The Secret of Moonacre

Filmmaker Gabor Csupo (Bridge to Terabithia) directs this lush adaptation of Elizabeth Goudge's The Little White Horse, one of the inspirations behind C.S. Lewis' Narnia and J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series. After her father dies, 13-year-old Maria Merryweather (Dakota Blue Richards) and her governess Miss Heliotrope (Juliet Stevenson) move to the country to live with Maria's gloomy Uncle Benjamin (Ioan Gruffudd) and his dog Wrolf, discovering a world much like that depicted in a book she inherits: The Ancient Chronicles of Moonacre Valley, the tale of a Moon Princess. Although Benjamin offers Maria a well-appointed room at the top of the manor, he discourages her from exploring the forest or any of the other rooms. When she does eventually leave the Moonacre grounds, Maria has a run-in with Coeur De Noir (Tim Curry) and his gang of goth-punk bandits. Maria also finds a friend in cook Marmaduke (Andy Linden), a tiny man with superhuman speed, who tells her that only a true princess can bring peace to the valley. But first Maria must find the pearls that set off the feud between the Merryweathers and the De Noirs. With the help of a woman named Loveday (Natascha McElhone), Maria sets out to fulfill her destiny. Recommended. (K. Fennessy)