Little Women, movie (1994) - Film review by Kadmon

Little Women, movie (1994)
image © Columbia Pictures (Sony)

Article updated: 2022.01.18

The Little Women (1994) is a romantic period drama film. The movie was reviewed by Kadmon.

Product: Little Women, movie (1994)

Original title: Little Women

Series: Little Women

Other adaptations of the story: Little Women, movie (2019), also see Similar stories

Setting: historical Earth

Product type: Film, Genre: romantic period drama, Style: drama, period drama, romance, coming-of-age

Release: 1994.12.21

Watched: very recent (2022.01), first time

Rating: Great (3 out of 3 points), Enjoyment: Great (3 out of 3 points)

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This is my review of Little Women, a romantic period drama movie from 1994. It's about a girl with three sisters, who are trying to find their way in life. The Little Women film is a great movie, I recommend it.

If you'd like to be surprised by the Little Women film, I don't recommend you to watch the trailer beyond 1:16, because it starts to give away too much of the plot. It basically provides a summary of the film, up to the very ending scene.

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Review (spoiler-free) - Little Women, movie (1994)

I've recently watched Little Women (2019), and I wanted to compare it to a previous version. As the 1994 adaptation was the most famous, I though to give that a try. I didn't read the novel, nor have I watched the trailer. I might have seen the movie when it came out, but I have no recollection of it.

The Little Women movie is about a girl with three sisters, who are all trying to find their way in life.

The story is good. The pacing is consistent, although parts of the plot feel hurried. There are character arcs for the main characters. I didn't find logical problems.

The cinematography is fine. The historical aspects are nicely shown.

The characters are good, well developed. The actors are excellent for these roles.

The music (by Thomas Newman) is very good, and catches the emotion of the scenes perfectly.

Little Women is an interesting romantic period drama, I'm almost sure fans of the genre will enjoy it.

My experience

I was satisfied with Little Women (1994).

Rating: Great (3 out of 3 points). Little Women is a well-made film, with a good story, and fine actors.

Enjoyment: Great (3 out of 3 points). Little Women is engaging and interesting, I liked it.

Rewatchability: High.

Chance of watching it again: There's a chance. Now that I know the story, there's probably no need to watch it again, but I liked it enough that I might watch it in the right circumstances.

Chance of watching a sequel: High. I'd sure watch it, although I think it's unlikely that they would continue the movie. Although, nowadays they tend to revive 30 year old movies with sequels, like Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021), or The Matrix Resurrections (2021), so who knows.

Little Women, movie (1994)
image © Columbia Pictures (Sony)

Will you enjoy this?

If you like romantic or coming-of-age movies, you might like Little Women (1994).

If you like period drama movies, you enjoy like the Little Women movie.

If you enjoyed the Little Women novel, you might be interested in this adaptation.

If you prefer visuals over story, this movie is probably not for you, although it does look great.

If you hate romantic movies, you should avoid Little Women.

If you hate comedy movies, you should be aware that there are funny moments in the 1994 adaptation of Little Women.

Do you need to read the original novel to enjoy this?

There's enough explanation that you'll understand what's going on without reading the novel. However, some sub-plots of the story are rushed in the film, so reading the novel will let you appreciate the happenings more. Also, as the film jumps between timelines without indication, reading the book will let you understand the story better, especially the beginning.

Do you need to see other adaptations to enjoy this?

I think this adaptation gives you a complete experience. If you are looking for more details after watching Little Women (1994), you could either read the novel, or maybe watch the BBC mini-series.

Watching for plot points

If you are interested in historical romance or coming-of-age stories, I think it's worth watching the Little Women movie for the plot points.

Should you watch this on your own screen at home, or is it worth going to the cinema?

The visuals probably look better if you watch it in cinema, but I think you'd get a similar overall experience.

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Little Women, movie (1994)
image © Columbia Pictures (Sony)

Review with spoilers - Little Women, movie (1994)

I liked the Little Women movie.

I don't know whether they were part of the novel, but the cats and dogs in the movie were cute, I consider adding them a good choice.

