The defence The Sentimental Softie
“Sincerity is not manipulation.”
The film risks embarrassment to make emotion communal, and that openness is harder than fashionable detachment.
Back to trending 
The Little Princess
Family · Drama · Comedy · 1939
A little girl goes in search of her father who is reported missing by the military during the Second Boer War.
Movie details
The Little Princess
“A great classic comes to life in glorious Technicolor!”
1939 Family · Drama · Comedy 1h 33m
Critical arithmetic
One number, for now.
Scores change. Arguments endure.
TMDB
6.7 / 10
Community rating
A little girl goes in search of her father who is reported missing by the military during the Second Boer War.
CriticWise case file
What this film says about your taste.
Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.
The archetype split
Who fights over The Little Princess?
For the defence
The Sentimental Softie
“You came to feel something, and you will.”
Read their case For the prosecution
The Cool Ironist
“Feeling things is a little embarrassing.”
Read their objectionThe split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.
Taste neighbourhood
Nearby on the taste map.
TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.
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Secondhand Lions
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Where the Red Fern Grows
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Billy Coleman works hard and saves his earnings for two years to achieve his dream of buying two red-bone coonhound pups. He develops a new trust in life as he faces overwhelming challenges in adventure and tragedy roaming the river bottoms of Cherokee country with his dogs, Old Dan and Little Ann.
Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins
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When a celebrated TV show host returns to his hometown in the South, his family is there to remind him that going home is no vacation!
The Secret Garden
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Mary Lennox is born in India to wealthy British parents who never wanted her. When her parents suddenly die, she is sent back to England to live with her uncle. She meets her sickly cousin, and the two children find a wondrous secret garden lost in the grounds of Misselthwaite Manor.
Anne of Green Gables
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A retelling of L.M. Montgomery's story of Anne Shirley, an orphan who is accidentally sent to a couple looking to adopt a boy instead.
Benji
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Two school kids strike up a friendship with an orphaned puppy named Benji. When danger befalls them and they end up kidnapped by robbers who are in over their heads, Benji and his scruffy sidekick come to the rescue.
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Names above the title
The people responsible.
Cast & crew
Directed by
Walter Lang
Written by
Ethel Hill · Walter Ferris
Shirley Temple
Sara Crewe
Richard Greene
Geoffrey Hamilton
Anita Louise
Rose
Ian Hunter
Captain Crewe
Cesar Romero
Ram Dass
Arthur Treacher
Bertie Minchin
Mary Nash
Amanda Minchin
Court is in session
Put The Little Princess on trial.
Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.
The prosecution The Cool Ironist
“The strings are showing.”
Every cue tells you exactly what to feel and when, leaving sentiment to do the work character should have done.