The story begins right after the civil war has ended. Josephine (Jo) March is now a teacher and trying to get a short story published.

Meanwhile, her sister, Amy, is with their aunt, March, and went to a party with her family’s friend and neighbor, Laurie.

Their other sister, Meg, is a mother of two young children.

The film then goes back 7 years before. The March sisters get ready for a party. Jo meets Laurie there and they dance together. Laurie eventually meets the chill, sweet Mrs. March (“Marmee”), the girls’ mother.

Shortly after, it’s Christmas. Marmee kindly asks her daughters to give their breakfast to their poor neighbors, which they do. When they come home, there is an abundance of food on their table, thanks to Laurie’s grandpa. Marmee then reads a letter from her husband, who is fighting in the war, to the family.

A theater performance is happening soon. Amy wants to join Jo and Meg as they go with Laurie and his tutor, John Brooke. But they won’t let her.

Angry and jealous, Amy burns Jo’s novel that she was writing. When Jo finds out, she is absolutely devastated. She and her sisters break out into a fight.

Later, Amy chases Jo and Laurie onto a frozen lake for forgiveness for burning Jo’s novel – only to fall through the ice. Jo and Laurie save her.

Later, Laurie visits Amy, asking her to marry him. But she turns it down. Not long after, Jo comes home with short hair.

Mr. Laurence (Laurie’s grandpa) gifts Beth a piano. However, Beth gets scarlet fever. Jo gladly takes care of her.

Beth recovers in time for Christmas. The dad also comes home from the war.

Unfortunately, Beth dies later. A funeral is held for her.

Meg gets married. Jo convinces her to run away. But Meg refuses.

There are many aspects I enjoyed about this movie. A major one is the character development. Although the story emphasizes more on Jo, I admired how all the characters were. I loved disliking Amy when she burnt Jo’s novel.

Speaking of which, I also appreciate how the film focused a lot on how a female wrote a novel during the 1800s, something that was likely considered an oddity back then.

Another twist that I admired was how the girls’ mom was very chill and laid back, something unusual for historical fiction. Other stories have depicted parents as more strict, which was actually more accurate to those times. But I loved Marmee.

The acting was strong too, especially Emma Watson doing an American accent while playing Meg. She did speak in a British accent a few times, though, for short lines.

Even though the plot was strong and the pacing was fast, I will admit the story was a bit hard to follow. Not only was it because of the constant POV-switching, but also changing back and forth from the present (the beginning’s time) and the past.

The film is also more than 2 hours. It is also not the first adaptation of the novel written by Louisa May Alcott. There was one released in 1994.

But overall, I enjoyed Little Women. I think it would make a good watch for both adults and older kids, say, 10 and up.

Although the film is rated PG, I wouldn’t recommend it to younger kids due to its complexity and even some scenes with smoking.

Anyway, I give this movie 4 out of 5 stars.