The movie quickly positions itself as a Christmas story with the first scene, and also with the release date (12.21), although I feel that - like Die Hard (1988), - it's a timeless story that doesn't particularly need the connection to Christmas.

Cover

The cover of the movie is okay, it doesn't say much, but it doesn't spoil the movie.

The trailer

The trailer is basically a substitute for watching the movie. Basically every single twist of the story is in the trailer.

If you prefer spoilers, it's a great trailer for the Little Women film. If you prefer to avoid spoilers, it will ruin the movie for you.

Promise of the first scene

The movie starts with a preparation for Christmas, with a voice-over narration, establishing the period and the family. Then four sisters greet their arriving mother, who brings a letter from their missing father, who is in the war, and who tells them that he is in safety. I'd assume the story will be about the family, how they get through the time of war. Maybe about the father, how will he return, if he returns at all.

Execution: Christmas was a main theme of the movie, so it's a good start. Indeed, it was about the family, and even the father returned, although he just appeared in the middle of the movie. After this setup, it would have been nice to see more of his experiences in the war.

Plot summary / Synopsis

In 1861, in the USA during the American Civil War, there's a family with four sisters, and a mother living together. The refined sister (Trini Alvarado as Margaret "Meg" March) wants to act properly, and wants to have a family. The independent sister (Winona Ryder as Josephine "Jo" March) wants to be a writer, and she is not interested in boys. The kind sister (Claire Danes as Elizabeth "Beth" March) is good hearted, and she wants to stay at home with their mother. The young sister (Kirsten Dunst and later Samantha Mathis as Amy March) wants to be a famous painter, and she is whimsical and vengeful. The sisters often act out their fantasies in theatre plays written by the independent sister. The mother (Susan Sarandon as Marmee March) tries to bring the girls up, while spending the rest of her time with acts of charity. The father (Matthew Walker as Robert March) is a priest, who is away as a chaplain in the American Civil War.

At the Christmas of 1861, the family receives a letter from the father, reassuring them that he is well, and he loves them.

Next morning, when they are starting the Christmas breakfast, the sisters come up with the idea of bringing the food to a poor family.

The refined sister and the independent sister go to a ball. The independent sister tries to hide from potential suitors, and runs into the neighbour boy (Christian Bale as Theodore "Laurie" Laurence), who is also hiding. The boy offers to bring them back home. The neighbour boy was brought up in a family of artists, and he wants to play the piano, but his rich grandfather, the neighbour of the family wants him to learn so he could lead one of the offices of the rich family.

They also meet the teacher (Eric Stoltz as John Brooke) of the neighbour boy, with whom the refined sister eventually falls in love. The independent sister spends time with their aunt (Mary Wickes as Aunt Josephine March), reading for her, hoping that she will take her to a European trip.

Their father gets wounded, so their mother leaves for New York, and the teacher accompanies her on the road.

The kind sister continues the charity work in the absence of their mother, and gets scarlet fever from a poor family. Their mother returns to nurse the kind sister. To protect the young sister from the sickness she hasn't contracted before, she is sent to their aunt. Laurie brings her there, and on their way he promises to visit her daily, and that he'll kiss her once before she'd die. The young sister becomes the companion of the aunt, reading her books.

By the Christmas of 1862, the kind sister got better. The rich neighbour gives her a piano. Their father returns from the war. The teacher proposes to the refined sister, who accepts this.

Four years later, in 1866, the refined sister and the teacher gets married. The neighbour boy, before moving to Europe, proposes to the independent sister, but she refuses him.

The aunt decides to take the young sister with her to the European trip, to find her a suitor. There she meets the neighbour boy, who insists that she shouldn't marry her suitor, but wait for him.

The independent sister, disappointed, moves to New York, and starts to write short stories for pulp magazines. She meets a German professor (Gabriel Byrne as Friedrich Bhaer) in the hotel they live, and they start to get closer to each other.

