Back to the Secret Garden

Michael Tuchner's follow-up to The Secret Garden is a far less inspired outing than it's 1993 predecessor, but never the less still passes muster thanks to some cutesy performances and even cuter scenarios, courtesy cast and filmmaker. As with most low-key sequels, Back to the Secret Garden follows the path of a new bunch of characters, all, of course, experiencing the joy of the titular garden. Lizzie, orphaned American lass, finds herself laying her bed in the same manor where the events of the first film occurred. Miss Sowerby (Joan Plowright), is the be all and end all of the said garden, but under her watchful eye, Lizzie discovers the said place, a place of faith, courage and determination. Back to The Secret Garden, like the first film, has some lovely messages in there for the littlies. While at the same time, giving Mum's a break from that well worn VHS of the original to put something else in the machine for a while. Follow this path for further inspiration.

I have on DVD the 1993 adaptation of the Secret Garden and I love it.I to have Back to the Secret Garden on DVD and I like it,but not overly wrapped.

This is the third time over a few years that I have seen this film, it is always hard to follow an excellent film such as the original. Back to the Secret Garden does an excellent 'job' in my opinion. The storyline flows well.

I have the original DVD of the original film, but for the moment have the sequel above as a TV recording. It is my intention, as with the Railway Children, and other films in our collection to have the original DVD 'set' to add to our growing collection of classic films.

If you have not seen this sequel for fear of it not being as good as the original, then rest assured, if you liked the original, you'll like this version too.

I adore The Secret Garden, it is one of my favourite movies ever. Back to the Secret Garden is not as good, but much better than I thought it would be, considering I was expecting an atrocity in all honesty. True, some of the dialogue is trite, some of the characters are underused(Colin for instance) and while Joan Plowright plays older Martha very well with a sweet sincerity I wasn't entirely convinced by how Martha was written some of it was on the contradictory side. That said, it is beautifully filmed, the soundtrack is soothing and the story is interesting with cute scenarios. The cast are excellent, particularly Florence Hoath and Camilla Belle, but the performances of David Warner, George Baker and Cherie Lunghi aren't to be disputed either. All in all, not as good as the original but worth watching. 7/10 Bethany Cox