a little princess movie review

A LITTLE PRINCESS

What You Need To Know:

(Ro, B) Romantic worldview with moral elements.

More Detail:

Every once in a while a movie comes along that so innocently touches the heart as to become a classic. Such is A LITTLE PRINCESS, the story of a wealthy, precious and precocious little girl, Sarah Crewe and her adventures at Miss Minchin’s School for Girls. It is also the tale of her father’s separation from her by the horrors of war, her time living as an orphan and their subsequent triumphant reunion. Raised in the jungles of India, young Sara lives in a world filled with exotic experiences and an adoring father, who he is forced to leave her at the boarding school while he goes to fight in W.W.I. When he is reported killed, Sara is reduced to poverty until a miracle happens.

A LITTLE PRINCESS is a very good technical production. Casting is impeccable; every character is memorable. The story (taken from the family favorite by the same name) is well written, and the cinematography is at times breathtaking. The acting performances are simply delightful. In this movie, magic (“believing in what you want and yet cannot see”) is portrayed as somewhat similar to what the Bible calls faith. This is a child’s innocent representation of a source of hope in the midst of an otherwise hopeless situation. As such, it should not be faulted. All ends well in this well-crafted adventure movie which could well become a family classic.

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• Warner Bros.

Summary A young girl must rely on her wits and imagination when she is separated from her soldier father and sent to a strict boarding school. [Warner Bros.]

Directed By : Alfonso Cuarón

Written By : Frances Hodgson Burnett, Richard LaGravenese, Elizabeth Chandler

Where to Watch

Liesel matthews.

Eleanor Bron

Miss minchin.

Liam Cunningham

Capt. crewe, prince rama.

Rusty Schwimmer

Amelia minchin, arthur malet, charles randolph.

Vanessa Chester

Errol sitahal, heather deloach, darcie bradford.

Rachael Bella

Alexandra rea-baum.

Camilla Belle

Lauren blumenfeld, kelsey mulrooney, kaitlin cullum, alison moir, princess sita, time winters, frances (milkman), lomax study, monsieur dufarge.

Vincent Schiavelli

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A Little Princess review

Of all the artistic fruits of the baby-boom laborers now running Hollywood, one of the sweetest is the tenderness being bestowed on movie scripts that spring from childhood themes and stories. Steven Spielberg has long tapped the well of boyhood fantasy, of course, but now we’re seeing something remarkable: the literature of girlhood, translated with a wonderful modern verve — and with glorious results. Last winter, I heard more excited adult endorsement for Little Women than for a festival of vampire movies. This spring, I promise you, the grown-up-girl-on-the-street recommendation will be that you must see A Little Princess .

You really must, you know: Mexican-born Alfonso Cuaron’s evocation of the great girls’ novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett (who also wrote The Secret Garden ) is magical. The story is about Sara Crew, the beautiful, rich little girl raised in India by her handsome, adoring widowed father (a Freudian dream come true!), who is sent to a harsh victorian-style boarding school in New York when her Papa goes off to World War I. For various reasons I won’t spoil for newcomers, Sara suffers terribly — the headmistress is a perfectly mean spinster — but through it all, she never loses sight of her own loveliness, or of the loveliness available in imagination (a successful psychoanalysis come true!). A Little Princess is lyrical, liberated by a sense of freedom quite modern in its buoyancy. Like Gillian Armstrong’s Little Women , it renovates a classic tale without sacrificing heritage.

About the only actor you’re likely to recognize is the redoubtable Eleanor Bron ( Women in Love ) as the awful headmistress, and she’s grand. But so are Liesel Matthews as Sara and Liam Cunningham as her Papa. All the little girls are princesses here; all the costumes and sets are opulently gorgeous. The script, by Richard LaGravenese and Elizabeth Chandler, is simple but never simpering; the music, by Patrick Doyle, shimmers. There are moments in A Little Princess — particularly Cuaron’s Indian play-within-the-play, which is nearly avant-garde in its conception — when you may just want to clap from pleasure. My advice to you is: Go ahead, you’re a grown-up. A

• United Kingdom

A Little Princess : 20 Years Later

Looking back at a little princess , 20 years later, more from movies, r29 original series.

A Little Princess Review

09 Feb 1996

A Little Princess

This screen adaptation of Frances Hodgson Burnett's second most famous book (after The Secret Garden) flopped big-time Stateside, bowled over by a string of expensive but less competent blockbusters. Which is a shame, because a film as beautifully made and downright enjoyable as this one has true universal appeal.

Having adjusted to a life of luxury in India with her widowed pop, imaginative rich kid Sara Crewe (Matthews) is packed off to an exclusive boarding school in New York after World War I breaks out and Daddy is drafted into the army. After becoming a favourite with the other girls thanks to some surreptitious night-time story-telling sessions, the school fees stop arriving when her father is reportedly killed, leaving the unfortunate Sara to be banished to the attic by wicked headmistress Miss Minchin (Bron) and forced into a life of servitude.

While those familiar with Burnett's book may be a mite peeved by certain liberties taken with the storyline - most notably whisking the setting across the pond from its previous London location - the rest can't fail to be utterly captivated. Mexican director Cuaron casts a magical, fairy-tale glow over the storyline, decking everything, except for a series of stunning day-glo fantasy sequences, in verdant tones, and leaving no sentimental or comic outlet uncharted. The young, largely female cast (especially the appealingly big-eyed Matthews) mercifully manage to transcend the barrier between cute and irritating, although it's Bron's starchy, seething schoolmarm who steals the show.

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A Little Princess Parent Guide

It's the early 1900's, and Liesel Matthews plays Sara Crewe, the daughter of a wealthy British businessman. Her father leaves for the war, and she is left under the cold stare of Headmistress Minchin.

Release date May 10, 1995

Run Time: 97 minutes

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The guide to our grades, parent movie review by rod gustafson.

It’s the early 1900’s, and Liesel Matthews plays Sara Crewe, the daughter of a wealthy British businessman. Her father leaves for the war, and she is left under the cold stare of Headmistress Minchin, the owner of a girls’ school, who can only tolerate Sara’s popularity and optimism by remembering the money the girl contributes to her purse.

