THE SECRET OF MOONACRE [2008 / 2009] [Blu-ray] [UK Release]
A Magical Adventure Journey Begins!
Set in the 1840s the story follows Maria Merryweather, a 13-year-old orphan on her journey to the mysterious Moonacre Manor. There Maria Merryweather encounters a magical world filled with outlandish adventure and mythical beasts is where the orphaned Maria Merryweather finds herself when she leaves her luxurious home in London to live with her eccentric uncle. There she discovers her family's ancient history and must now unearth the secrets of her past... all before the 5000th moon rises and Moonacre Manor slips into the sea forever. With an all-star cast that includes Dakota Blue Richards, Tim Curry, Ioan Grunfudd and Natascha McElhone. It's not long before she discovers that there is an ancient story around the founding of the family estate that will have a profound effect on her destiny.... ‘THE SECRET OF MOONACRE’ is based on the Carnegie Medal-winning novel the “Little White Horse” by Elizabeth Goudge.
FILM FACT: In pre-production it was decided the film needed a different title from the book. An internet poll was run, giving fans of the book a chance to vote for their preferred title: ‘The Moon Princess’ or ‘The Secret of Moonacre.’ THE SECRET OF MOONACRE’ won. Filming started on 1 October 2007, and took place between Hungary and London. The director Gábor Csupó chose Schossberger Castle (Schossberger-kastély) in Turkey to "embody" the Moonacre mansion. The Csesznek Castle was also one of main outdoor locations.
Cast: Dakota Blue Richards, Juliet Stevenson, Tim Curry, Tamás Tóth, Augustus Prew, György Szathmári, Natascha McElhone, Ioan Gruffudd, György Mendel, Michael Webber, Szabolcs Csák, Lurko (Wrolf the Dog), Zoltán Markovits, Marcell Tóth, Zoltán Barabás Kiss, Andy Linden, Csador (The Little White Horse), Sandor Istvan Nagy (Coeur De Noir's Man) (uncredited), Oliver Simor (Wedding Guest) (uncredited) and Ferenc Vizes (English Worker) (uncredited)
Director: Gábor Csupó
Producers: Alex Marshall, Brian Donovan, David Brown, Gábor Váradi, Jason Piette, Jennifer Smith, Jim Davey, Kaspar Strandskov, Lucy Shuttleworth, Mark Brooke (uncredited), Matthew Joynes, Meredith Garlick, Michael Cowan, Monica Penders, Péter Miskolczi, Samuel Hadida, Simon Crowe, Simon Fawcett and Victor Hadida
Screenplay: Graham Alborough (screenplay), Lucy Shuttleworth (screenplay) and Elizabeth Goudge (adapted from the book "The Little White Horse" by)
Composer: Christian Henson
Cinematography: David Eggby, A.C.S. (Director of Photography)
Image Resolution: 1080p
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Audio: English: 5.1 Dolby TrueHD Surround Sound
English: 2.0 Dolby Digital Stereo Audio Descriptive Service
Subtitles: English
Running Time: 103 minutes
Region: All Regions
Number of discs: 1
Studio: Warner Home Video / VelvetOctopus / UK Film Council
Andrew’s Blu-ray Review: ‘THE SECRET OF MOONACRE’ [2008] The film begins at the funeral of Colonel George Herbert Merryweather, father of Maria Merryweather. Maria Merryweather's mother, Eliza, had passed away previously, so her father's death leaves Maria Merryweather an orphan all because of her father's debts, as it turns out, and leaves her homeless. The only item he left to her was a book “The Ancient Chronicles of Moonacre Valley.” The book tells the story of a woman so beautiful that she was blessed by nature itself, becoming the Moon Princess [Natascha McElhone]. As the daughter of the De Noir family, she is to be married to Sir Wrolf Merryweather [Ioan Gruffudd], the son of the Merryweather family, as the two families are the most powerful in the Moonacre Valley.
Without a home, Maria Merryweather has to travel to the countryside to live with her uncle, Sir Benjamin Merryweather [Ioan Gruffudd], while Miss Heliotrope [Miss Heliotrope] comes with her out of loyalty to her mother. Before they arrive, they are accosted by two highway bandits and when they finally complete the trip; their Uncle Benjamin Merryweather is less than hospitable host. Not mean, exactly, but instead simply disinterested in having company. As soon as Maria Merryweather settles into her new home, she notices a number of strange things. There's food on the table, but no cook. Every morning there's a new picture outside her bedroom door, and every day her Uncle Benjamin Merryweather takes it down. Her uncle's castle is surrounded by woods, but she is warned to never enter there.
