The Secret Garden
Warner Bros. | Release Date: August 13, 1993 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
74
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 26 Critic Reviews
Positive:
18
Mixed:
8
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
60
Orlando SentinelJay Boyar
The movie's dark themes, unhurried pace and talkiness make it something of a gamble for many children. But older children - especially those who have been asking specific questions about death - may find some nourishment in this garden. Read full review
60
TV Guide MagazineStaff (Not Credited)
Though it can get laborious, and produces the odd unintended chuckle, The Secret Garden is charming and sometimes chillingly authentic. Read full review
60
EmpireAngie Errigo
With a great set designed by an Oscar winner as well as a cast that includes Maggie Smith and of course, based on a children's favourite, it's hard to see where this could go wrong. It does entertain, but it manages to hold back on the sentimentality that you're left with nothing at all. Read full review
58
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
The movie is earnest, heartfelt, and, for all its lavishness, rather plodding. Read full review
50
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
Rather than a fresh breeze, it's the stale air of gilded calculation, the uncomfortable feeling that things are excessively just so, that overhangs much that is genuinely appealing about this film. Read full review
50
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
Measured against family-film classics like The Wizard of Oz or The Black Stallion, to mention just two of my favorites, The Secret Garden is a bit slender, neither as ingeniously inventive nor as majestically mysterious as the best of its breed. Read full review
50
Washington PostMegan Rosenfeld
The young actors are quite proficient and un-sappy too -- it's not their fault if they too often seem like chessmen being moved around on the director's board, composed into picturesque tableaux. Read full review
50
Miami HeraldJackie Potts
It's a gorgeous pastiche of flowers and Gothic architecture that, like a painting on a museum wall, never quite involves the viewer. You'll be momentarily enchanted, then forget it entirely. [14 Aug 1993, p.G5]
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