In the midst of her trials Sara often finds comfort by retreating into a world of imaginary fairy tales from India, the country where she and her father lived before she came to the New York boarding school. (These sequences may be a little frightening for very young viewers.) When she discovers sharing her stories also helps other lonely students, her true selfless nature shines. Much to the chagrin of Miss Mitchin, Sara proves that being a princess has more to do with moral fiber than circumstances.

The beautiful cinematography of this film skilfully contrasts warm and cold colors to emphasise the changing moods. But I was disappointed when the scriptwriters chose to force this wonderful story to fit the Hollywood mold, which demands (especially from children’s movies) simple good and bad guy characters, a happy ending, and revenge. Miss Minchin’s retribution is neither believable nor necessary, and the inclusion of this one tiny scene is like a flaw in an otherwise diamond of a film.

About author

Rod Gustafson

A little princess rating & content info.

Why is A Little Princess rated G? A Little Princess is rated G by the MPAA

This additional information about the movie’s content is taken from the notes of various Canadian Film Classification boards:

Infrequent portrayals of corpses in a war context, with little detail shown.

- Infrequent portrayals of frightening monsters in a fantasy context.

- Infrequent mild profanity.

Page last updated July 17, 2017

A Little Princess Parents' Guide

How did Sara’s attitude about her difficult living conditions help to make the situation more bearable? Likewise, how does Miss Minchin’s attitude contribute to her unhappiness even though her circumstances are good?

The conclusion of this movie harks back to the days of the Hays Production Code (see Ratings Under Pressure in our Big Picture section). Introduced during the 1930’s but replaced with the current rating system in the late 60’s, the code insisted that the bad guy meet with his just rewards. Could Miss Minchin have learned her lesson any other way?

If your family enjoys A Little Princess, look in your library for the Frances Hodgson Burnett book that the movie was based upon. Your children will be amazed at how much can change between a novel and a screenplay.

Related home video titles:

Frances Hodgson Burnett has written several children’s stories, and often includes English characters that have lived in India. Her story, The Secret Garden has also been made into a movie.

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A little princess.

• Parents say (18)
• Kids say (31)

Based on 18 parent reviews

harrowing scenes from the first world war trenches

Report this review, wonderful story full of magic.

This title has:

Intense, sad, not for littles

Good—but note language, great movie with heavy themes, best movie for kids, not for young ones who get scared easily, disappointing adaption.

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A little princess.

1995 Directed by Alfonso Cuarón

Every girl everywhere is a princess.

When her father enlists to fight for the British in WWI, young Sara Crewe goes to New York to attend the same boarding school her late mother attended. She soon clashes with the severe headmistress, Miss Minchin, who attempts to stifle Sara's creativity and sense of self- worth.

Liesel Matthews Eleanor Bron Liam Cunningham Rusty Schwimmer Vanessa Lee Chester Rachael Bella Camilla Belle Kelsey Mulrooney Lauren Blumenfeld Vincent Schiavelli Time Winters Arthur Malet Heather DeLoach Alexandra Rea-Baum Juliana Harkavy Taylor Fry Darcie Bradford Alison Moir Kaitlin Cullum Pushpa Rawal Helen Greenberg Peggy Miley Judith Drake Chris Ellis David Fresco Will Blomquist Robert P. Cohen Lomax Study Errol Sitahal

Director Director

Alfonso Cuarón

Additional Directing Add. Directing

Producers producers.

Mark Johnson Dalisa Cohen

Executive Producers Exec. Producers

Alan C. Blomquist Barry Levinson Amy Ephron

Writers Writers

Richard LaGravenese Elizabeth Chandler

Original Writer Original Writer

Frances Hodgson Burnett

Casting Casting

Jill Greenberg Sands

Editors Editors

Steven Weisberg Evelyn Purwins

Cinematography Cinematography

Emmanuel Lubezki

Camera Operators Camera Operators

Chris Hayes Kris Krosskove

Production Design Production Design

Art direction art direction.

Tom Duffield

Set Decoration Set Decoration

Cheryl Carasik

Stunts Stunts

Charles Croughwell

Composer Composer

Patrick Doyle

Sound Sound

Richard Beggs Hugo Weng Michael Herbick Bob Newlan Ken S. Polk Michael J. Benavente Simon Coke Mark Pappas Steve Richardson

Costume Design Costume Design

Judianna Makovsky

Makeup Makeup

Julie Hewett Robert Norin

Hairstyling Hairstyling

Fríða Aradóttir Bonnie Clevering

Warner Bros. Pictures Warner Bros. Family Entertainment Baltimore Pictures Mark Johnson Productions

Primary Language

Spoken languages.

English French

Releases by Date

10 may 1995, 09 feb 1996, 21 feb 1996, 19 nov 1997, releases by country.

• Theatrical TP
• Theatrical AA

Netherlands

• Theatrical AL
• Theatrical U
• Theatrical G

97 mins   More at IMDb TMDb Report this page

Popular reviews

Review by Lucy ★★★★ 6

me as a small child, sobbing: why is this movie so good? me now, seeing the names alfonso cuaron and emmanuel lubezki in the credits: That's Why

Review by sydney ★★★★ 2

happy father's day to the dads giving their daughters the confidence to stand up for what's right, be kind and open-hearted, to crawl on a narrow board in the rain to a window across the street several stories up and climb back up when they're about to fall.

Review by Branson Reese

*this comes on TV during a sleepover and me and my boys start watching it as a joke* *within minutes we are absolutely captivated* *many of us are teary-eyed when the credits roll* *several poignant moments of silence pass before we start goading my friend Josh into shaving his ass*

Review by Madison 🎭 ★★★½

“I am a princess. All girls are. Even if they live in tiny old attics, even if they dress in rags, even if they aren’t pretty or smart or young. They’re still princesses, all of us.”

