I first saw this movie when I was 8 or 9, and I still adore it today. My little sister and I used to watch it over and over. I've read Pollyanna, and I like the way this movie adapts the story to deal with race relations as well as the original themes of the book.
I just watched the movie again for the first time in many years, and while most of it was exactly as I remembered it, there were a few things that I hadn't noticed as a small child -- I had always understood that the movie dealt with racism, but some of the interpersonal conflicts or the terms people used had gone over my head. There's nothing too strong or offensive, though (as in, parents, don't worry, it won't accidentally teach your child a new vocabulary).
It is a musical, and the only thing that I think is clumsy about the movie is that a few of the songs don't quite seem to blend into the fabric of the movie. Almost all of the songs, though, are catchy and sweet, and it certainly says something when a song stays with you for fifteen years. I still find myself singing "Sweet Little Angel Eyes."
Incidentally, there aren't nearly enough good kid movies where the majority of the cast is black. I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with those other kid movies, just... it occurred to me that very few other films I've watched are like this one in that respect.
