Little Women: Book/Movie Review

Posted On January 9, 2021

This is the first book/movie review I’m writing, because Little Women is one of my favorite classic novels.

If you love the book Little Women like I do, then you either love or hate the movie adaptions of it. If you are a complete perfectionist who won’t watch the movie because you are sure they ruined it, then I guess you’re missing out. The new 2019 Little Women is good. Probably the best adaption I’ve seen, and I’ve seen three.

The costumes in the movie are stupendous. Colorful, elegant, and styled like they really would have looked, seeing the actors in their costumes really brings the story to life. The sets are the same way. The March house in the movie is a very close model to Louisa May Alcott’s home, Orchard House. The details are crazy cool, the little things in the corners of the rooms that you hardly notice but really bring the set to life.

As for the actors themselves, they were good. The actual acting was great, but the big question I had before seeing it was “Will the characters be like they are in the book?”

That’s always my first concern when watching a beloved book become a movie. I want the characters to be exactly the way I imagined them. Unfortunately, nobody imagines things exactly the same, so this area will never be perfect. Sometimes they come close though, and that was generally the case in this movie.

Jo March was great. Her character really showed through well, and in terms of personality she was really well done. In terms of appearance, she looked the way I imagine Jo looking. I just have to mention the costumes again– they were amazing!

Meg March was played by an actor I admire. She was just perfect, her sweetness and love of luxury and her gentle heart. She was everything I imagine Meg to be, even down to the fact that she is shorter than Jo. Her costumes, especially during the dancing scenes, were beautiful!

Beth March was good, though she looked younger than Amy. She was quiet, but also had a personality, something that other adaptions seem to lack. In some versions, she’s so quiet and gentle that she never says anything, which is annoying. Having three rambunctious sisters and neighbor boy would keep her from being entirely silent.

Amy was played very well. The one problem I had with her was that she looked like an adult the entire movie, even when she was supposed to be twelve years old. Of course, no adult could be entirely convincing in playing a twelve-year-old, and I guess compared to different adaptions she was done really well. She wasn’t stuck up, but she had small vanities. Amy, so elegant, had beautiful costumes during the scenes where she was traveling abroad with Aunt March.

And now I come to Marmee March. Out of all of the actors in this movie, she was one of my least favorites. In acting terms she was very good. But I wouldn’t have cast her in the role of Marmee, a sacred role to Little Women lovers. Marmee is the wise mother, the comforter and advise giver of her daughters and Laurie, and in this movie she seemed a bit too childish to me.

Laurie was great. In previous adaptions the actors of Laurie weren’t bad, but there’s something more genuine about him in this version. He seems able to laugh and joke and have fun, which is how Laurie is in the book. Though he is rich, true, and in a different ‘class’ than the Marches, he was a part of the family and he was done very well.

Aunt March was played magnificently. That’s all I can say about her.

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There are a few things that weren’t completely satisfying in this movie, despite all the good parts. The director seems to me to have added a new theme in this movie, or rather, made an old theme to have a new meaning. This theme would be independence.

Jo March, it is true, is an independent character in the book Little Women. She has big aspirations, big dreams, and she won’t conform to the rules of society that say a woman cannot have a job or do much besides marriage. She wants to be an authoress, with books in print and enough money to take care of her family. However, Aunt March wants her to marry well and says that the only way to provide for her poor family would be to find a ‘rich match’. Marriage the least of Jo’s worries, and she is determined to find a life without having to marry.

Her father being away at war, Jo and her three sisters Meg, Beth, and Amy make fun for themselves at home, along with their new friend Laurie, who is their neighbor and quite rich.

Jo’s declaration not to marry is suddenly a big problem in Jo’s life when her best friend Laurie proposes to her.

“I’ve loved you ever since I’ve known you, Jo,” he says, practically begging for her to notice him. “I just couldn’t help it!”

“I don’t believe I shall ever marry,” Jo declares, and after a prolonged argument, Laurie stomps away, angry, and Jo is left feeling that she has ruined her entire life by destroying her best friendship.

