Little House on the Prairie movie review: Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Netflix reboot sparkles with wholesome, engaging sincerity

Logo text

Ask the average TV critic to list their favorite Netflix originals and you’ll get plenty of them BoJack Horseman and Orange is the new blackPlus some votes for The Queen’s Gambit or Adolescence A fan of the limited series, dark A fan of quirky sci-fi, and maybe some Squid game or Strange things Love from people who haven’t finished either series.

However, there is a small subset of open-minded viewers who might find some way to mention Rachel Schuckert’s adaptation of a novel Babysitters Club. It lacked public prestige, and judging by its abrupt cancellation after two seasons, it apparently lacked broad viewership, but more than anything else it suffered from the perceived stigma of being by and for young women, and therefore somehow unworthy of celebration.

The truth is that Babysitters Clubwhile for and about young women, was a nearly flawless example of a series that takes aim at a target and hits that target dead on center. It was earnest, helpful, warm, likeable and perfectly acted, and even if it wasn’t directed at me… I’m an adult capable of appreciating quality things made for other people.

Rebecca Sonnenschein based on Laura Ingalls Wilder’s timeless novel Little house on the meadow The series has not been fully realized as Babysitters ClubBut the things the eight-episode first season achieves are similar. It is an honorable interpretation that captures Wilder’s books and their spirit, true to purpose and respectful in execution.

These days, I’m far from the target demographic Little house on the meadowbut I found myself emotionally engaged with the deftly ancient storytelling and rather fascinating ensemble, anchored by relative newcomers Alice Halsey and Skywalker Hughes and more established veterans Luke Bracey and Crosby Fitzgerald. Although the series has its mid-season late spots, and there are elements that a tailored-for-me show would have addressed with an extra layer of nuance, Little house on the meadow nails its key moments and finds a way to carve a place outside the shadow of the beloved 70s and 80s version.

We meet the Ingalls family as they make their way from the Big Woods of Wisconsin to the newly established city of Independence, Kansas. Young Laura (Halsey) is an enthusiastic storyteller and swinger-wielding tomboy, the apple of Pa’s eye (Charles Bracey). Her older sister, Mary (Hughes), is an avid reader and lover of beautiful strips and is just beginning to notice the boys. Ma (Caroline Fitzgerald), a teacher from their old life, is strong and determined, concealing a new pregnancy out of concerns about inhospitable terrain and uncertainty about medical help. Their dog, Jack, is a good dog.

Independence doesn’t have a post office or church yet, but railroad man Eli (Michael Hough) and his wife Gemma (Mary Holland) have big plans for the town, and welcome the Ingalls clan with open arms.

The community includes kindly doctor George Tan (Jocko Sims), generous shopkeeper Emily Henderson (Barrett Doss), and gruff, whiskey-loving hermit John Edwards (Warren Christie). Everyone in Istiklal looks forward to a new life and new opportunities, while facing the ordeals of the border.

Many of the adversities mentioned will be familiar in both detail and generality to readers of Wilder’s semi-autobiographical works: economic hardship, unpredictable winters, wolves, and fevers. Some elements in the show were expanded or embellished, including Pa’s discovery that the land he was told was open to settlement was actually owned by local Osage tribes, who were unhappy about the encroachment, let alone the deal the government offered for property they had occupied for generations.

And here I must warn you that the worst people you know will probably complain about this Little house on the meadow He “woke up.” This complaint would be based on the idea that the black doctor who appeared briefly in earlier versions of the tale now has a more dimensional character, with a love interest and a backstory, and that the indigenous people of the area now have representative characters who express discomfort at being forced from their land in the name of a statement of fate. Laura makes friends with one of her Osage peers (Wren Zhawenim Gotts’ Good Eagle), whose parents (Meegwun Fairbrother’s Mitchell and Alyssa Wapanatâhk’s White Sun) are marked and allowed to express their thoughts as well.

I think if this makes Little house on the meadow “Woke,” so be it, though I point out that the Ingalls family remains the undisputed heroes of the series, and remain fundamentally respectable and sympathetic people. In fact, most of the series’ settler characters are essentially decent, sympathetic people—and Christians—who recognize the irony of living in a town called Independence when their existence depends on family and community. Which, by the way, is exactly what Wilder’s books are about, too. Sonnenshine and her team of writers and directors — all women, from Sarah Adena Smith to Reservation dogs veteran Sidney Freeland – they just expand the world and bring it to life in a way that doesn’t deny its basic truths.

Really, even though I know that Little house on the meadow He didn’t wake up, because if the series were made specifically for me, he would spend more time with the Osage and more time in the reality of being a black doctor and a black store owner in the post-Civil War frontier. But this is not that series.

This is not a very bold or realistic view Little house on the meadow. Laura and Mary’s greatest joy is still peppermint sticks. They still believe in Santa Claus, or at least in the perfect perfection of Christmas; Tragedies and misadventures are still present at every turn, but warm mysteries are present in abundance.

The series’ core visual language is dominated by meticulously photographed sunsets and sunrises, rays of light broken by waves of amber grains, and images taken straight from the pages of books I haven’t read in 40 years — bowls of hard candy, my mother’s china doll on the bedside table, a loaf of cornbread rustling fresh from the oven — that immediately came to mind as I watched it. It’s beautifully shot, primarily in Winnipeg, perfectly accompanied by Dan Rohmer’s score, and somehow has many tears, both happy and sad, without ever feeling overbearing or annoying.

Much of the series’ success can be attributed to directors Rachel Tener and Rick Messina and a young cast that walks the line into precocious maturity without ever sacrificing what has always made these characters endearingly imperfect. Halsey is terrific, broadly expressive in a way that allows Laura to be spunky yet vulnerable, overtly youthful yet wise, and instantly relatable in her insecurities, cruelty and everyday pluck. She’s balanced by Hughes, who seems a little more modern in effect but remains on the cusp between childish and mature, adding sweetness to her flirtation with Quinn Cadrath’s Caleb, an orphaned shop boy. The relationship and sisterly bickering between Laura and Mary are convincingly captured by the two leads, with Gotts providing a good complement in her scenes with the Ingalls girls.

It’s Pricey, who I vaguely remember from his brief star-making moment GI Joe: Revenge,Michael Landon? No, it’s not. But he exudes the necessary earthly nobility and melts away in his scenes with Halsey (even if I wish Netflix hadn’t originally described Pa as a “daddy’s girl,” because it suggests an outdated spirit that the series doesn’t have). Fitzgerald, who takes the toughest role and plays it well, and Bracey have the chemistry needed to embody characters who choose discomfort and life together over simpler, safer options.

It highlights Christie’s emotional torment, and Doss’s courage The bright eyes, and Holland’s intrusive demeanor, as is the presence of… Shursi Favorite MacLean “Jorrie Jordan” Fish as a young settler named Adam Scott.

Over eight episodes, most of which last less than 50 minutes but are never boring even in the longer parts, Little house on the meadow It depicts a turbulent year in the life of the Ingalls family, one filled with danger, romance, heroism, and the learning of many important lessons. I don’t gravitate toward “correctness” or “seriousness” as adjectives in most of my favorite shows, but I bought into it. Little house on the meadow And I’m relieved that Netflix has already renewed it for a second season.

Hopefully people won’t make a big fuss about the small changes in the text and will embrace its admirable purpose. I don’t want to repeat that Babysitters Club And its early cancellation.