TxMike I had seen a few bits of this movie on TV recently so decided to get the DVD from my public library.The story is semi-autobiographical and in fact at the end Jo has published her book titled "Little Women". Winona Ryder is the lead character Jo March, one of four sisters. Their dad is still in the military in Civil War times, their mother, played by Susan Sarandon, runs the household.The oldest sister is Trini Alvarado as Meg March, 11-yr-old Kirsten Dunst is Amy March. Claire Danes , still a teenager, is Beth March. The neighbor friend is Christian Bale , about 19 or 20, as Laurie.It is an epic tale of sorts, the movie does justice to the book.

DwarvesAreVeryUpsetting This is a gorgeous, highly sensitive adaptation of Little Women. Nobody is going to mistake this for a chick flick. This version has an undercurrent of sadness which was always there in the novel. All of the actors deliver very solid work, but the film really belongs to Claire Danes, who handles by far the most challenging role in the story. She is so present and dropped in that it is impossible to believe that she's a 15-year-old with hardly any acting experience. Beth is the girl who nobody pays much attention to, and for most of her life she doesn't seem to mind that much. She is a simple soul who finds joy in small things.... her sense of purpose comes from being there for her sisters. But when they all grow up and get married, they no longer need her in the way they used to. With nothing to do but sit around the house all day, she loses her will to live. Claire gives a luminous, absolutely heartbreaking performance as the sister who ends up getting left behind by everyone in the end.

capone666 Little WomenThe key to raising daughters is ensuring you find a nanny who lost a daughter of her own to raise them.However, the sisters in this drama will have to settle for their own mother's nurturing.Amid the turmoil of the Civil War, the March Sisters - Meg (Trini Alvarado), Jo (Winona Ryder), Beth (Claire Danes), and Amy (Kirsten Dunst/Samantha Mathis) - learn lessons in love from their many suitors (Eric Stoltz, Gabriel Byrne, Christian Bale).As Jo, Meg and Amy pursue their fancies, Beth remains at home with Marmee (Susan Sarandon).The sisters grow so distant that it takes a great loss to bring them back to Massachusetts.Although their lives unfold over years, this fifth and first-rate adaptation of the novel has a holiday spirit that rings throughout its family-centric plot-line.Incidentally, the highlight of the 19th century holiday season was always the annual ugly Christmas petticoat ball.Green Lightvidiotreviews.blogspot.ca

Stephan Quinland Many flaws and not enough true romance. First and biggest problem is the film spends well over half of entire 123 minutes in the Concord House Where nobody had grown, or changed or learned. Then suddenly before the end, main character Josephine left for New York and young Amy went to France to "paint"?. Much of the Concord house is old and full of dark wood and did reflect the reduced circumstance of the family, where upon their neighbors were healthy and worldly. How does that happened ? The oldest sister Meg is married off and basically had no lines for the rest of the film. That left high-spirited,tempestuous Jo to fill much of rest of the movie. Susan Sarandon, normally a high-powered actress, had nothing much to do except appeared matronly. The long-returned father was much older than everyone else and strangely had no war stories to tell, or any gifts for his daughters. Young suitor Christian Bale and Jo seemed a natural couple but inexplicably Jo rebuffed his proposal, only to meet up later with a generation-apart German professor in NYC. When Jo went to the boarding house, the book has her taking the duty of governess to the proprietress's children. There wasn't a moment's footage suggesting anything of the kind. Wynona Ryder did fine work here and some argues the 1940's version with Kate Hepburn as Jo was more spirited. It is easy to imagined that but Ryder is more attractive and therefore easier to accept, while the most memorable performance belongs really to Kirsten Dunst's young Amy, the little sis. She was perfectly puckish and adorable.