The 10-second forward option Netflix offers is really quite useful sometimes, especially when you're watching drivel like this. I grew up reading Louisa May Alcott's novels and have seen almost every adaptation of "Little Women." And by far I've never seen anything as bad this one. The actors are miscast and there is entirely too much reliance on flashbacks and on the 1994 adaptation of "Little Women." Also, Jo's character is for some inexplicable reason changed. Yes, Jo is headstrong, but she's not a selfish person who makes everything - even her sister's illness - about herself and somehow thinks that her feelings are deeper or more intense than those of others. This is probably not the fault of Sarah Davenport, the actress who plays Jo, because she has the "look" of Jo, but man, she really does make for an annoying Jo. In all the adaptations of "Little Women" I've seen, I've never been this annoyed with Jo or this unmoved by her story.
There are actors in this movie that I actually like, but boy are they miscast. Lucas Grabeel - I'm sorry to say - does not have the acting chops or the gravitas to play an iconic character like Laurie. Remember, Christian Bale played Laurie and you need an actor of that caliber to pull off a convincing Laurie and Grabeel simply doesn't have it. Speaking of Bale, and more specifically the 1994 version of "Little Women," which starred Susan Sarandon, Winona Ryder, Kirsten Dunst, Claire Danes, etc., this 2018 version follows almost every beat of the 1994 movie, but the difference between the two couldn't be more glaring. I don't have anything against someone wanting to modernize "Little Women." It is a timeless story that doesn't need to be constrained by time - or even place. But I hate it when the thousandth adaptation of "Little Women" comes along and it is this miscast, mediocre, overacted, cloying, and completely and thoroughly expendable.
There are actors in this movie that I actually like, but boy are they miscast. Lucas Grabeel - I'm sorry to say - does not have the acting chops or the gravitas to play an iconic character like Laurie. Remember, Christian Bale played Laurie and you need an actor of that caliber to pull off a convincing Laurie and Grabeel simply doesn't have it. Speaking of Bale, and more specifically the 1994 version of "Little Women," which starred Susan Sarandon, Winona Ryder, Kirsten Dunst, Claire Danes, etc., this 2018 version follows almost every beat of the 1994 movie, but the difference between the two couldn't be more glaring. I don't have anything against someone wanting to modernize "Little Women." It is a timeless story that doesn't need to be constrained by time - or even place. But I hate it when the thousandth adaptation of "Little Women" comes along and it is this miscast, mediocre, overacted, cloying, and completely and thoroughly expendable.