A Little Princess (1995 film)

In 1914, the kind-hearted young girl Sara Crewe lives in India with her widowed father Richard, a wealthy British Army Officer who shares her love for stories of myths and magic. Called in to serve in the Great War, Richard enrolls her at the all-girls boarding school in New York City which her late mother had attended. It is run by a haughty and spiteful headmistress Maria Minchin, and her kindly sister Amelia.

Instructing Maria to spare no expense for his daughter's comfort, Richard furnishes the school's largest suite and leaves Sara with a locket once owned by her mother and a doll named Emily. These he tells her will keep them connected through magic.

Although stifled by Maria's strictness, Sara becomes popular among the girls, including an African-American scullery maid, Becky, for her kindness and powerful imagination. In her spare time, she writes to her father. He gets caught in a gas attack while trying to save a fellow soldier in the trenches.

Hoping to extort more money from Richard, Maria throws Sara a lavish birthday party, but Richard's solicitor arrives with news that he has been killed in battle; the British government has seized his assets, leaving Sara penniless. Maria moves Sara to the school's attic with Becky to work as a servant and confiscates her belongings, including the locket, allowing her to keep only Emily and a book.

Though her life is bleak, Sara remains kind to others, but gets her revenge on Lavinia, the school bully. Charles Randolph, the elderly neighbor who lives near the school, receives word that his son John has been declared missing in action while fighting in Europe.

Ram Dass, Charles' Indian associate, comes to notice Sara from the neighboring attic, overhearing her imaginative stories. When a wounded soldier suffering from amnesia is misidentified as John, Ram Dass encourages Charles to take the man in.

Meanwhile, Sara's friends sneak into Maria's office and recover her locket, visiting Sara that night to hear her tales of Prince Rama. After catching Sara with the other girls, Maria punishes her and has Becky locked up in the attic for an entire day.

However, Sara stands up to Maria's cruelty with her father's belief that "all girls are princesses" regardless of their lot in life. She later comforts Becky by imagining a feast and fine clothes for them. They later awaken to find that the dream has come true, with their attic secretly transformed by Ram Dass.

With Sara's encouragement, Amelia runs away with the milkman, with whom she is in love. Later, Maria discovers that the locket is missing. Confronting Sara in the attic, she accuses her of "stealing" the finery left by Ram Dass and viciously locks Sara in her room while she summons the police.

With Becky's help, Sara narrowly escapes by making a perilous climb over to the Randolph house. As Maria and the police search for her, Sara discovers that her father Richard is the recovering soldier, but suffering from amnesia, he does not recognize her.

Although Maria clearly recognizes Richard, she instead lies by callously saying that Sara has "no father". As Sara is dragged away by the police, Ram Dass helps Richard regain his memory. Outside Richard saves her, and the two are happily reunited while Maria, defeated, angrily walks away.

Sometime later, Charles has taken over the school, now a much happier place for the girls, and has found peace in knowing that Richard tried to save his son. Richard's fortune has been restored, and he has adopted Becky.

As punishment for her vile treatment of Sara and the other girls, Maria is reduced to working for a young chimney sweep she mistreated earlier. Sara gives Emily to the girls and shares an unexpected hug with Lavinia, before she and Becky depart for home.

• Liesel Matthews as Sara Crewe, a daughter who enrolls at a New York City boarding school.
• Eleanor Bron as Maria Minchin, a cynical, cruel woman and a greedy and heartless headmistress. She runs the boarding school.
• Liam Cunningham as Richard Crewe, a captain in the British Army and Sara's father.
• Cunningham also portrays Prince Rama, a character from Sara's story.
• Vanessa Lee Chester as Becky, a young African-American servant who lives in the attic of the school.
• Taylor Fry as Lavinia, a vindictive bully who is bitterly jealous of Sara's wealth and popularity.
• Heather DeLoach as Ermengarde, a shy, insecure girl often bullied by Lavinia and Miss Minchin.
• Kelsey Mulrooney as Lottie, a volatile youngest girl at Sara's school prone to tantrums and fits.
• Rusty Schwimmer as Amelia Minchin, Maria's long-suffering younger sister.
• Arthur Malet as Charles Randolph, a kind old man who lives next door to the school. He is loosely based on Mr. Carrisford.
• Errol Sitahal as Ram Dass, A lascar who is Randolph's wise Indian servant who later befriends Sara.
• Camilla Belle as Jane, Sara's schoolmate
• Rachael Bella as Betsy, Sara's schoolmate
• Jonás Cuarón as Jim, the chimney sweeper
• Ken Palmer as John Randolph
• Vincent Schiavelli as Mr. Barrow
• Peggy Miley as Mabel, a cook who works for Miss Minchin.

{{Infobox album

| name = A Little Princess

| type = Film Score

| artist = Patrick Doyle

| cover = AlbumALP95Cover.jpg

| alt =

| released = May 9, 1995

| recorded =

| venue =

| studio =

| genre =

| length = 49:57

| label = Varèse Sarabande

| producer =

| prev_title = Exit to Eden

| prev_year = 1994

| next_title = Sense and Sensibility

| next_year = 1995

}}

All of the tracks were composed by Patrick Doyle. Three of the tracks feature soloists. The "String Quintet in C major Perger 108, MH 187" by Michael Haydn is also used in the film. The film also features the New London Children's Choir.