THAT’S EMPOWERMENT BITCH

Review by Taylor Williams ★★★★ 4

I’m actually kind of astonished. I expected this to very much not be my thing, even with Cuarón goggles on, but I regret doubting my boy. What a shame Cuarón and his team can’t make every movie ever. I love what he’s doing right now, but the fact that this creativity and filmmaking skill is absent from so many children’s movies does make me wish he would do more, or at least that more people would take some notes from him. What we have on our hands is a fairy tell in every sense bursting with creativity, that at the same time has refined wide interiors that at times rival Barry Lyndon (yeah I said it), scenes that look ripped…

Review by 🌻 lindsay 🌻 ★★★★★ 1

hitting your bully back with “did your father not love you” goes hard

Review by Sally Jane Black 3

One of those films where the message is strong (imagination, caring for everyone) but the execution centers whiteness and privilege in a way that sidelines the non-white characters in a patronizing and isolating manner. Exotifying the stories and characters of India and treating the Black girl as an almost silent side character both make it hard to like this film despite moments of joy or empathy. This feels like The Secret Garden but less beautiful and more Dickensian.

Review by Audrey ★★★★★

this is the most pure and the most good

Review by Quintin ★★★½ 4

Sometimes I feel like children's films need to be more punishing of their villains.

There is a literal monster of a child in this film. She is constantly saying "spend the whole day watching me comb my hair", "don't touch anything of mine, your poor", and "ew your black, don't talk to me".

She is fucking terrible and at the end of the movie she hugs the good people and all is forgiven. No movie! I want her dead or at the very least have the other kids punch her in the throat.

Kill the fucking racists you cowards!!!

Review by DreamScape40 ★★★★

Couldn't remember if I've seen this one or not. Beautiful story

The purity of imagination

Review by bean 🐝🌻 ★★★★★

this movie invented female friendships

Review by Rafael "Parker!!" Jovine ★★★★ 5

While navigating through these lists on Letterboxd, there comes the time where you can't help but wondering why is such movie on the list. What makes it so special? But then there are times where the opposite happens, and you can trace the movie to the very roots of the director (in this case Guillermo del Toro) and its sensibilities.

A follow up to his directorial debut, and his breakthrough into the Hollywood and International market - Alfonso Cuaron's loosely based adaptation of the eponymous Children's novel does a great job playing with the magical and realism, balancing them in a way where they mostly feel as one.

Liesel Matthews debut performance is really good as she does a great…

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Movie Review – A Little Princess

A Little Princess (1995) Written by Richard LaGravenese & Elizabeth Chandler Directed by Alfonso Cuaron

When I watch films intended for families or children, I always focus on the theme or lesson being communicated. I think, as an elementary teacher, I want to know what this picture is telling kids about the world and humanity. I’d heard very positive things about A Little Princess, mainly from the perspective that Alfonso Cuaron did a great job directing. From that technical perspective, the film is well done, save for some poorly aged computer special effects. But I actually found the lesson of the picture to be deeply troubling yet very much in line with many of the films that come out of Hollywood for kids.

Sara Crewe is the daughter of British Captain Richard Crewe and enjoys living in India with him. When the drums of war begin banging, Richard must follow them and deposits Sara at a boarding school in New York City that her American mother attended. Sara’s father spares no expense in getting her the most elegant accommodations in the school, which draws the ire of the headmistress, Miss Minchin. Minchin holds her tongue until word that Captain Crewe is believed killed in the war, and his assets have been seized by the British government. This leaves Sara penniless and sends her from luxury to working as a scullery maid alongside Becky, a Black girl her age who lives in the attic and isn’t spoken to by anyone.

On the surface, A Little Princess seems like a harmless children’s fable about how all little girls are special and good wins in the end. However, the way the film addresses poverty is deeply troubling. Sara is a character who survives through sheer serendipity. The circumstances that lead to her freedom returning at the end aren’t really because of her own actions but through a matter of chance. In the end, she brings Becky along with her lifting her companion out of poverty, and they go off to live in England or India, presumably happily ever after. A few scenes earlier in the film create dissonance with this ending that really got under my skin.

Sara sees the suffering Becky must endure as a Black child who is also poor. She has her humanity stripped from her with the rule that she not be directly spoken to, only orders barked from Minchin. Sara witnesses Becky’s living conditions in the attic and hears from the little girl about losing hope until she heard Sara’s fantasies she told the other girls. There’s definitely something to unpack about Black people only having hope given to them in the form of a white savior, but that’s still not the thing that got under my skin. It’s definitely a problem but not the big one.

Later, Sara sees a chimney sweep get chewed out and left without payment by Minchin. We can see in Sara’s eyes she empathizes. Another moment has her given money by a boy on the street who thinks she is a beggar. The little girl rushes to a nearby bakery and purchases a treat. Sara glimpses a mother and her daughters selling flowers on the street and feels terrible for them. She gives the food to them instead. We see what a giving person she is even when she has so little. But then let’s go back to that ending. Sara has her wealth restored and leaves New York City for parts unknown to resume living her life of luxury. Do you see my problem with this?

For all the acknowledgment Sara gives to the poor when she finally reverses her lousy fortune, she only extends charity to a single person, Becky. Minchin ends up a chimney sweep being bossed around by the boy she cheated earlier, and the audience is meant to be please that the headmistress has ended up there. But think about that for a moment. The film suddenly presents being poor as justifiable punishment for people who are mean to you. But the whole rest of the picture, the poor were presented as those to be pitied and have charity extended to them. My personal reading of the film is that it doesn’t seek to communicate that the poor can be helped. I definitely put myself on the far left spectrum of politics, and this film reads like a typical centrist liberal take on poverty. You should feel bad when you see poor people suffering, but in the end, there is nothing you can materially do to help them, save maybe adopting one child.

We know that Sara and her father have what is implied to be a vast amount of wealth and so they could do something. I expected they would buy the school and turn it into something to help the poor. Nope. They leave. Sara will forget about what she saw, only focus on how she and Becky are “princesses.” This is the refrain that got under my skin. I have no problem with children who want to have regal fantasies, but when she tells Becky she is a princess too, it falls flat. That’s great, Becky can imagine she is a princess, but she is blocked due to her skin color, gender, and class from escaping a lifetime nightmare. The film circumvents that by having Becky be chosen to escape. But what about all the other Beckys in New York City at the time? I guess they have to hope a little rich girl comes into their lives and likes them.

