THE SECRET GARDEN
A beautifully photographed family story where love restores hope.
Should You Watch It?
Yes. The Secret Garden is a beautifully photographed family film with interesting performances and a moving message about death, rebirth, and the power of love. It follows children who move from isolation and despair toward friendship, hope, and renewed life.
The film has no offensive language or violence. One scene shows three children chanting a magical spell around a bonfire. The director says the scene is intended as children's fantasy, not witchcraft. Some Christian references from the novel are also absent.
If your family can discuss that brief scene thoughtfully, this is WORTH THE TRIP.
The Story
NO SPOILERS — WE KEEP THE SURPRISESIn India in 1906, Mary Lennox is an isolated, sour-tempered girl whose parents are too busy for her. After they die suddenly, Mary is sent to England to live with her uncle in a melancholy manor.
There she discovers a key to her deceased aunt's private garden, sealed for ten years. As Mary begins reviving its sleeping flowers, she meets Dickon, a local boy, and Colin, her ten-year-old cousin, who fears the outside world. Together, the children begin opening the door to something new.
Is It Any Good?
Four stars means this is a fully successful family film. It is beautifully photographed, with interesting performances that bring emotional weight to a classic children's story by Frances Hodgson Burnett.
The film also handles its central message with feeling. Friendship transforms the manor's claustrophobic atmosphere into a world of hope and happiness, while the themes of death and rebirth give the story poignancy.
The Worldview
The film presents love as a force that overcomes despair and brings rebirth to hardened hearts. Mary, Colin, and Dickon's friendship breaks through isolation and fear, restoring hope to a melancholy household. Life, friendship, and emotional renewal are treated as genuine goods.
The source review notes that some Christian references in the novel have been deleted. The children's chanting around a bonfire is presented as a magical fantasy rather than witchcraft, according to the director, but Christian viewers may still wish to discuss how the film's language of rebirth differs from the Christian gospel.
The film's longing for restored life points toward a hope Scripture states more fully: “I am the resurrection and the life” (John 11:25).
The Content Guide
The specifics — spoilers included by nature — so you can judge for your own family.
Content Summary
This classic children's story tells how love can overcome despair and bring rebirth to the most hardened heart. There is no offensive language, or violence, but one scene shows three children chanting a magical spell around a bonfire, but according to the director, this is not intended to be witchcraft but a children's fantasy. However, some of the Christian references in the novel have been deleted.
Talk About It
Questions for the drive home, the dinner table, or the youth group.
Mary begins the story isolated and unhappy. How do friendship and care change her?
Proverbs 17:17 · Romans 12:10The garden is described as sleeping and being brought back to life. What kinds of new life and hope does God promise?
John 11:25 · 2 Corinthians 5:17The children chant a magical spell around a bonfire. How can your family distinguish make-believe fantasy from practices God warns us to avoid?
Deuteronomy 18:10–12 · Philippians 4:8The Final Word
Beautifully photographed and filled with interesting performances, The Secret Garden gives families a poignant story about love overcoming despair. One fantasy incantation deserves discussion, but the film's message of friendship and hope makes it WORTH THE TRIP.