{{div col}}

1. "Ramayana: A Morning Raga" (2:03)
2. "Children Running" (0:53)
3. "Cristina Elisa Waltz" (3:03)
4. "The Miss Minchin School for Girls" (1:40)
5. "Knowing You by Heart" (2:32)
6. "Breakfast" (0:55)
7. "Letter to Papa" (1:38)
8. "Angel Wings" (1:07)
9. "False Hope" (2:05)
10. "The Trenches" (1:00)
11. "Crewe and the Soldier" (1:22)
12. "Alone" (1:19)
13. "The Attic" (2:00)
14. "On Another's Sorrow" — Catherine Hopper (1:16)
15. "The Shawl" (0:54)
16. "Tyger Tyger" (0:32)
17. "Compassion" (0:37)
18. "For the Princess" (1:38)
19. "Kindle My Heart" — Abigail Doyle (the daughter of the composer) (3:00)
20. "The Locket Hunt" (3:02)
21. "Midnight Tiptoe" (1:13)
22. "I Am a Princess" (1:14)
23. "Just Make Believe" (1:33)
24. "Touched by an Angel" (1:43)
25. "Emilia Elopes" (1:38)
26. "The Escape" (2:58)
27. "Papa!" (2:32)
28. "Kindle My Heart" — Liesel Matthews (4:19)

{{Div col end}}

{{Rotten Tomatoes prose|97|8.1|37|consensus=Alfonso Cuarón adapts Frances Hodgson Burnett's novel with a keen sense of magic realism, vividly recreating the world of childhood as seen through the characters.|access-date=February 20, 2024|ref=y}} {{Metacritic film prose|83|19|ref=yes|access-date=February 20, 2024}}

Janet Maslin called the film "a bright, beautiful and enchantingly childlike vision", one that "draw[s] its audience into the wittily heightened reality of a fairy tale" and "takes enough liberties to re-invent rather than embalm Miss Burnett's assiduously beloved story". She concluded:

From the huge head of an Indian deity, used as a place where stories are told and children play, to the agile way a tear drips from Sara's eye to a letter read by her father in the rain, A Little Princess has been conceived, staged and edited with special grace. Less an actors' film than a series of elaborate tableaux, it has a visual eloquence that extends well beyond the limits of its story. To see Sara whirling ecstatically in her attic room on a snowy night, exulting in the feelings summoned by an evocative sight in a nearby window, is to know just how stirringly lovely a children's film can be.{{Cite web |last=Maslin |first=Janet |author-link=Janet Maslin |date=May 10, 1995 |title=Fairy Tale Doing a Child's Job: Reveling in Exuberant Play |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/05/10/movies/film-review-fairy-tale-doing-a-child-s-job-reveling-in-exuberant-play.html |access-date=2012-03-01 |work=The New York Times}}

Rita Kempley of The Washington Post called the film Cuarón's "dazzling North American [sic] debut" and wrote it "exquisitely re-creates the ephemeral world of childhood, an enchanted kingdom where everything, even make-believe, seems possible ... Unlike most distaff mythology, the film does not concern the heroine's sexual awakening; it's more like the typical hero's journey described by scholar Joseph Campbell. Sara, the adored and pampered child of a wealthy British widower, must pass a series of tests, thereby discovering her inner strengths".{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/longterm/movies/videos/alittleprincessgkempley_c016b4.htm|title='A Little Princess' (G)|first=Rita|last=Kempley|date=May 19, 1995|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=2012-03-01}}

{{As of|1997|04}} Warner Bros. sold two million copies for an estimated $32 million in video revenue—the studio receiving 75%—greatly exceeding box office gross.{{Cite news|title=Direct-to-Video Family Films Are Hitting Home|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1997-04-16-fi-49283-story.html|work=Los Angeles Times|access-date=4 June 2011|first=Marla|last=Matzer|date=1997-04-16}} The film was first released on VHS and LaserDisc on September 19, 1995 and was first released on DVD on November 19, 1997.

{{Portal|Film|United States|1990s}}

• Sarah... Ang Munting Prinsesa - a 1995 Filipino film adaptation of A Little Princess.

{{Reflist}}

• {{IMDb title|0113670|A Little Princess}}
• {{TCMDb title|id=81581}}
• {{AFI film|59948}}
• [https://www.allmovie.com/movie/a-little-princess-am2367 A Little Princess at AllMovie]
• {{mojo title|littleprincess|A Little Princess}}
• {{Rotten Tomatoes|1061812-little_princess|A Little Princess}}
• {{Metacritic film|title=A Little Princess}}

{{Alfonso Cuarón}}

{{A Little Princess}}

{{Richard LaGravenese}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Little Princess (1995 film), A}}

Category:1995 films

Category:1995 children's films

Category:1995 drama films

Category:American children's drama films

Category:American fantasy drama films

Category:Remakes of American films

Category:1990s English-language films

Category:1990s female buddy films

Category:Films about children

Category:Films about educators

Category:Films set in the British Raj

Category:Films about father–daughter relationships

Category:Films set in boarding schools

Category:Films set in the 1910s

Category:Films set in 1914

Category:Films set in India

Category:Films set in New York City

Category:Films based on A Little Princess

Category:Films directed by Alfonso Cuarón

Category:Films with screenplays by Richard LaGravenese

Category:Films scored by Patrick Doyle

Category:Magic realism films

Category:Warner Bros. films

Category:1990s American films

Category:English-language buddy films