I think the themes of the picture are incredibly murky and don’t stand up to more in-depth scrutiny. Will a child analyze it this deeply? Probably not, but children do search for meaning in the media they consume, and this movie has the potential to leave kids really confused and possibly down the wrong path. It is an incredibly technically beautiful movie, but any examination below the surface left me feeling incredibly unsettled.

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Little Princess, A (United States, 1995)

A "family movie" is often loosely defined as a motion picture that, aimed at children, is likely to bore parents to tears. Numerous examples leap to mind, most of them from Walt Disney Studios, a production company that holds the curious distinction of making animated features that are more mature than live-action ones. However, A Little Princess isn't from Disney, it's from Warner Brothers. Most importantly, it's not only suitable for consumption by those over age 10, it's actually enjoyable.

The film is based on the popular 1888 children's book Sara Crewe by Frances Hodgson Burnett. This is the third filmed version, following 1917's A Little Princess with Mary Pickford and 1939's, which featured Shirley Temple. While not as good as 1993's The Secret Garden (another movie based on a Hodgson story), this new version of A Little Princess can more than hold its own in a sea of overly-commercial attempts to grab children's hard-earned money. Unfortunately, since it actually takes the time to develop characters and a story while eschewing explosions, it's unlikely to garner much at the box office. Witness the performance of similar recent films if you doubt that.

The main character is Sara, played delightfully by newcomer Liesel Matthews. The motherless girl has grown up in India, a land where "the air is so hot you can taste it." In fact, the scenes there are filmed with warmth and color to emphasize the beauty as seen through Sara's eyes. The year is 1914, and World War One is in full swing. When Sara's father (played by Liam Cunningham), a British army captain, decides to rejoin his regiment, he deposits Sara in an exclusive girls' school in New York City. Run by the nasty Miss Minchin (Eleanor Bron), this is a place that stifles creativity in favor of etiquette and strict rules. Sara is immediately unhappy there, but her fortunes go from bad to worse when her father is declared dead in Europe and all his assets are seized by the Indian government. Sara is left penniless and forced to work as a servant to earn her keep.

A Little Princess is an engaging tale about self-respect and the importance of imagination. In India, Sara is told that "all girls are princesses", and this is a lesson she clings to when forced to mop floors and serve meals. Even dressed in rags and living in a bare attic room, she is special -- and so are all the others around her, regardless of whether they're nice, snobbish, or bossy. Princess or pauper, there's no difference in Sara's eyes.

She also accepts magic. In her father's words, "Magic has to be believed -- that's the only way it's real." Her stories about Princess Sita and Prince Rama not only enchant her schoolmates, but they give Sara an escape route once her father has been declared dead. She uses fantasy as a tonic for her bleak reality without ever losing sight of what's happening around her. Together with her friend Becky (Vanessa Lee Chester), she ventures to amazing places without leaving her room.

To be sure, A Little Princess has a few missteps. For one thing, Miss Minchin could have been played with less villainy, but younger viewers will probably appreciate the one-dimensional nastiness. There are also a few moments of overt sweetness, but these are easily forgiven. Actually, there's very little this movie has to apologize for -- it's the rare kind of picture that can be enjoyed by viewers of eight, eighteen, and eighty.

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• (There are no more better movies of this genre)
• Miracle on 34th Street (1994)
• (There are no more better movies of Liesel Matthews)
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• (There are no more better movies of Eleanor Bron)
• (There are no more worst movies of Eleanor Bron)
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• (There are no more worst movies of Liam Cunningham)

