It really isn't fair to judge a 225 minute film from a butchered cut, but I was able to detect a delightful movie hidden behind incomprehensible cuts and muddy dubbing. I hope that someday the entire film is made available on DVD, and my rating is based not on the film I saw, but the film I imagine. It is hard to say exactly what makes this film so much better than the Hollywood versions of this famous tale. I suppose the most important thing is that the kids act like kids, not like movie stars trying to project "cute". Of course, it is nice that the story, or as much as we get to see of it, is true to the book. But a film is not designed, after all, to replace a book, but to be entertaining in its own right. Needless to say, this cut has preserved our morals by removing the skinny dipping, except for a one second scene that seems deliberately out of focus.
