Film

The Secret Garden

Name: The Secret Garden
Genre: Family, Fantasy, Drama
Released: 2020
Cast: Dixie Egerickx, Tommy Gene Surridge, Colin Firth, Julie Walters, Maeve Dermody

Other titles called The Secret Garden: the 1949 film, the 1993 film.

Drama

A lush, visually sumptuous adaptation of the beloved classic. Mary arrives at her uncle's Yorkshire estate orphaned and cold, only to discover a hidden garden and—more importantly—that friendship and wonder can thaw even the hardest hearts. Gorgeously shot, genuinely moving, perfect for families who want something with real emotional weight.

TMDb rating

3.2

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you love gentle, slow-blooming stories where children's loneliness softens into wonder, and you don't mind a film that trusts quiet gardens and long silences more than plot.

Skip it if you want brisk pacing or a sharp modern edge; this one moves at a considered, unhurried pace and leans into sentiment without much bite to counter it.

What it asks of you: About a hundred minutes of patience with a gradual, mostly gentle rhythm, where the emotional payoff builds slowly through small moments rather than set pieces.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

A Little Chaos2015

Garden restoration as a gateway to self-discovery and romance. Frances and Michael find freedom through landscape design, just as Mary finds it through the garden itself. Tender and alive.

But Slower paced than The Secret Garden, with less dramatic stakes. If you want constant action, you'll find it meandering.

Paddington 22017

An orphan finding family through kindness and small kindnesses rippling outward. The emotional architecture mirrors Mary's journey: isolation to belonging. Also just wonderful.

But Feels slight compared to The Secret Garden's gothic atmosphere. The tonal shift from dark to whimsical might feel jarring if you loved the moody opening.

Scoob!2020

Friendship healing old wounds and unlocking mysteries. Like Mary and Colin, the gang discovers that togetherness—even with unlikely companions—is the real magic.

But Animated comedy-adventure. The tone is considerably lighter and more joke-forward than The Secret Garden's dramatic core.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from The Secret Garden

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Spirited Away2001

Both are journeys from isolation to self-knowledge through entering a verdant, enchanted space. But where The Secret Garden offers healing warmth, Spirited Away offers dazzling strangeness—same healing engine, completely different fuel.

A girl alone in a strange place who must reclaim her name and agency to survive and grow. Stunning visual worldbuilding, a garden of wonders that's also unsettling. The same arc: loss to power.

But Animated, Japanese, surreal and sometimes frightening. If you want realism and British restraint, this is the opposite.

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe2005

Children stumbling into a transformative hidden world where nature itself is alive and restorative. The same sense of discovery, wonder, and moral awakening under gothic skies.

But More overtly fantastical with battles and prophecy. If you preferred The Secret Garden's grounded realism, this leans harder into fairy-tale register.

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe poster

Anne with an E2017

An orphan girl transforms her grey world through imagination and fierce friendship. Eight episodes of Anne finding family and home, with similar visual lushness and emotional intelligence.

But A full series commitment. If you want a complete story in two hours, you'll need patience or a lot of evenings.

The Tale of Despereaux2008

A small, unlikely hero finding courage through love and forgiveness. Animated, gorgeously illustrated, with the same fairy-tale sensibility and themes of redemption through connection.

But Animation may feel too juvenile if you engaged with The Secret Garden's live-action dramatic weight. Shorter and simpler in structure.

Finding Neverland2004

Peter Pan's origins: how imagination and friendship unlock magic in real life. Johnny Depp and Kate Winslet explore creation and wonder. Quietly magical.

But More about the making of wonder than wonder itself. Slower, more introspective than The Secret Garden's arc.

The Spiderwick Chronicles2008

Siblings uncover hidden magic on an inherited estate. Family secrets, enchanted gardens, unlikely friendship with a strange creature. Similar setup, stranger direction.

But Shifts into action-adventure and battle sequences. Loses the emotional intimacy that makes The Secret Garden so moving.

Pan's Labyrinth2006

Both place a lonely child in a grand manor with a hidden garden that becomes their sanctuary. But while Mary's garden heals her, Guillermo's labyrinth tests her—same setting, opposite question: can magic save you or only change you?

A girl discovers a hidden garden and magical creature during fascist Spain. Utterly gorgeous, deeply strange. The garden promises wonder but demands sacrifice. A darker mirror of Mary's journey.

But Spanish-language. Far more violent and tragic than The Secret Garden. Not a family film, despite its young protagonist. Long and demands attention.

Okja2017

Both centre a child learning love and loyalty through non-traditional family. Mary finds hers in a garden with a boy; Mija finds hers with a creature. Both resist the world's attempts to separate them from what matters. But Okja is urgent, mobile, and furious where The Secret Garden is still and contemplative.

A girl and her impossible animal friend must cross the world to save each other. Director Bong Joon-ho combines whimsy, adventure, and heartbreak. Visually stunning, emotionally fearless, genuinely strange.

But Netflix film, genre-defying (part family adventure, part corporate thriller). The tone shifts from sweet to dark. A giant CGI animal may polarize you.