There are many, many reasons why I love this version of Little Women. The main one - or at least the most immediate - is the way the film looks. I love the soft lighting, the hair and costumes (I was astounded this year when I bought the DVD to hear on the commentary that Winona Ryder's hair was not her own but a wig! I never would have guessed it at all.) The male characters as much as the females, I do love the period costumes, and I'm impressed by the efforts the wardrobe department made to get everything so accurate. The girls were in impoverished circumstances, so the clothes they wear aren't new and look just as though they've been handed down from one sister to another.

There are a few subtle touches in this film that I sometimes find a bit jarring, such as when Marmee is talking with John Brooke in front of Meg and mentions her disagreement with the idea of women wearing restrictive corsets, but that is really the only bit that I don't feel is quite right, and it is there to demonstrate Marmee's liberal attitude.

I love the way the characters interact, although there perhaps isn't enough demonstration of why Laurie and old Mr. Laurence disagree. Jo and Amy act just like real sisters - they fight and provoke each other into arguments and disputes, and generally have a chance to make little digs at the other. Meg is the pretty - but yet also virtuous - one, and clearly the most socially at ease with the upper classes of the time, for instance reminding Jo "Don't shake hands with people. It isn't the thing any more", and in the end - although she has to wait for a period of time that would seem endless today before marrying the man she loves - she opts for a poorer but obviously happier life. It would be very easy to simply say that Beth is not given anything dramatic or interesting to do, but that is the whole point of her character. She watches those around her do great and exciting things, and there is a sense that she herself is happy with that. Susan Sarandon's Marmee clearly holds this family together - the ideal mother figure, she is comforting, incredibly wise (I wonder if anyone has ever met anyone with all the wisdom she seems to have) and always on hand to encourage her girls in their quest to do as they please.

The male characters are also interesting. John Brooke is stable and compassionate and sensible. Laurie (also known as Teddy just occasionally) can be quite an intense figure and I was amazed to find that Christian Bale was only about twenty when this film was released. It is as interesting to see the changes his personality goes through as it is to see those the girls go through. The Professor is a slightly unorthodox character and yet he complements Jo perfectly.

I have watched this film many, many times now (so many, in fact, that I have sometimes been known to say the lines along with the characters as they say them) and I know I will watch it many more times in the future. It might perhaps be a bit of a holiday film but it's certainly worth watching for the feel-good factor it generates.

Stepping nicely into the big shoes of Katharine Hepburn and June Alllyson, Winona Ryder heads a cast for another generation of Little Women as Louisa May Alcott's novel shows it still has a universal appeal.

Winona Ryder is Jo March and while we don't hear as many Christopher Columbuses out of her as we did with Hepburn and Allyson she dos get her ahead of her times feminist point of view across. The other March sisters are Kirsten Dunst and Samantha Mathis as Amy March, Trini Alvarado as Meg and claire Danes as Beth. Their mom is Susan Sarandon and Mary Wickes is their tyrannical great aunt.

Little Women paints a wonderful picture of Civil War era New England. People back in those days backed up their talk with action and the father who was anti-slavery has gone to war for that cause. The March women believe just as fervently in the cause as their husband and father and Susan Sarandon does her best to keep body and soul together. Mary Wickes's aid is appreciated but she's quite an old tyrant domestically.

In the novel the men take distinctly second place. But accolades can be given to Christian Bale for playing the local hunk next door that all the March girls have an eye for. Also Gabriel Byrne as the foreign tutor who opens up a lot of the world especially for Ryder.

Little Women got Oscar nominations for Costume Design and Musical Scoring and Winona Ryder got a Best Actress nomination., but she lost to Jessica Lange for Blue Sky.

This version can certainly stand up to Little Women of generations past.

Other than this version, the only other version I have seen of the beautiful book is the 1949 version with June Allyson, Margaret O'Brien and Mary Astor. While that version was very good, I think I marginally prefer this version. It is a little too slow at the beginning, but other than that I had no problems with this version of Little Women.

The film looks wonderful, the scenery is lush, the costumes are lovingly rendered and the cinematography is fabulous. Plus I loved The Laurence mansion here, so imposing yet beautiful. The music score is a real jewel, really poignant and soothing, and the screenplay is honest, funny and touching. In terms of adapting, the film does a very good job, all the crucial elements of the beautiful story are there and have the same effect here than they do in the book. The 1949 film may be a little more nostalgic and perhaps more cosy too, but this version is truer to the book.

The direction is adroit as well, and I loved the acting. Christian Bale is dashing and handsome as Laurie, and Trini Alvarado is a beautiful Meg. Claire Danes is a touching and compassionate Beth, while Kirsten Dunst is great as young Amy, likewise with Samantha Mathis as her older self. Mary Wickes in one of her last roles before she died, was suitably fussy and formidable as Aunty March, and John Neville gave a very good performance as Mr Laurence. Two performances in particular stood out though. One was Winona Ryder, who is a revelation as Jo, she is tomboyish yet ambitious, headstrong and well-meaning and I felt Ryder was better than Allyson at showing these traits to Jo's character. The other is Susan Sarandon, whose Marmee is less sincere yet more maternal. I also felt Gabriel Byrne was an improvement as Mr Bhaer- Rossano Brazzi was charming yet too Italian for my tastes. Byrne was an initially curious casting choice but he does very well.

Overall, I loved this adaptation, and as a film it is pretty much stunning. 9/10 Bethany Cox