The Secret Garden
STX Entertainment | Release Date (Streaming): August 7, 2020 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
59
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 20 Critic Reviews
Positive:
12
Mixed:
8
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Original-CinKaren GordonAug 13, 2020
Metaphors abound in The Secret Garden if you are so inclined. But the beauty of the story on its surface is enough. Read full review
80
Film ThreatAlan NgAug 11, 2020
The deliberate use of CG effects, Dixie Egerickx’s performance, and its keen understanding of the true heart and message of the story make The Secret Garden worth watching and may find itself given the title of “classic.” Read full review
75
RogerEbert.comTomris LafflyAug 7, 2020
This recent The Secret Garden both respects and admires children’s imagination as its young characters discover their own way to grapple with loss, isolation, and loneliness. Read full review
75
SlashfilmHoai-Tran BuiAug 6, 2020
Though Munden attempts to overload our senses with rich visuals, The Secret Garden does end up feeling kind of slight, like the film rushed through the SparkNotes version of the story. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleBob StraussAug 5, 2020
Things get quite Gothic in the film’s final stretch, with genre add-ons that “Garden” purists may also find distasteful. The extra melodrama can feel unnecessary. However, it leads to moments of life-restoring beauty (core theme here again) and love. Read full review
70
Screen RantRachel LaBonteAug 6, 2020
This film was made to introduce Burnett's classic novel to a new generation, and it's easy to imagine young viewers will be entranced by Mary's story. And, truthfully, some older ones might be as well. That's just the magic of the garden. Read full review
70
Screen DailyFionnuala HalliganAug 6, 2020
A robustly old-fashioned production, it’s a tasteful film which reverberates with the feeling of a vastly different age. As such, it’s gentle escapism for the old, the young, and the nostalgic. Even Thorne can’t give it sufficient dramatic tension to thrill, but a lovely performance from lead Dixie Egerickx, plus stalwart support from old hands Colin Firth and Julie Walters, compensates. Read full review
70
The New York TimesLovia GyarkyeAug 6, 2020
In a year defined by surprise, the predictability of The Secret Garden — a new film adaptation of Frances Hodgson Burnett’s beloved 1911 novel — proves more charming than tedious. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneyAug 5, 2020
But to the generation encountering it for the first time, its pleasures should be unencumbered. While the emphasis on beguiling visuals slightly overshadows the performances, the cast is uniformly solid, and Secret Garden completists will appreciate the connection of Firth playing the father of the character he played in the 1987 TV movie. Read full review
67
IndieWireKate ErblandAug 6, 2020
This film is not the best representation of Burnett’s works, which toed the line between the magical and the painful — but in the moments when it succeeds, The Secret Garden blossoms into something beautiful. Read full review
67
The A.V. ClubAnya StanleyAug 5, 2020
The Secret Garden is a mid-tier adaptation, though one with heart and soul. Read full review
63
The Associated PressJake CoyleAug 6, 2020
It’s sluggish at times and too withdrawn for such a vibrant tale. But it stays nevertheless in tune with the spirit of Burnett’s book, and by the time it reaches its late crescendo, this “Secret Garden” blooms nevertheless. Read full review
60
EmpireHelen O'HaraOct 19, 2020
The film doesn’t quite trust the magic of the garden, adding visual dazzle and, sometimes, artificiality, but when the film relies on the kids and their relationship it still finds the book’s magic. Read full review
60
CNNBrian LowryAug 7, 2020
Makes puzzling choices in harvesting the material, mostly providing an incentive to go back and watch the last one again. Read full review
50
New York PostJohnny OleksinskiAug 7, 2020
Firth, who can still be a heartthrob when he wants, douses the smoldering embers of old romance and turns Archibald completely tense and awkward. It’s a wise choice that makes his eventual transformation more poignant. Read full review
50
VarietyOwen GleibermanAug 5, 2020
In its top-heavy image-driven way, The Secret Garden is trying for some of the atmospheric poetry that was missing from Agnieszka Holland’s 1993 version. Yet if anything, that just makes it fall further away from the novel’s essence. The garden isn’t a supernatural place, but it’s supposed to be a mystical place. In this movie, it comes closer to being a special effect. Read full review
50
Entertainment WeeklyMaureen Lee LenkerAug 5, 2020
Like the garden at its heart, The Secret Garden has always found its beauty in its quietude, a small story of hearts broken and healed through nature, attentive care, and true connection. But this adaptation doesn’t understand that, instead drowning the film in showy set pieces and magical realism rather than understanding the inherent magic in all things. Read full review
50
Slant MagazineWes GreeneAug 4, 2020
In lieu of pluming the emotional states of the characters, the film resorts to a whimsical, otherworldly fantasy element as an easy resolution. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Barry HertzAug 4, 2020
The latest adaptation of Frances Hodgson Burnett’s 1911 novel is not necessarily a bad film, just an unnecessary one. Given that we’ve already been treated to about a dozen film and TV (and anime!) adaptations, there is little that Munden and his creative team offer that is essential. Read full review
40
The GuardianPeter BradshawOct 29, 2020
This garden is pretty but lifeless. Read full review
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