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A Little Princess

• Sara is sent to a strict boarding school after her father enlists in WWI. When he is presumed dead, the headmistress, knowing she will not receive any more money, forces the girl to become a servant.
• When her father enlists to fight for the British in WWI, young Sara Crewe goes to New York to attend the same boarding school her late mother attended. She soon clashes with the severe headmistress, Miss Minchin, who attempts to stifle Sara's creativity and sense of self-worth. Sara's belief that "every girl's a princess" is tested to the limit, however, when word comes that her father was killed in action and his estate has been seized by the British government. — James Meek <[email protected]>
• A privileged, free-spirited young girl tries to adapt to life in a strict boarding school in this charming, critically acclaimed children's fantasy. Adapting a novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett, also the author of The Secret Garden, the film shifts the story's setting to World War I. 10 year-old Sara Crewe (Liesel Matthews) has been left in a respected New York City boarding school while her British father heads overseas to fight. Filled with wild stories and a playful attitude, the unconventional Sara becomes popular with her classmates but quickly comes into conflict with the harsh headmistress, Miss Minchin (Eleanor Bron), who attempts to quash the child's individuality. The young girl's situation takes a serious turn for the worse when she unexpectedly receives word of her father's death, and, suddenly impoverished, is forced into life as a servant. Treated as a lesser class of person by her former companions, Sara instead befriends her fellow servants and turns to the power of imagination in order to maintain hope for the future.
• In 1914, young Sara Crewe (Liesel Matthews) lives in India with her wealthy widowed father, Ralph Crewe (Liam Cunningham), a captain in the British Army. Immersed in Indian culture, Sara absorbs the many stories and folktales she hears from a local woman, Maya (Pushpa Rawal), from whom she adopts the mantra "all women are princesses." Her circumstances change abruptly with the onset of World War I, which requires Captain Crewe to return to the army barracks. He enrolls Sara at her late mother's girlhood boarding school, Miss Minchin's School for Girls, in New York City. As they sail for America, Sara dreads her impending separation from her beloved father, but is reminded of his devotion when he presents her with a heart-shaped locket which he had given to Sara's mother when they married. The locket contains photographs of Sara's parents, and it instantly becomes her most treasured possession. After arriving in bustling New York, Captain Crewe takes Sara to her new school. They are greeted by the warm and cheerful Amelia Minchin (Rusty Schwimmer), the younger sister of the school's headmistress and director, Miss Maria Minchin (Eleanor Bron). The senior Minchin, whose demeanor is in sharp contrast to Amelia's, greets the Crewes with honeyed mannerisms clearly influenced by Captain Crewe's wealth. Captain Crewe had spared no expense in ensuring his daughter's comfort. He secured the school's largest bedroom suite for Sara, had her beautiful clothes and toys shipped over from India, and promised large monthly payments to cover any excess utilities. Miss Minchin gives them a tour of the facilities and introduces Sara to the other pupils during their French lesson. Miss Minchin notices the locket around Sara's neck and attempts, rather sharply, to remove it, asserting that jewelry is against school rules. Sara, however, insists on keeping it, respectfully promising to only wear it in her room during personal time. To say their goodbyes before Captain Crewe's ship departs, Sara and her father are shown into Sara's splendid suite, which is fully prepared and decorated with treasures from India. Captain Crewe presents Sara with a new doll, Emily, whom he says possesses the magical power to act as messenger between them while he is away. He encourages her to believe in magic, for it must be believed to be real. Sara tearfully watches her father's carriage disappear down the road as she sits in her window, cradling Emily. Sara's first morning at school does not go smoothly. Not being used to adhering to a schedule, she is late for breakfast and is distracted when she sees her mother's photograph on the wall with other alumni. Miss Minchin, already viewing Sara as spoiled and overindulged, dislikes her further when Monsieur Dufarge (Lomax Study), the French teacher, praises Sara's fluent grasp of the language while still despairing of Miss Minchin's accent and pronunciation. Sara is chided for "talking at the table" after thanking the servant girl, Becky (Vanessa Lee Chester), for serving her porridge. Later, in a letter to her father, Sara writes that the school rules are strange to her, but she will endeavor to obey them. Once the enigma of the wealthy new classmate wears off, the other girls begin to approach Sara. A haughty older girl, Lavinia (Taylor Fry), makes no secret of her disdain for Sara's kind nature and passion for storytelling, but the other girls are entranced by Sara's mental library of Indian sagas. Sara forms a close bond with Ermengarde (Heather DeLoach), a bespectacled misfit who endures harsh treatment from both Miss Minchin and Lavinia. Sara's stories and natural empathy give her the ability to calm Lottie (Kelsey Mulrooney), the youngest pupil, who is prone to loud and frequent tantrums. Amelia Minchin, who was always charged by her sister to handle Lottie's fits, had always been unsuccessful in her attempts, and is immensely relieved that Sara is so effective. Sara is curious about the servant girl, Becky, to whom the students are expressly forbidden to speak. While the other girls seem to grasp that Becky's being African American "means something" in their society, Sara, having grown up away from American culture, sees no logical reason to avoid Becky. She sneaks up to the attic, where Becky sleeps in pitiful conditions, and witnesses Becky icing her bruised and blistered feet. Becky notices Sara and, startled, tells her they will both be in trouble if Sara comes to the attic again. Sara, saddened by Becky's situation, later leaves her a gift of splendid fur-trimmed slippers and a note of friendship. It soon becomes habit for most of the girls to sneak into Sara's room at night to listen to her stories. She had been telling them, in installments, the saga of Princess Sita, her husband Prince Rama, and the evil ten-headed demon who kept them apart. The girls know it is against the rules to leave their rooms at night, and Miss Minchin's dislike for Sara's imaginative worldview is now obvious to all the pupils, so Sara encourages them to be quiet during the stories and to leave if there is danger of being found out. The absence of her father is still weighing heavily on Sara, who clings to her doll, Emily, for comfort. She and Ermengarde both feel dejected when parents of the other pupils come to visit the school. Ermengarde's father had virtually abandoned her at school, attempting to force her to adapt to an environment that was damaging to her happiness and self-esteem. Sara attempts to cheer her up, but is saddened to watch the sea of happy mothers and fathers reunited with their daughters. With a flash of hope, Sara sees a man in military uniform and follows him outside, but her spirits are dashed when she sees he is not Captain Crewe. To celebrate Sara's birthday, as per Captain Crewe's instructions, no expense was to be spared. The girls enjoy a lavish cake, and dance in the parlor while Amelia and Ermengarde play a cheerful rag on the piano. Amid the festivities, Miss Minchin receives an unexpected visit from Captain Crewe's solicitor, Mr. Barrow (Vincent Schiavelli), who informs her in private that Captain Crewe is unaccounted for and presumed dead. As such, the British government has seized his fortune and will allow no more payments to Miss Minchin for Sara's care. As she had been expecting a rather large payment for the current month, Miss Minchin is furious and abruptly stops the birthday party, sending all the girls to their rooms except Sara. With little effort at sympathy, Miss Minchin tells Sara that her father is dead, that she has no family nor money, and she must now forfeit all her valuable belongings to Miss Minchin to cover the unpaid debt. In addition, Sara is demoted from student to servant, and is