Little Women Review

Dr. Skull and I are doing this thing where he picks one movie to see and I pick one movie to see, and we alternate.

Back when we were first hanging out, we went to like 3 or 4 movies a week. It seems like there were more movies worth seeing then, but probably actually we were just less picky. Now I don't want to see a movie unless I'm sure it's going to be an excellent movie. Then, as I recall, we went to almost every movie.

On the other hand, "every movie" wasn't the same three movies, remade and remade and remade: A superhero movie; a remake of a kid's cartoon from the 1990s; a woman-gets-raped-and-murdered-and-a-man-takes-revenge movie.

Which seems an odd thing to complain about, since this time the pick was mine and I picked Little Women, which, yes, is a remake of a kid's movie, remade and remade and remade. On the other hand, it's Little Women. I'll admit I didn't love this book as a kid the way I love Alcott's Little Men but it's still one of the formative texts from my childhood.

Also, Dr. Skull had picked Midway last time, so it was my turn.

Also, it's not like we had a lot of choice. Here in the Fort, you can see a Jesus movie or you can see women-getting-raped-and-murdered movies or you can see (usually very bad) kid's movies. Midway and Little Women are anomalies.

All of this to say that Little Women was surprisingly good!

I guess I shouldn't say "surprisingly," since every review I've seen (except those written by MAGA Americans making culture war points) has said how good it is. But still, I was surprised.

You probably need to know the source text to like the movie as well as I did, but given that, it's probably the best Little Women movie I've seen. About halfway through I heard Dr. Skull sniffling. (He hadn't brought tissues. I had, of course. I mean, Little Women!)

The actors are all very good, by which I mean the women acting in the movie are all very good. Men are only in this story as sidekicks or objects for the women to react against. Mr. March, for instance, is gone for almost all of the movie, off being a chaplain in the Civil War; though he does have one of the movie's best lines, near the end. And Jo's love interest is basically a cipher.

But the women are wonderful, and they are, after all, what the story is about. Also wonderful scenery -- it's a beautiful movie, visually.

Very much worth watching. And a must-watch for those who love the book.