The secret garden is one of those timeless stories that everyone has seemed to have read, and loved. I am one of the few who had not read this story, so I was expecting big things from the story. In this story Mary Lennox loses her parents to a fatal disease in India and she is shipped to a massive castle in England to live with friends of her parents. Mary is a spoiled, demanding child who gives staff nothing but grief until one night she follows a ghostly sound in the castle and finds Colin, who at first she believes to be a ghost. Colin in fact is the invalid son a the spooky owner of the manor and Colin is even more spoiled and demanding than Mary. Mary's interactions with Colin and Dickon the calm, wise, mystical young brother of one of the house staff has a maturing effect on Mary and eventually Colin. Mary discovers a forgotten "secret garden" on the castle grounds and the three children and the gardener rejuvenate the plants and bring the garden to a state of splendor.
This video starts off in what I think is quite a gruesome and disturbing way as is shows death and grief in India and then the demanding nature of Mary. Eventually, as the relationship between the children develops I found the story slowly grabbed my interest until I had to see the ending with the adult Mary and Colin meeting in the garden after the war. The video is not as fantastic and exciting as some other classic children's books that have been made into film, but then the book is not in the fantasy genre as many of the current films like the golden compass or some of C. S. Lewis' works. The secret garden stands up well on its own as a marvelous story that all children should know.