sent to the attic with a drab black frock, one book, a candle, and Emily, the one luxurious possession she was permitted to keep. Miss Minchin snatches the locket from Sara's neck, threatens to have her arrested if she withholds another valuable, and leaves her alone in the leaky attic. Sara, who had been in a horrified daze since she had heard the news, finally breaks down and weeps for the loss of her father. Sara's new life beings at five o' clock every morning, when she reports to the kitchen to help the cook with breakfast. She now serves porridge to her former classmates, whom Miss Minchin has forbidden any communication with. Ermengarde, Lottie, and her other friends are clearly distressed by Sara's plight. Sara and Becky become close friends and visit with each other through a broken plank in the shared wall of their attic rooms. Becky encourages Sara to continue telling her stories and believing in magic, but Sara is too depressed to embrace her former optimism and imagination. In the large townhouse next door to the school lives Mr. Randolph (Arthur Malet), a wealthy, elderly, wheelchair-bound man whose son, John, recently left to fight in the army. Mr. Randolph's manservant is an imposing Indian gentleman called Ram Dass (Errol Sitahal), who is constantly accompanied by a playful pet monkey. While shopping for groceries in the market square, Sara witnesses two army officers deliver the news of John's disappearance to Mr. Randolph, who is led inside weeping by Ram Dass. During her next market trip, Sara is handed a coin by a kindly boy, whose mother immediately scolds him for giving his money to a "beggar." Sara uses the coin to buy herself a bun from the bakery, but before consuming it, she sees a shabbily-dressed woman with three young children attempting to sell flowers on the street. Sara gives her treat to one of the children, and their mother insists she have a flower in return, calling her a "princess" for her action. Feeling much sympathy for Mr. Randolph's situation, Sara threads the yellow rose through the handles of the old man's front door. With the aid of Becky's friendship, Sara begins to reclaim fragments of her former positive perspective, and even enjoys herself when the two girls play a vengeful prank on Miss Minchin after witnessing her be cruel to a young chimney sweep. She also develops a cordial relationship with Amelia, who confides in Sara her displeasure with her job and her sister's treatment of her. Sara coyly encourages Amelia to pursue a future with Francis (Time Winters), the milkman, with whom Amelia had been awkwardly flirting for some time. Meanwhile, Mr. Randolph is taken to an army hospital and asked to identify an anonymous injured soldier, whom the doctors thought might be the old man's missing son. The soldier, wearing bandages around his eyes and afflicted with memory loss, is not John Randolph, but Ram Dass persuades Mr. Randolph to take the man into his home to recuperate, reasoning that the stranger might know what happened to John. Ram Dass has also taken notice of the miserable conditions of Sara and Becky, as his room at the Randolph house is adjacent to their attic quarters. He and Sara form something of a silent friendship from their respective windows. Sara's friends concoct a daring scheme to retrieve Sara's locket from Miss Minchin's office. When Miss Minchin departs on an errand, Lottie throws a false tantrum to distract Amelia. Ermengarde and a few others sneak into the deserted office and quietly search for the locket, which is soon found in a desk drawer. To their horror, Miss Minchin returns early to fetch a forgotten glove, and the girls are nearly caught in the act. Fortunately, Becky distracts Miss Minchin long enough for the girls to escape to safety. That night, Sara's friends make a risky journey to the attic to return the locket to Sara, who is touched and deeply grateful. Their reunion is halted by the arrival of Miss Minchin, who furiously sends the pupils to their rooms before descending on Sara and Becky. Though Sara hides the locket before Miss Minchin can notice it, the fact that she had been caught interacting with school pupils results in harsh punishment. Miss Minchin tells Sara that for the entirety of the next day, Becky will be locked in her attic room while Sara performs both of their workloads, and neither of them will receive any food. She attempts to break Sara's spirit further by taunting Sara's resilient "princess" outlook, but Sara stands firm in her beliefs. Miss Minchin threatens to throw Sara out if she is found with any of the girls again, and storms out in tears of rage. Becky is miserable, seeing no hope for herself or Sara, as they await their punishments. Sara resorts to her imagination, suggesting that they eat an imaginary feast that night to stave off the next day's hunger. Becky eventually is persuaded, and the girls imagine themselves beautifully dressed and enjoying their favorite foods. Ram Dass witnesses their plight from the Randolph house. In the morning, Sara awakens to a miraculous sight: the attic is decked out for a banquet, with luxurious robes waiting for her and Becky, and a table laden with a magnificent breakfast. Ram Dass, through unknown and possibly mystical means, had granted the girls' wish. Fortified by her fantastic morning, Sara is able to endure the double workload that day. After sunset, Amelia sneaks out of a window and happily runs away with Francis the milkman. Miss Minchin, unaware of her sister's departure, finally notices the absence of Sara's locket in her desk drawer and immediately goes to the attic to confront the girl. Miss Minchin is shocked by Ram Dass's fine gifts, and accuses Sara of stealing them as well as the locket. Sara asserts her innocence, but still refuses to incriminate her friends. Miss Minchin furiously informs Sara that she is going to be arrested for theft, locks her and Becky in the attic again, and leaves to call the police. With a violent thunderstorm raging outside, Sara and Becky formulate a hasty and dangerous escape plan. They use a long, narrow wooden plank as a bridge between their attic window and the ledge of the Randolph house next door. Sara, terrified but determined, promises to return for Becky, and begins to make her way across. The beam is unsteady and made slippery from the relentless rain, and Sara is several floors above street level. Just as Sara reaches the opposite ledge, Miss Minchin arrives in the attic with the police, all of whom are frozen momentarily by the sight of Sara's escape. Miss Minchin orders the police to stop her, and Sara loses her balance, nearly falling to her death. She dangles from the ledge and manages to claw her way to safety, entering the upstairs window. Miss Minchin tells the police to go next door and find her, and to take Becky as well. Sara, drenched and shaken, wanders through Mr. Randolph's house. She is startled when she encounters a man alone in the drawing room, his eyes and upper face obscured by bandages. He senses her presence, and asks her name. Sara realizes with astonishment that this is her father, very much alive and safe. She rushes to embrace him, but though he is clearly affected by her emotion, he does not remember her. Sara desperately tries to awaken his memories, and grows more panicked as the police and Miss Minchin arrive at the front door. They demand entrance from Mr. Randolph, explaining that there is a runaway child in his house. Amid the chaos, Ram Dass stands silently by as policemen drag Sara, screaming, away from her father. As Sara is being taken to a waiting police vehicle, Ram Dass influences Captain Crewe to remove his bandages and see again. Captain Crewe's mind miraculously clears and he races to the street, shouting his daughter's name. Sara breaks free from the police and leaps into her father's arms as they both weep with joy. Ram Dass looks on, chuckling knowingly. On a sunny morning soon afterward, Ermengarde, Lottie, and the rest of the girls congregate on the school's front steps to bid farewell to Sara and Becky, who are returning to India to live with Captain Crewe. Sara leaves her doll, Emily, with her friends to act as messenger between them. After hugging Ermengarde, Sara is approached by Lavinia, who, to everyone's great surprise, embraces Sara with a genuine smile. The girls wave goodbye as Captain Crewe, Sara, and Becky depart in a carriage. Miss Minchin is removed from her lofty position at the school, and is reduced to working as an assistant to the young chimney sweep she had previously mistreated.

