Smith, who was one of that film's standouts. This may have been done to put more emphasis on the child characters, but the 1993 film had a nice balance between the children and the adults so I don't understand why they couldn't do that here as well.

Even though it may not be remembered as affectionately as its previous adaptation, I'd say that this film still has just enough in it for most audiences to enjoy. Nevertheless, the 1993 film is still the better one and I definitely prefer it for the various reasons stated above. Watching both of these films has actually made me interested in reading the original novel to see how it compares to all these onscreen treatments and I am certain the story is better in print form. With that said, go and see the 1993 film if you haven't already, and if you feel up to it, watch this one afterwards.

I rate it 6.5/10

A young girl in the 1940's has to go and live with a distant uncle she doesn't know and she finds a secret garden and some friends.

This starts of very bleak. The only comparison I can think of for this level of isolation, loneliness and alienation is "28 Days Later." The film carries on like this for a while and we get to know the unhappy lead character rather well.

As little girls in the 1940's, stuck in dusty manors in the middle of the moors don't really get up to much the film feels very, very slow and voyeuristic at times.

You get shots of fingers brushing leaves, shoes stamping in puddles, misty moorland, overcast skies, etc.

Then the movie has to put its foot down to get the actual story underway. All that time defining this disturbed, distant little girl is erased in an instant when she suddenly realises that her mum did love her and she transforms into Pollyanna overnight. She then runs around the estate marking off her check list of people to fix.

After an hour and a quarter of gloom and depression the last fifteen minutes are just too cloying. It is like being punched in the throat by a fist made of sweetener.

The young actors are very good. Colin Firth, Julie Walters and Isis Davis are only there for set dressing. The garden is vibrant and bright but not really a garden and no distinction is made between fantasy and reality so you never really get a handle on what it is.

This is a short film that feels long and leaves you struggling to remember what you just watched.

As the movie starts it is 1947 and a small British girl and her family are living well in India. Then when both parents die, newly orphaned she is sent to her wealthy uncle's estate in England. Not sure what age she was supposed to be, the actress was 12 during filming.

She has led a privileged life and at first is difficult in her new surroundings. Then wandering around the large estate encounters a dog, she feeds it the meat from her sandwich, soon the two are looking for each other each day.

Then the dog takes her to a place surrounded by a tall, old wall overgrown with various vegetation, she climbs and inside finds a wonderous, somewhat magical garden, the "secret garden" of the title. Further investigation reveals it was a favorite getaway for her mother and aunt.

She also discovers she has a cousin living in the same big house, a boy mostly bed-bound. Then she meets a local boy out at the garden, eventually the three of them explore together.

All of them, and including the dad, had healings that were needed, the friendships and perhaps some of the magic of the garden help all of them.

Good movie, my wife and I watched it at home on DVD from our public library. Watching the extras on the disc, for the filming in the secret garden they actually used a number of the best gardens in the UK for sites and stitched them together for the film to seem like it was all at one place.

1993s movie was perfectly good , no need for this remake- its not good

I really liked it, the idea of how the loss of someone very important can make you sick, the sadness and grief can turn you into another person, the artistic section is great, the performances were not very good

Rekindled interest in Frances Hodgon Burnett's classic tale has prompted a broadway musical and several films. Colin Firth (The Single Man, The King's speech), Julie Walters (Billy Elliot, Molly Waesley in the Harry Potter saga) and the little girl Dixie Egerickx (not as little as the role she plays), lead the cast of this family film in which fantasy invades the sad world of an orphan. It begins with a young, recently-orphaned girl is sent to England after living in India all of her life. Once there, she begins to explore her new, seemingly-isolated surroundings, and its secrets. Living in India, a young, privileged girl named Mary Lennox (Dixie Egerickx) is left orphaned when her parents are killed . She is sent back to England to live on her uncle Archibald Craven's (Colin Firth) estate. He is very distant due to the loss of his wife ten years before. She is selfish and unhappy until she discovers two secrets on her uncle's state. It is a fairly isolated existence, and she has to find things to keep herself occupied. Neglected once again, she begins exploring the estate and discovers a garden that has been locked and neglected. Aided by one of the servants' brother, she starts restoring it, and eventually discovers some more of the manor's secrets. She also finds a sickly young cousin named Colin Craven (Edan Hayhurst). Unlock Your Imagination !. The Key To The Most Unusual Picture Of The Year...!

A tender fairy tale narrating how Mary finds a walled garden in her uncle's gloomy mansion and how with it and with the help of fantasy, she manages to live a wonderful adventure with her sickly cousin and a new friend. With well-judged interpretations played straight, and topical subtexts, this kiddies' film no age limit on its potential audience. The magical story of little Mary is a classic of British children's literature. The author Francis Hodgson Burnett is also the writer of other novels for young people that have also been adapted to the big screen: The little lord and The princess.

The timeless tale of a special place where magic, hope, and love grow. A good work of beauty, poetry and deep mystery, and watching it is like entering for a time into a closed world where one's destiny may be discovered. Starring Dixie Egerickx gives sympathetic acting as the young British girl born and raised in India loses her neglectful parents, being sent back to England to live on her uncle . Adding two veteran actors Colin Firth as the surly and unsympathetic uncle, and Julie Walters as the bossy governess of the gloomy mansion. In Burnett's book "The Secret Garden," Mary's father is related to Colin's mother. Also, they were not twins. The revision of having Mary's and Colin's mothers as identical twins and Mary's resemblance to her mother, therefore reminding Archie Craven of his late wife, was first seen in this film and repeated with El jardín secreto (2020). Written by Jack Thorne (Enola Holmes) and well directed by Mark Munden . This director Munden has worked both cinema and TV such as : The Mark of Cain, The Crimson Petal and the White, Some dogs bite, The courtesan, The third day, Black sails, Electric Dreams. National Treaure, Quantico, among others. His television production of Vanity Fair received 6 BAFTA nominations and won 3 other major prizes while Touching Evil for ITV received nominations for Best Series from both BAFTA and the Royal Television Socie(Utopia).

There are various versions of this classic story from Frances HodHodgon Burnett, both, cinema and TV : 1949 by Fred M Wilcox with Margaret O'Brien, Dean Stockwell, Herbert Marshall, Gladys Cooper. 1984 by Katrina Murray with Sarah Andrews, David Patterson. 1987 with Gennie James, Barret Oliver, Michael Hordern, Derek Jacobi, Billie Whilelaw , Colin Firth. 1993 by Agnieszka Holland with Kate Maberly, Andrew Knott, John Lynch.

If you've never read the book or seen the earlier films, you'll probably think, like my husband, that this is quite good. As someone else has said, why didn't they just make a completely different film instead of changing so much of the original story?

The cinematography is excellent.. Their acting wasn't lazy. Most of them had soul and believable. Better than the 2017 version, not better than the 1993 / 1975 version -btw, the animated version was also good tho. For fans of fantasy/adventure , give this a watch.👍

I was actually liking this movie, until every other scene looked like a weird hallucination that Mary had. It started to seem incredibly random. They took out all the novel's world-building & replaced it with cgi. While beautiful, it wasn't very coherent. Changing the movie's timeline to the 40's didnt seem necessary other than being different to the other adaptations.