Little Men 1998

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Little Men ★★½ 1998 (PG)

Louisa May Alcott's sequel to “Little Women” hits the screen with a lot less hoopla than its 1994 predecessor. Jo March (Hemingway) has grown up, married Fritz Bhaer (Sarandon), and opened an idyllic, wholesome school for troubled boys. The house is immaculate, the grounds are beautiful, and the boys are little angels. That is, until streetwise 14-year-old Dan (Cook) shows up. He soon has the boys smoking, drinking, and stealing, until they almost burn the place down. Since this is a family movie, with moral lessons to be learned, all's well by the end. Adults may find the syrupy sweetness too much to take, and the characters are barely two-dimensional, but young kids should enjoy it. 98m/C VHS . Mariel Hemingway, Chris Sarandon, Michael Caloz, Ben Cook, Michael Yarmush, Gabrielle Boni, Ricky Mabe, Julia Garland, B.J. McLellan, Tyler Hines, Kathleen Fee; D: Rodney Gibbons; W: Mark Evan Schwartz; C: Arch Archambault; M: Milan Kymlicka.