The kind sister gets worse due to the complications from her scarlet fever, so the refined sister and the independent sister visits her to help. After she dies, the independent sister spends her time writing a novel about their lives. The refined sister gives life to twins.

The neighbour boy, working in Europe, receives a letter from the independent sister about the death of the kind sister. He leaves his work to travel to meet the young sister, where they reconcile. They get back to the family home as newly weds.

The aunt dies, and the independent sister inherits it. Their mother suggests she could establish a school there.

The German professor arrives with the novel of the independent sister, that got published. He tries to leave, but she runs after him, and they confess their love to each other.

The setting

Little Women is set in historical Earth, 1861-1868, in the United States of America, during the American Civil War.

Little Women, movie (1994)
image © Columbia Pictures (Sony)

The message of the story

I'm not sure there's one.

The structure of the story

The scenes of the Little Women film are played in sequence, following the same storyline.

There is no single viewpoint character.

It has the usual arc of the dramatic structure - introduction, action, resolution.

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Things I liked

• I liked the shot when Amy first appeared from under the ice during the ice skating scene.
• I liked the cats and dogs around the family.

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How does it compare to the other works of the creators?

From the writer (Robin Swicord), I've only seen The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008), that was okay.

I haven't seen any other works of the director (Gillian Armstrong).

How does it compare to the original source?

I didn't read the novel, so it's hard for me to compare. Based on what I've read about the book, the novel had more time to develop some of the sub-plots that were rushed in this movie.

• In the novel, it's their mother who sends their breakfast to the poor family. In this movie, it's the girls who come up with the idea. I think this is a good way to show their nature.
• Meg's marriage is practically missing from the movie.
• The German guy spent a lot more time with the family in the book. Here he just arrives, and quickly leaves because of a misunderstanding. Then Jo runs after him to get together under the umbrella. (This was similar in the 1933 script.)
• The relationship of Amy and Laurie in Europe is not really elaborated. They just suddenly get together.
• It's not a big thing, but in the novel, Amy brought pickled limes in the school, while in the movie, they were just regular lemons.
• After her marriage, Meg practically disappears from this movie. In the novel, we get plenty of scenes involving Meg and her children.

How does it compare to other adaptations of the same story?

I've only seen the 2019 adaptation, so I can only compare it to that.

Little Women (2019)

I don't think the 2019 adaptation is a good way to experience the story for the first time, due to the events shown in a random order. I'd recommend watching the 1994 adaptation first, and then, when you feel you'd like to watch Little Women again, give the 2019 version a try.

There are some things that are better in the 2019 version than the 1994 one:

• The visuals are a lot better. I really liked the cinematography in that one.
• There are interesting transitions between the scenes.
• The additional scenes with the aunt give more perspective to her, and also to the character of Amy, about the expectations of the society.
• It gives more screen-time to the marriage of Meg.
• We get a lot more about the relationship of Jo and the German guy, as they spend time together in New York.
• Laurie's grandfather got more scenes, and became an important figure. The relationship between Beth and the grandfather was more pronounced.
• We got a lot more scenes about the publishing of the stories of Jo, also adding references to the real life experiences of Alcott.
• We get slightly more information about the social aspects of the period.
• If you have already read / seen the story, the parallel timelines can make the movie more interesting.

There are some ways the 1994 version differs from the 2019 adaptation:

• The religious nature of the family is prominent.
• It's the sisters that come up with the idea of giving food to the poor family.
• Laurie leaves a letter to Amy, requesting that she waits for him.
• The wedding of Amy and Laurie is shown in a comical manner, that hurts Jo directly.
• Amy still does acts of cruelty even when she is an adult.
• The relationship between Jo and Amy is worse in the end. Amy is cruel to Jo, while Jo is vengeful towards Amy.

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Little Women, movie (1994)
image © Columbia Pictures (Sony)

Analysis of the story - Little Women, movie (1994)

I mostly liked the story, I didn't find problems that would have prevented me from enjoying Little Women.

Problematic elements

Laurie getting together with Amy: It came out of nowhere for me. I would have preferred a more established relationship.

