This Weekend’s Film Festival - Little Girls, Big Dreams

This Weekend's Film Festival puts together a lineup for parents and their little girls (and open-minded boys). So many young girl characters are shallow princesses these days that one forgets the tradition of young girls with big dreams who had to work hard for their success. This lineup features a ballerina, an actress, an aviator, a country girl, a dreamer, a spoiled brat and a few princesses too.

BALLET SHOES is an underrated British production from last year, starring Emma Watson from the HARRY POTTER series. Based on Noel Streatfeild's "Shoes" series, Sylvia Brown (Emilia Fox) was an orphan who had to sideline her dreams to take care of three orphans that her guardian has collected over the years. Pauline (Watson) wants to be an actress, Posy (Lucy Boynton) wants to be a ballerina, and Petrova (Yasmin Paige) wants to fly. The three get a chance to go to a school for the arts where they train for their dreams. But in order to reach them, there is a lot of hard work and sacrifice. As I said in my original review, "The production is a great antidote for the HANNA MONTANA syndrome where children walk into vast fame and fortune. In this story dreams can come true, but hard work and great drive are needed for that to happen."

John Sayles' THE SECRET OF ROAN INISH mixes magical legend and reality into one believable world. Fiona (Jeni Courtney) has gone to live with her grandparents following the death of her mother. Her grandfather (Mick Lally), grandmother (Eileen Colgan) and cousin Eamon (Richard Sheridan) are country people and they believe that her great-great grandfather married a selkie, a half-seal/half-woman. They relate these tales as if they're just part of the family history. Their history also includes the loss of Fiona's baby brother who was washed out to sea in his bassinette. When Fiona returns to their rundown ancestral homes on the island of Roan Inish, she is convinced that she saw her brother with the seals. Her dreams becomes bringing the family back to Roan Inish and reunite them with little Jamie. As I said in my original review, "In this world, the country provides Fiona a chance to reclaim her past, which is full of honest, hard-working people with the sea running through their veins." During the course of the story, she becomes one of them.

Lewis Carroll's Alice of WONDERLAND has always been a big dreamer. In Jan Svankmajer's version this is made clearer than in any other screen version of the tale. The wonderland that this Alice slips into is made up of household objects from taxidermy to wooden puppets to skulls to socks. The little girl, Kristyna Kohoutova, who plays Alice also narrates the lines of all the characters in her wonderland. Svankmajer uses the fantasy world to delve into the mind of this bored little girl, and comment about the adult world that makes no sense to her. While this might be a bit too creepy for the youngest viewers, this version will captivate both older kids and adults equally. The film reminds us of the creativity of a child to make a whole fantasy world out of the world around them. But as I said in my original review, "Carroll’s story has always been one of the most disturbing children’s tales, but Svankmajer takes it to another dark surreal level."

We close this week's lineup with two tales based on stories by Frances Hodgson Burnett. Agnieszka Holland's THE SECRET GARDEN is the tale of a spoiled young girl who learns how to live following the death of her parents. As I said in my original review, "Like some of the best family films, the story might have children at its center, but it’s not just a story for children. This magical story about inner healing can touch the oldest in the crowd as well." When she lived in India, Mary Lennox (Kate Maberly) was used to being waited on hand and foot. Following her parents' death, she goes to live at her uncle's house where she is mostly ignored. Her snobbery is at first a defense mechanism to deal with her fear and pain, but the kind servant children Martha (Laura Crossley) and Dickon (Andrew Knott) help her be a kid for the first time in her life. In turn, she does the same for her bedridden cousin Colin (Heydon Prowse). With the help of Dickon, she brings her aunt's secret garden back to life and helps her cousin stand on his own two feet, literally and figuratively.

In Alfonso Cuaron's enchanting A LITTLE PRINCESS, Capt. Crewe (Liam Cunningham) tells his daughter Sara (Liesel Matthews) that all little girls are princesses if they believe in it. Sara takes this idea for all the good that it can mean. This is not a girl who believes that a princess should be draped in jewels and pampered at all times. "It gives her the kindness to be nice to all the girls… It gives her the freedom to be imaginative. And most importantly, it gives her the optimism to overcome any hardship," to quote my original review. When her father is called away to war, she goes to live at a girls' school run by the very strict Miss Minchin (Eleanor Bron). While the glowering Minchin does not appreciate it, the other girls are inspired by Sara's goodness and tales of wonder. But when it is believed that Capt. Crewe has died, Sara is made a servant. But even under the thumb of Minchin, Sara remembers what her father told her, and it allows her to rise above her circumstances with grace. This is a delightful family film that paints a Dickensian world where kids are not spared harsh realities, but their goodness allows them to win in the end.

To share in this dream-like lineup just head to the videostore, update the Netflix queue, check out HelloMovies.com for streaming sites, visit Zap2It.com for TV listings or support this site by buying the films of DVD at the links below.