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Tv/streaming, collections, great movies, chaz's journal, contributors, little wing.

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The work of journalist Susan Orlean has been adapted to the big screen a few times, most notably in 2002 by Charlie Kaufman  for the Oscar-nominated rumination on the nature of writing itself, " Adaptation ." But even the girl power surfing film " Blue Crush ," also from 2002, had a unique rough and tumble charm to it. I wish I could say the same for "Little Wing," the most recent film inspired by Orlean's singular journalism. While the script from John Gatins , who wrote " Flight ," is mostly decent (there is some laughable dialogue peppered throughout), Dean Israelite's direction is so fussy, frenetic, and disjointed that it renders moot any charm the story may have once contained.

Set in Portland, Oregon, the film stars Brooklynn Prince , channeling the look and vibe of an early Kelly Macdonald, as an angsty 13-year-old girl named Kaitlyn, who blames all her bad behavior at school on the "emotional upheaval" of parents' recent divorce. Kaitlyn lives with her detective mother Maddie ( Kelly Reilly ) and her brother Matt (Simon Kahn), who has mostly gone silent in the wake of his family's disintegration. Unable to afford the $100K mortgage on their house (yet somehow still affording to send her kids to private school), Maddie has put the family home on the market. She also inexplicably allowed her co-worker to give Kaitlyn two young racing pigeons. 

Kaitlyn is unimpressed with the birds until her best friend Adam ( Che Tafari ) tells her about a pigeon racing enthusiast named Jaan ( Brian Cox ) who has a bird named the Granger who is worth $125 grand. The two kids then decide to steal the bird and sell it to the Russian pigeon mafia. Then, of course, Jaan tracks them down and the whole gang decides to take on the mafia and get the bird back. 

There's a lovely metaphor in the film about pigeons and home, established at the very beginning with a quote by Orlean on how racing pigeons "have a fixed, profound, and nearly incontrovertible sense of home." Kaitlyn is the pigeon, yet the reason she loves her home so much is never really established. What memories does she have there? What is it she loves so much about this house other than she's lived there her whole life? At least Matt questions her saying, "It was hard to grow up here sometimes." 

Other than a love of Bikini Kill, the character of Kailtyn is never fully formed beyond generic angst, with an occasional hint at some dark suicidal ideation. In fact, most of the characters are blank slates. Maddie is a cop in Portland, a city that has been riddled with police violence , yet that is never alluded to. Why Adam, a Black kid living in a post-Ferguson world, would offer to commit a crime with Kaitlyn solely to maybe get to French kiss her is wholly unbelievable. Cox does his best to imbue some genuine pathos into the role of Jaan, in what could have been a nice companion performance to Nicolas Cage ’s poetic work in the far superior Portland-set beloved animal heist gone awry film “Pig,” but then he's saddled with the late-film revelation that he's dying of cancer, which elicits groans rather than any added empathy.

All of this might have been shaped into something passable if it weren't for Israelite's incoherent direction. He hasn't shaken off the frenetic cartoon style that's en vogue for children's film (and which even then comes across as condescending towards kids).  As Israelite attempts to blend comedy, action, and drama, Anne Nikitin's score continually shifts between three divergent musical styles with absolutely no cohesion to blend them all together. Smash edits and other unnecessarily showy techniques overpower the cast's performances. Like a lot of films today, "Little Wing" is shot in an extreme widescreen, yet Israelite and cinematographer Jeff Cutter never fill the frame with anything interesting. 

At one point Kaitlyn disrupts a classroom presentation to spout the words from Kathleen Hana's Le Tigre song "Keep On Livin', repeating the lyrics "This is your time, this is your life and/You gotta keep on (Keep on livin!)" over and over. This should be a cathartic moment for the Kailtyn and the audience, yet the moment is undercut by Cutter's shoddy handheld camera and the treacly, over calibrated editing that tells the viewer how they should feel rather than just trusting Prince's performance to evoke their emotions. 

Worst of all is the way the pigeons are filmed. Pigeons are beautiful birds. Their plumage can sparkle, speckled with deep purple and grey and orange and teal hues. The Granger is described as having a white helmet head, and while the bird used does indeed fit that description, he never gets a close-up. Nor do Kaitlyn's new birds, Charlie Tickets and Juliet. During the film's final pigeon race scene, thousands of poorly CGI'd birds "fly" out into the dawn, surrounding Cox as he tips his hat to them. 

Cox deserves better. Prince deserves better. Orlean deserves better. Audiences deserve better. And, frankly, pigeons deserve better. 

On Paramount+ now.

Marya E. Gates

Marya E. Gates is a freelance film and culture writer based in Los Angeles and Chicago. She studied Comparative Literature at U.C. Berkeley, and also has an overpriced and underused MFA in Film Production. Other bylines include Moviefone, The Playlist, Crooked Marquee, Nerdist, and Vulture. 

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Little Wing (2024)

Rated PG-13

Brooklynn Prince as Kaitlyn

Che Tafari as Adam

Brian Cox as Jaan

Kelly Reilly as Maddie

Jeanine Jackson as Pat Litch

Lowell Deo as Ben Lasher

Ina Chang as Libby Lasher

Parker Hall as Ryan Fleming

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Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Little Wing’ on Paramount+, a Teen Dramedy Buoyed by Quality Brooklynn Prince and Brian Cox Performances

Where to stream:.

• Little Wing
• Brooklynn Prince

‘The Florida Project’ Ending Explained: The Meaning Behind That Disney World Ending

Stream it or skip it: ‘cocaine bear’ on prime video, a quasi-campfest that’s a new low in getting high, stream it or skip it: ‘settlers’ on vod, a sparse sci-fi drama set on the dreary and dusty mars frontier, stream it or skip it: ‘the turning’ on showtime, where mackenzie davis is stuck in a muddled film about a mansion full of ghosts.

Once again, a piece of Susan Orlean journalism becomes a movie in Little Wing ( now streaming on Paramount+ ), which Hollywoodizes her writing into a feelgood dramedy with a little bit of dark fringe. Fans of masterful indie The Florida Project will be happy to see Brooklynn Prince enjoying a starring role, playing an angsty teen who loves Bikini Kill and pigeons with equal aplomb, with Yellowstone ’s Kelly Reilly as her mother and eternal thespian Brian Cox playing her mentor in bird racing. In helming his first feature since 2017’s floppo Power Rangers reboot , director Dean Israelite has an excellent cast at his disposal, and even though he struggles to establish the tonal consistency of a somewhat complex story, it might be worth a watch anyway.