So she goes to New York, and finds work in a boarding house as a governess of two small girls. She tries to clear the air between her and Laurie, hoping he will find some other nice girl and forget all about her. Of course that doesn’t work, and Laurie goes to Europe to mope. While he is in Europe, he meets Amy there. Amy has been on a trip with Aunt March, touring and learning to paint, dreaming of achieving her goal of becoming a famous painter. “I will be great or nothing,” she says when talking to Laurie.

Amy has been courted by a rich friend of Laurie’s and is suddenly thinking about the benefits of marrying for money. She thinks that marriage will be her only way to make a life for herself, because trying to be an independent woman won’t work for her. But as Amy and Laurie spend more time together, Amy realizes that marrying for money is not what she wants.

While she is at the boarding house, Jo meets a certain German professor named Mr. Bhaer. Though he is older than her by nearly fifteen years, he becomes one of her good friends, and Jo writes to her family with long letters about ‘the Professor’. Her family is glad for her, but meanwhile at home, Jo’s sister Beth is very sick with the Scarlet Fever. Eventually Jo comes home to see her sister, and after a tragedy Jo is left by herself feeling alone in the world, friendless during her darkest days.

“If he asked me again,” Jo tells her mother, referring to Laurie’s proposal, “I think I’d say yes.” She finds herself reconsidering, thinking that it would be the only way to find love in her life. After Beth died, she feels alone and wants love of any sort.

“But do you love him?” Marmee asks gently, and Jo is unable to answer.

“I want to be loved,” she finally says, and then begins to cry because she does not know what she should do. “I feel so alone!”

Honestly, this is one of the scenes that bothered me. It was good, and relatable in many ways, but it wasn’t in the book at all. Jo never once reconsiders in the book, she has made up her mind and doesn’t regret it. But for the sake of the story, it was made very well and added to the emotional tension of what comes next.

Amy comes home from Europe married to Laurie, and suddenly Jo finds herself lost in life. She tears up the note she wrote to Laurie, telling him there is still hope for them. Of course she couldn’t let him read it now that he is married, to her sister! Meg is married with two children, Beth is dead, and Jo doesn’t know what is next for her.

That is, until Professor Bhaer comes to her town to visit. You can guess what happens next. Jo ends up married, having finally decided that she can be independent and married at the same time, because she has finally written her novel and is having it published. So everyone ends up happy, even though there has been hard times and tragedies and not everyone is there who should be.

The story of Jo and her sisters is timeless, and one of my favorites out there, partly because it really could have happened. The themes were genuine themes in the nineteenth century, and though the way independence is depicted in this movie seems to take on a new, more modern meaning, it does in some ways make it more relatable to the modern person. “A Modern Classic” is what they’re calling this movie, and if that’s what it is then they did a good job. They revitalized a favorite story and made it new and kept it the same, both at once. Though this isn’t entirely satisfactory, it is a minor part of the whole scope of things.

I’ve heard a lot of people say that this movie was visually confusing. You know, you wouldn’t be wrong, especially if you haven’t read the book first. If you aren’t familiar with the story, then you could easily get lost.

The way the movie is set up, it switches between scenes in the past and the present. The visual distinction between the past and the present scenes is the color tint: the past scenes are slightly golden colored and the present tense ones are bluish, but only slightly. It is as though the past tense is seen as the ‘golden age’ and the present is the stark modern world. This becomes obvious as the story progresses.

Another note: the dialogue is spoken very quickly, almost on top of each other, which could be confusing. It is meant to sound conversational and natural, and it does, but it all goes so fast it could be weird if you aren’t used to that.

There are only a few scenes that weren’t true to the book. The rest were very well done, and I would highly recommend this movie to anyone who loves the book and is looking for a movie true to the story.

Well, that’s just a glimpse of the 2019 Little Women. Personally, I consider it one of my favorite movies, which you can probably tell by the way I enjoy writing about it. If you have read the book, watch the movie! If you enjoy historical fiction, this is a great movie to watch, especially because of the wonderful sets and costumes.

All in all, I love this story and the movie did it justice fairly well. I would encourage you to read it and then see what you think of the movie adaption!

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