The aunt and the maid: The two actresses look too similar, it would have been better to make them more distinct.

Changing Amy: When they switched the actor for Amy, it would have been good to start the scene establishing this.

Showing the father: It would have been a nice touch to see the father, and what he does during the war. The movie starts with his letter, establishing him as a character, but we don't see him, and when he returns, he doesn't play a prominent role.

The saving of Amy: When Jo and Laurie save Amy from the lake, they use a a piece of wood that looks like a manufactured wood beam, instead of some driftwood that would be more plausible at that location.

Lack of references: There are some scenes when we are not told why are some things happening, or we are told too late.

• Amy with the clothespin on her nose: She wears them to reshape her nose, as she thinks it's not aristocratic enough. While her nose gets some references, her method doesn't.
• Jo going through the stuff of Beth, reminiscing: While it's good to see her smile from her memories, it would have been better to use those things in the movie, so the audience could also remember of those moments, just like Jo does.
• Making bandages: When Meg returns from the theatre, her mother is making bandages, probably to send it to the army. I don't think even the 1994 audience would have understood what she is doing, so it would have been a good touch to tell us what that is.

Unanswered questions

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Possibilities of improvement

Cutting the scene when the German guy criticises Jo. First, it doesn't add anything new compared to the criticism of the editor. In the novel, and in the 1994 adaptation, it's elaborated that Jo should write about something that she feels connected to. Here, it's missing. As the German guy is only rushed into the last scene to satisfy the audience, I don't feel we really need to get too many scenes with him.

How it could have been better?

It seems pretty daunting even to me to stuff all that material from the novel into a single movie, as basically each of the sisters could have an own feature film made of their side of the story. As I've later found it, this is exactly what they've tried to made in the 1950 adaptation, although only Jo and Meg got the spotlight before the story was cancelled.

It would have been interesting to show the father during the war, for example, he could write the letters to his family, and while they are reading, we could see him doing whatever he does. This would establish him more for the audience, and we could get attached to him. This way, whether he returns to the family, could be a source of tension.

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Behind the scenes

Thoughts about the reviews of others

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Little Women, movie (1994)
image © Columbia Pictures (Sony)

Uses for the film - Little Women, movie (1994)

Plot

• There's a boy who meets a girl, with whom he falls in love, but the girl doesn't reciprocate love until it's too late, and the boy falls in love with another girl.
• A girl visits poor families to help them, until she gets infected by a sick family, leading to a bad health, then her death.
• A girl wants to be a famous writer, and she doesn't give up until she succeeds.
• A girl wants to be a famous painter, until she realises that she is not good enough for that, so she gives up her dreams, and marries a boy.

Scenes

• The ballroom shot is good to depict the start of a ball scene.
• The wedding ceremony is a good way to show a wedding of the period.

Designs

Scenario ideas - Role-playing game scenario ideas

• While the team is crossing a seemingly peaceful area, they are attacked by little, 10 cm tall women, who want to eat them. The creatures are able to use items of the tall people to their advantage. They were created by an experiment gone awry.
• One of the allies of the team is offered a good job in a far away place. The team might offer the ally something better, or they lose the ally for a long time.
• Someone falls in love with one of the characters. The character doesn't love that person back, but it might give some interesting opportunity for the team.

Scenario ideas - Wargame scenario ideas

Burning resources: The defender has access to resources that are required by the attacker. The defender sets up the playing area, deploying these resource tokens anywhere on the board. A model has to spend actions to damage the resources. Depending on the game, the resources can be either fixed in place, or movable. The attacker has to achieve their objective, while trying to also save the resources. The attacker wins if they reach their objective, but every resource lost reduces their Victory points. The defender wins if they achieve their objective, they don't get bonus points for destroying resources.

Walking on thin ice: The playing area is unstable. Put a marker on every area. Whenever a model enters an area that's marked, remove the marker, and roll a d6. On a roll of 6, the area breaks, creating a chasm (under that is a void, lava, water). Depending on how you agree, the model falling into the chasm might be saved by others standing nearby. If the model was walking on a slow speed, it can back down to the previous area. If it was moving at normal speed, test a skill to survive. If it was moving at a high speed, the model falls into the chasm.