LITTLE WING : STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: We meet Kaitlyn (Prince) via voiceover that’s rather overwhelmingly in the Sullen Teen vein: “I guess everyone lies to themselves,” she says. “When was the last time I was happy?,” she says. “The school therapist said everyone feels overwhelmed. It’s normal. I’m feeling really normal right now,” she says. You get the picture. Her parents are divorcing, and the fallout is so: Her dad already has moved out. Her older brother Matt (Simon Khan) barely says a word anymore. Her mother (Reilly) can’t afford the house on her own, and is putting it up for sale. This last one is a real bone of contention for Kaitlyn, who doesn’t want to move. It might be the only thing she almost likes in this world, since she drips angst all over everything like a sappy tree sludging up the roof and gutters. She doesn’t want to do her school research project, she doesn’t want to fit in with her fellow eighth graders, she doesn’t want to participate in gym-class dodgeball so she just lets herself get beaned, and she doesn’t want to move. Life!

One night, Mom, who’s a police detective, invites her boss and his wife over for dinner. He gives Kaitlyn two racing pigeons, which is sweet, since she probably needs something to focus on besides her misery, but we pragmatists are all like, cool, they can’t afford the house, and now she has an expensive hobby! Now here’s the theory that she – and therefore we – learns about these pigeons: You let them go and they come back and nobody really understands how or why, but some experts believe they love their homes and bond tightly with them, and therefore always return. There’s the metaphor for you. Is Kaitlyn like a pigeon? Her brother insists that their house is now associated with the pain of their family falling apart. But she really really really doesn’t want to move, possibly because it’d be very difficult to take down all the anime and riot grrrl posters covering her walls. So yes, I think she’s like a pigeon, but it stops at her deep admiration for Kathleen Hanna, because I’ve yet to meet a pigeon who likes Kathleen Hanna.

In Kaitlyn’s research about racing pigeons, she comes across this guy Jaan (Cox), who found his pigeon niche and so mightily filled it, he’s the subject of entire magazine articles. He possesses a champion racing pigeon – the movie doesn’t really get into the details of pigeon racing, but I gleaned that pigeon people let their pigeons go and the fastest pigeon to return wins – dubbed The Granger, which is worth $120,000. Kaitlyn starts doing the math: It would take $100,000 to pay off the house. And this Jaan guy lives right here in Portland. All she has to do is recruit her bestie Adam (Che Tafari) to help her steal The Granger from Jaan’s rooftop pigeon sanctuary, then sell the pigeon to the “Russian pigeon mafia,” and it’s too bad that the movie never really leans into the inherent comedy of something so loony as the “Russian pigeon mafia.” As you’d fully expect, nothing goes quite as planned, but it at least inspires an Unusual Friendship between Kaitlynn and Jaan, who grants her some grace as a desperate and morally confused teen, and works with her instead of calling the cops. And as always happens in movies bearing the weight of overcalculated plots, this Unusual Friendship brings life lessons and wisdom and all the stuff that young Kaitlynn needs. Would she ever be able to come of age without it? I doubt it!

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: Well, Moxie paid better homage to Bikini Kill. As far as Orlean-derived films go — the movie’s screenplay was based on Orleans’ 2006 article in The New Yorker —  Little Wing has more in common with Blue Crush than Adaptation (partly because Adaptation has almost nothing in common with any other movie ever made). I also occasionally felt it leaning toward the substantial teen-angst insights of relatively recent coming-of-age masterpieces The Edge of Seventeen and Eighth Grade – purely Prince’s doing; more on that in a moment – but the screenplay just isn’t up to the task. 

Performance Worth Watching: Prince is absolutely worthy of a load-bearing role (here’s another reminder that her breakout in The Florida Project is revelatory), and seeing her hold her own across from a beloved vet like Cox is the highlight of the film.

Memorable Dialogue: This script likes to give Cox cliches to recite: “We’re all dying. Some of us are just doing it faster than everyone else.”

Sex and Skin: None.

Our Take: Little Wing never really finds its footing narratively, careening from understated comedy to cliched sentimentality and overheated melodrama, from awkward John Hughesish high-school social complexities to light neo-modern feminism and the stuff of midnight heist movies, with a heavy-duty teen-suicide subplot tossed in almost haphazardly. Which is to say, it’s un. Even. Two words. With periods. Israelite can’t find a happy medium between Cox Oscar clipping with welcome gravitas and Tafari channeling the broadly comic tones of a Disney sitcom. John Gatins’ screenplay doesn’t fully commit to the teen-diary narration, which feels extraneous and overly explanatory, flattening Kaitlyn’s character dynamic and preventing Prince from exploring her character nonverbally. It commits the cardinal sin of movies by telling instead of showing.  

Yet there’s a deeply endearing quality to Prince’s performance; she’s one of those performers who, when they cry, you can’t help but cry with them, and she delivers during a critical third-act scene that might’ve been high fructose corn syrup in the hands of other teen actors. She and Cox manage to overcome the clunky central metaphor (let’s not forget, Kaitlynn is like a pigeon), cliche landmines (a dying-of-cancer revelation) and a number of plot credibility issues (the plan to steal The Granger back from the “Russian pigeon mafia” is especially ridiculous, and not only because none of the characters even considers being quiet during the after-dark heist) and find some traction in their grandfather-granddaughter dynamic. As written on the page, their characters are thin, but they nevertheless radiate enough warmth and prickly dynamics to inspire our concern for Kaitlynn and Jaan’s well-being. There’s an overriding notion that the unusual circumstance between these two characters is a contrivance we only see in the movies, but when actors like Cox and Prince breathe a little life into their parts anyway, it feels like a small miracle.

Our Call: Little Wing lives and dies by its performances – and Cox and Prince hurdle tonal inconsistencies well enough to make the movie work, sometimes in spite of itself. STREAM IT.  

John Serba is a freelance writer and film critic based in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

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