By bringing the March Girls and the Marmees into the present day, this serious modernization loses what was special, even revolutionary, about Alcott’s original story and its previous adaptations. When the story takes place during the Civil War, it’s obvious how progressive the Marches – especially Marmee and Jo – are, thanks to their transcendentalist, pacifist, abolitionist ideas. In this version, the sisters are not modern, free thinkers challenging the status quo. They don’t even seem to live in the real world, considering the shots of Joe in New York don’t include anyone who isn’t white, for example. But it’s not just the film’s apparent lack of diversity that’s off-putting. The idea that Jo doesn’t want to marry Laurie (or anyone, initially) to pursue her love of writing was shocking in the original era of the book, but it’s just idiosyncratic here.

Marmee’s guidance and teaching of March family values ​​and philosophies is also severely diminished. Thompson is a fine actress, but her Marmee doesn’t have nearly as much to say as Susan Sarandon’s in Gillian Armstrong’s lovely 1994 adaptation. Overall, the cast is good, but not particularly memorable. Davenport is so beautiful that Amy’s funny line is “your only beauty!” it falls a little flat. And Grabeel lacks the charismatic gravitas to play Laurie. Kudos to Niederpruem for attempting a contemporary vision for the March sisters, but today’s context erases and ignores too much of what was remarkable about Alcott’s classic story.