Ballet Shoes (BBC) [DVD]

I love the Ballet Shoes book written by Noel Streatfeild and read it at least once a year. I also have the original dvd based on the original book, which is a charming period drama if a little short.

So it was with bated breath and great expectation that I watched the newly adapted Ballet Shoes on Boxing Day...

I thought the story was fairly true to the book, with the exception of the confusing relationship between Garnie, Theo Dane and John Simpson. In the book, no such relationship was even hinted at as Mr Simpson was married and conducted himself far more as a family friend. Nana and Garnie were very well cast in my view, Richard Griffiths as Great Uncle Matthew was not and didn't seem comfortable in his two cameo appearances. The lodgers however, had far more interaction with the girls in the book than they do in this dramatisation, which was a great shame as much of the girls' characters, such as strengths and weaknesses and aspirations were explored more fully in their relationships with these 'extended family' members.

Some parts of this drama were too modern for me; Garnie never would have given way in front of the girls the way she (Emilia Fox) portrayed. The girls in the book were brought up well and did not need such obvious indicators to gauge that all was not well. The individual selfishness and tendency to tantrums evident in the book had consequences for the girls that taught them valuable life lessons yet this wasn't very clear in the dramatisation and therefore the girls appeared slightly 'brattish' at times, particularly Posy during the illness of Madame Fidolia.

I think the producers of this dramatisation frantically tried to pick up all the individual pieces of the book and tethered them together as best they could. Unfortunately, in doing so, much of the period magic has been lost along with a great deal of the detail, which would have explained better to the viewer the trials and tribulations experienced by the Fossil household and the necessity of working together as a family which pulled them through to win through in the end. I think that because this key point of the story really was missing, the plot took a direction which may have disappointed Ballet Shoes fans as the halfway point of the drama started picking up speed in a great rush towards the end and this haste came at a terrible cost.

Perhaps I would have rated this dramatisation with 'three stars' but I really couldn't do it. I know and love the story so much that I was able to fill in the many blanks and I've given this 'four stars' because the actors were charming, the story mostly true to the book and I enjoyed it in spite of its foibles.

Like others, I loved the original book and read it to my daughters with great pleasure. We also watched the DVD of the first television adaptation, which was long, amateurish, only intermittently satisfying, and very stuffy...though the actresses playing the 3 girls did a fine job.

The original book was so dense in building the story of the 3 girls and the extended family in the house with Garnie, Nana, and the boarders (each with their own distinct personality), that it seems almost impossible to adapt to the screen -- so it's understandable that any adaptation is going to have to cut some major parts of the book. The good news is that this production is very good looking, and Emma Watson is luminous as Pauline. Set design, costumes and lighting are all much more professional than the first screen version, and the casting is mostly decent.

This latest adaptation gets the basics of the girls right -- with Petrova being the most grounded and least interested in a performing career, Pauline a natural for the stage (but also ambivalent at times) with talent and stage presence, and Posy with the most raw talent as a dancer. The story is nicely set up at the start, as Gum is shown dropping off the 3 girls while in the midst of numerous travels...and then Gum reappears toward the end, revisiting the house as it is going to be sold and seeing "his girls" all grown up and heading in different directions.

However, the beauty of the interaction and growth of these 3 wonderful girls is mostly lost in this translation of the book. In particular, Petrova gets short shrift, while Posy mostly comes across a brat. This movie does use the vows the girls make together as a central theme, but the viewer then mostly sees Pauline's ascent to success, while the others have bit roles.

The boarders are relegated to extremely marginal roles, with the exception of Mr. Simpson (Marc Warren), the garage owner, whose role has been rewritten to provide a romantic twist to the story. For long time fans of the book, this will be the most unsatisfying decision, because it does nothing more than take time away from what should be the focal point of this movie -- the three girls. Not to mention that Mr. Simpson has had all the life drained out of him by the way his role has been re-written, and Warren's wooden acting doesn't help.

I am not normally a purist about movie adaptations of books that take liberties, if something new and interesting is created that can attract a broader audience, or make the book resonate on the screen better, but nothing like that is done here. If anything, the story is even more confusing as a result of the liberties taken with the book.

Also, dancing and the aesthetics of dance are given much less play in this adaptation relative to the book (and the first screen adaptation). The focus has shifted more generally to the stage, since much of this movie is a vehicle for Emma Watson (who is not a dancer). The few dance sequences that are shown (mostly Posey by herself, and a very attractive Russian studio of ballerinas toward the end) look very good, but there is not a lot of dance in this version of Ballet Shoes.

Ultimately, this production is a big mess as far as storytelling goes... though it's a very beautiful mess, and fans of the book will likely excuse the many flaws to see another version, and be reminded of one of their favorite stories. I wonder how much sense this adaptation would make to someone who never read the book, though -- unlike the first adaptation, this version has even more abrupt transitions and choppy storytelling, and mostly gets by on the beauty of the individual set pieces...and Emma Watson.

I am afraid to say I was deprived of the Ballet Shoes book as a child, and I've never had the time to read it, so I'm basing my review solely on this production itself.

Firstly, the concept is lovely. Three girls wanting to put their names in the history books, and by using their talents, manage to put money together to look after their guardian. It's a truly delightful story, and the casting was excellent. I was eager to see Emma Watson in her first role outside Harry Potter, and had preconceptions of what she was going to be like. However, I was pleasantly surprised by her acting, and was not at all Hermione-ish as I expected. The other two girls were delightful too. Yasmin Paige outshone both as the mechanical enthusiast Petrova Fossil, and Lucy Boynton played the wonderfully cheeky Posy.

All the adult characters were well cast, and my two cousins (aged 12 and 9) loved every moment of it. Both of them could easily relate to the girls, and the older members of my family loved the more mature storyline of Mr. Simpson and Sylvia Brown.

All in all, this is an enchanting story and the production itself is wonderful. I'm sure people of all ages, and especially young girls, will enjoy this film very much.