Uncertain terrain: Every time a model enters a marked area, and it doesn't break, put a counter on it set to 1 when removing the marker. When there are more models in the area than indicated on the counter, roll a d6. On a roll of 6, it breaks. Otherwise, increase the counter to the number of models currently on it.

Miniatures - 1/50-1/60 (28-32mm scale)

Little women: Human-sized female human civilians in period clothing.

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Similar stories - Little Women, movie (1994)

Novels

Louisa May Alcott: Little Women (1868): In an American Civil War setting, four sisters trying to find their way in life.

Graphic novels

Little Women: The March Sisters (self-published, 2017): In an American Civil War setting, four sisters trying to find their way in life. Based on the Little Women novel.

Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy: A Modern Graphic Retelling of Little Women (Classic Graphic Remix, 2019): In a 2010s setting, four sisters trying to find their way in life. Based on the Little Women novel.

Movies

Little Women (2018): In a 2010s setting, four sisters trying to find their way in life. Based on the Little Women novel.

Little Women (2019): In an American Civil War setting, four sisters trying to find their way in life. Based on the Little Women novel.

TV series & episodes

Wakakusa monogatari yori wakakusa no yonshimai / Little Women (1981): In an American Civil War setting, four sisters trying to find their way in life. Based on the Little Women novel.

Ai no wakakusa monogatari / Little Women (1989): In an American Civil War setting, four sisters trying to find their way in life. Based on the Little Women novel.

Quattro piccole donne / Little Women (1989): In an American Civil War setting, four sisters trying to find their way in life. Based on the Little Women novel.

Little Women (2017 mini-series): In an American Civil War setting, four sisters trying to find their way in life. Based on the Little Women novel.

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Frequently asked questions - Little Women, movie (1994)

Is the Little Women 1994 film based on a book or comics?

Yes, Little Women is based on the Little Women novel by Louisa May Alcott.

Is the Little Women 1994 film a remake or reboot?

While the Little Women film is officially not a remake, it's an adaptation of a novel that has been previously adapted multiple times. There are however some scenes from the 1933/1949 version that are suspiciously similar.

Is there a post credit scene in Little Women 1994? Does Little Women 1994 have end credit scenes?

No, there's no post credit scene in Little Women.

Where can I see Little Women 1994? Where can I watch Little Women 1994 online? Is Little Women 1994 available on Netflix? Is Little Women 1994 on Amazon?

As of 2022.01.14, Little Women is available on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, Google Play, Vudu, YouTube.

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Resources - Little Women, movie (1994)

Information

IMDB: Little Women (1994): Database article.

WikiPedia: Little Women (1994 film): Database article.

Letterboxd: Little Women 1994: Database article.

Rotten Tomatoes: Little Women 1994: Database article.

Creation

: Concept art article.¤

Reviews with no spoilers - Little Women film (1994)

: Review video about the Little Women film with no spoilers.¤

Reviews with spoilers - Little Women film (1994)

: Review article of the Little Women movie, with spoilers. Includes a very detailed plot summary.¤

Analysis - Little Women movie (1994)

: Analysis video, explaining the finale of Little Women.¤

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Be Kind Rewind: Comparing Every Version of Little Women: Comparison video about the differences in the 1933, 1949, 1994, 2019 movie versions of Little Women.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJGZoecSmrA

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https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/12/movies/little-women.html

https://smokingbarrels.blog.hu/2014/02/14/kisasszonyok_little_women

https://culturedvultures.com/25-years-later-ive-finally-accepted-little-women-1994s-ending/

https://www.thefilmagazine.com/little-women-1994-gillian-armstrong-movie-review/

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Buying the product - Little Women, movie (1994)

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Have you seen the Little Women 1994 film? How do you like the movie? Would you recommend it to others? Do you know reviews or resources you'd like to add? What further thoughts do you have about it? Tell your opinion in the comments!