Didn't capture the spirit of the novel

cvamag

As with all adaptations of Little Women, we are rarely satisfied because we definitely imagined ourselves as Jo while reading it. But the 1994 version assayed some of our fears by capturing the truly wholesome and inspiring spirit of Louisa May Alcott's masterpiece. This version unfortunately falls short by miles. I do not know if it was for the purpose of 'modernising' the story (which is completely unnecessary given that the book in itself is timeless); or if it was just in a plain rush of creativity that the writers and creators felt the need to dwell on the parts that are barely -if not at all- mentioned in the novel. They decided to. focus on parts that can cause the viewer to go- "Wait, does that happen in the book? I must check it up"; and completely ignore those that are quite crucial to the flow of the story- i.e. the receiving of the piano by Beth, the coming home of Father, the development of Jo and Freidrich's relationship,etc. The same also occurs in the 1994 movie, but at least the characters or story are not compromised. It can be said that this adaptation repeats two crucial mistakes from the 1949 version: one, the makers assumed that all viewers must have read the novel and can fill in the gaps themselves, so shifting focus randomly causes no harm. Second, and most surprisingly, the whole series- the last episode in particular- seems rushed; as if the writers scrambled to include all relevant details from 'Good Wives', while allowing no time for the viewer to realize that years have actually passed in the course of that one episode. There are moments from 'Good Wives' that are incredibly tender and solemn, and that require more time than a minute to sink in and truly envelop the reader/viewer. But honestly speaking, no past version has also succeeded in allotting adequate time for the second part of the book. I suppose expectations were higher for this version on that front, given that it had to fill up some 3 hours of screen time.
The actors do their best with the given script, but they too did not have the time they needed to make a large enough impact. In my opinion, Annes Elwy as Beth gives the most sincere performance of the four sisters. The secondary characters are also admirable. But again, due to the course of the script, Marmee appears much more strict than in the novel; Amy too childish, with her transformation not captured fully; Meg is again, a bit immature; and parts where Jo gives in to her emotions are completely written out.
There are crucial and defining moments of this beloved novel that contribute so much to why we love it that have been, unfortunately, ignored. Given the scale of the opportunity the makers had to truly bring the story to justice, it is disappointing that they failed in too many aspects.
Needless to say, fans of the 1994 adaptation need not worry, it still remains the best one so far.

score 3/10

cvamag 27 May 2018

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw4179741/