Review: Little Women (1994)

Little Women was one of those movies that I kind of wanted to watch, but didn't really want to buy the DVD. Luckily, it was on TV one day, solving my problem. I really didn't know much about the story of Little Women and had never read the book. So I was watching Little Women with very little knowledge of the story.

Box Art

Synopsis
Little Women revolves around the lives of four sisters, Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy March, and their mother, Mrs. March. Mr. March, Mrs. March's husband and Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy's father, is off fighting in the Civil War. Jo March, the main protagonist, becomes quick friends with Theodore "Laurie" Laurence who falls in love with her.


Characters
There are some members of the cast that are famous, though I really don't know many of them from period dramas. These actors/actresses include Winona Ryder (Jo March), Susan Sarandon (Mrs. March), Kirsten Dunst (young Amy March), and Christian Bale (Laurie).

Left to Right: Amy March, Jo March, Beth March, and Meg March

The March sisters were okay. Jo I had to get used to a little bit, but I grew to like her. Beth was sympathetic especially after she caught scarlet fever. Meg seemed alright, but I wanted to see more of her on the screen: I feel like I didn't get her whole character very much. But honestly, I did not like Amy March. I think it was because I only really saw her during the first half of the movie where she was young and selfish. She was there on screen a little bit as an adult, but I don't think that she was there enough for my opinion of her to improve.

There was something unsatisfactory about the ending. I didn't think that Laurie should have ended up with Amy. I also thought that Professor Bhear looked too old for Jo. I've heard that people wish that Laurie and Jo had gotten married, and I think I have to agree with them. I didn't hate Professor Bhear, but I still thought that he was too old for Jo. Plus, Laurie seemed to change after he went to France: suddenly, I couldn't trust his character very much. Oh well...


Scenery
There were some very nice colors used for the scenery. The part that sticks out in my mind was when Jo was in the forest picking flowers: everything looked so green and fresh! But in short, the scenery was very colorful and pleasant to look at.


Costuming

Jo and Professor Bhear

The story takes place in the 1860's (and maybe very early 1870's?). There is a wide range of costumes. The Marches, due to their poverty, have poor clothes and, for the most part, go without the crinoline most of the time. Jo does wear a crinoline and fashionable clothing for a coming-out party, but hated it, so that was the end of that. I say maybe 1870s because when Amy was in France, she was wearing a bustle, which didn't come into fashion until about 1869 and stayed in fashion until 1875. You also get to see what mourning fashion was like during the 1860s. Whatever the fashion used, everything looked very nice.


Overall: 3/5
I didn't hate it, but I didn't love it either. I liked it... kind of... I guess it was okay. I probably wouldn't watch it again on my own, but if someone wanted to see it, I wouldn't object to watching it again. There is a bit of nice scenery and the costumes are nice to look at. The plot and characters were just okay, though: not really in my top favorite plots and characters, but not in my bottom either.

Little Women is available on DVD. It is rated PG for two uses of mild language and runs for 115 minutes.