The Secret of Moonacre (2008)

When 13 year old Maria Merryweather's father dies, leaving her orphaned and homeless, she is forced to leave her luxurious London life to go and live with Sir Benjamin, an eccentric uncle ... See full summary »

Director:

Gabor Csupo

Writers:

Lucy Shuttleworth (screenplay), Graham Alborough (screenplay),

Stars:

Dakota Blue Richards, Juliet Stevenson, Tim Curry

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Dakota Blue Richards	...	Maria Merryweather
Juliet Stevenson	...	Miss Heliotrope
Tim Curry	...	Coeur De Noir
Tamás Tóth	...	Vicar
Augustus Prew	...	Robin De Noir
György Szathmári	...	Lawyer (as György Szatmari)
Natascha McElhone	...	Loveday
Ioan Gruffudd	...	Sir Benjamin Merryweather / Sir Wrolf Merryweather
George Mendel	...	Priest (as György Mendel)
Michael Webber	...	Digweed
Szabolcs Csák	...	Henry
Lurko	...	Wrolf the Dog
Zoltán Markovits	...	David
Marcell Tóth	...	Richard
Zoltán Barabás Kis	...	Dulac (as Zoltán Barabás Kiss)

Storyline

When 13 year old Maria Merryweather's father dies, leaving her orphaned and homeless, she is forced to leave her luxurious London life to go and live with Sir Benjamin, an eccentric uncle she didn't know she had, at the mysterious Moonacre Manor. Soon Maria finds herself in a crumbling moonlit world torn apart by the hatred of an ancient feud with the dark and sinister De Noir family. Maria discovers that she is the last Moon Princess and, guided by an unlikely mix of allies, she must overcome her family's pride in order to unearth the secrets of the past before the 5000th moon rises and Moonacre disappears into the sea forever.

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Plot Keywords:

horse | lion | unicorn | costume | castle | 

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Taglines:

Based on the best selling book "The Little White Horse."

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Genres:

Adventure | Family | Fantasy | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for some mild peril and language

Details

Official Sites:

Official site Official site [fr]

Country:

Hungary UK France Australia USA New Zealand

Language:

English

Release Date:

6 February 2009 (UK)

Also Known As:

De maanprinses en het geheim van het witte paard

Filming Locations:

Budapest, Hungary

Box Office

Budget:

$12,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

£308,099 (UK) (6 February 2009)

Gross:

£517,887 (UK) (13 February 2009)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Forgan-Smith Entertainment, Australian Film Commission, The, Eurofilm Stúdió

Technical Specs

Runtime:

103 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The Secret of Moonacre hasn't screened theatrically in the US for two years since the film's original premiere.

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Goofs

When Miss Heliotrope is saying goodbye to Maria Merryweather as she sets off for the forest on her horse with the rabbit in her lap, in three successive shots the rabbit changes position each time in her lap as she leaves.

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Quotes

Loveday: You don't understand, do you?
Maria Merryweather: I'm starting to understand one thing. The real curse of this valley is pride.

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Crazy Credits

The sea is used as a backdrop for the end credits.

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Connections

Version of Moonacre (1994)

User Reviews

Thoroughly enjoyable, for adults too (just about)

I have to agree with all the other reviewers here - some very good reviews except for the two who went to premier and seem to have left them starstruck (moonstruck?) and ebullient about the use!! of!! exclamation marks!!!

In some ways, like CS Lewis and JK Rowling the narrative in the book (which I only know the story from the film) does seem to have a particular patchwork quality, many elements from old fabrics sewn together. Of course this is how stories have always been written not to mention the inherent structure needed for a story to be successful, a structure that has existed since language. So some of it seemed a bit old but that's what you need to sell something to a sometimes fickle audience. It was so great looking however that it almost made up for it. The sixth star of this review is for costumes, the seventh for set pieces so it's a 5 star really. The metalwork was particularly ornate.

The performances were all pretty much architypical regarding the actors previous casting, though it was interesting seeing good old Gruffudd getting grumpy again. It's true that Curry had little screen time though he was very antagonistic - but soon calmed down at the end (it is a children's film after all). The chef and the nanny were great and I liked the young guy who played Robin.

The animals (magic ones) were present as always, the obligatory unicorn and the lion from CS Lewis - though this lion was cooler that Aslan, he was BLACK. Having never seen or thought about a black lion before, this is now my favorite animal. Apart from bunnies. And I'm sure he could have kicked Aslan's ass (I've never been keen on CS Lewis and his stories have always annoyed me since I was a child but hey, we gotta live with them cos he was Tolkein's mate and he was well connected to get his rubbish printed and because of its popularity many people think it's actually good).

Sorry, rant over.

So it you're a parent - definitely get this for your children, you'll probably be able to bare watching it over again unlike horrific Di$ney films &c. If you're and adult ans you liked Stardust and Compass, you'll probably like this too, though it's not quite as good though it's better than Terabithia, which is just a children's film really.

I'm glad the fantasy films are back, there was a real dry patch in the nineties. But the key question is - WHEN is someone going to make a proper film of The Wizard of Earthsea? (I know there is a Canadian TV movie - it's awful - and the Ghibli film 'Tales From Earthsea', but it's not a proper telling of any of the books and it's directed by Goro and not Hayao Miyazaki so it's not even that good. Ah well. Read that Wizard of Earthsea if you've not, it's pretty much the foundation for Harry Potter and maybe Pullman's books as well though I'm not sure. Wizard of Earthsea is the greatest magus-topic novel I've come across because it's authentic. The thing is the mass will always desire the crass... *sigh*