The more she does explore and the more she learns, the more she is convinced the book her father left to her is real and that the Moon Princess really existed. However, she also learns that the marriage of the Moon Princess to Sir Wrolf Merryweather didn't exactly bring together the two families, but tore them apart, the result of which was a curse that was about to come true. Now Maria Merryweather must end the feud between her family and the De Noir family, led by Coeur De Noir [Tim Curry], lest the valley be destroyed.
While watching this fantasy film, you would be hard-pressed not to be constantly reminded of elements that seem borrowed from other fantasy magical film. Even with these borrowed elements, the script is still very thin with long stretches where not nearly enough happens to hold your interest. And when the plot does advance, it's usually more than just a little confusing. I suspect that it would make a lot more sense if the screenwriters had read the original book, “The Little White Horse.”
Without much of a script, the performances suffer with many actors either coming across as disinterested or a little overdone. Surprisingly, Tim Curry wasn't his usual energetic self. The only one in the main cast that managed to avoid those two extremes was Dakota Blue Richards, who actually makes a compelling heroine, even if the story around her is less engaging.
Arguably the best part of the fantasy film is the production value and the amazing sets and wonderful costumes look really great. The special effects are slightly dodgy at times, but this is a relatively low-budget film, especially with a $27 million production budget, so you can't expect blockbuster level special effects. Despite this, it is still a very magical special film, that I know you will want to view again and especially with the whole family.
THE SECRET OF MOONACRE MUSIC TRACK LIST
STARS (Written by Christian Henson and Caroline Lost) [Performed by SKYE]
Blu-ray Image Quality – Warner Home Video presents us with a pleasant 1080p image and is of course enhanced with a 2.40:1 aspect ratio. The film seems to be deliberately bleached out a great deal of the time, leaving the actors flesh tones on the slightly pasty white side, but also with deliberately low contrast and an emphasis on the black to blue end of the colour spectrum. This gives the film ‘THE SECRET OF MOONACRE’ a very cold and uninviting appearance some of the time, perhaps this is all related to the moon influences. But on the plus side, details are exceptionally sharp at times, however, which at least partially offsets the colour issues. Every weathered line on Tim Curry's face is very noticeable, perhaps to the actor's character. While the costumes are quite opulent and shine through magnificently here, some of the sets just look cheaply made, and not just because the Merryweather castle is a sort of dilapidated, but probably with a hint to the “Beauty and the Beast.” The CGI special effects are also highly respectable here and especially with the opening fantasy sequence with the Moon Princess looks quite decent, and the ghostly white horse which haunts Maria's dreams is quite fetching, but the black lion is laughably bad, and the final moon-ridden sequence doesn't have the crispness videophiles aficionados have come to expect from a film like this. But despite this, it is still and enjoyable watch.
Blu-ray Audio Quality – Warner Home Video brings us a very nice immersive 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio experience. Here you also get to experience an abundance of different environments through which Maria encounters, and we are offered a nice variety of effecting ambient sounds. Best of all are several segments in the forest, where everything from fluttering leaves to "devil dog" Wrolf's howls to the pitter patter of ruffian feet enter from various surrounds to create a very evocative sound field. Attention to detail crops up throughout the film, including one of the final sequences, when Maria and Andrew enter a hollow in a giant tree which becomes the entrance to a cave and you get to experience lots of reverb and wonderful echo detail here are exceptional and the increasingly claustrophobic environment is recreated really admirably. The best audio moment experience of the film is at the climax, when a towering wave of unicorns is presented with some really thundering sounds with all of your speakers working overtime wonderfully and your guests will think the unicorns are in the room with them.
Blu-ray Special Features and Extras: Unfortunately, Warner Home Video decided with this Blu-ray disc release that it was not necessary to add any special features, or behind-the-scene filming, interviews with cast and crew and they even could not oblige with a Theatrical Trailer, now how lazy is that.
Finally, ‘THE SECRET OF MOONACRE’ is a really beautiful, magical and enchanting tale about a little princess whose selfless actions save an entire kingdom. When Maria Merryweather takes it upon herself to unite her family with their centuries-old adversaries, the De Noir family, Maria Merryweather is pleasantly surprised to find some unlikely characters coming to her aid. With the many magical creatures lurking throughout the castle, you start to wonder whether the castle itself might be magical: walls change form, trap doors appear, and a white horses turns into unicorns. So all in all, this a absolutely delightful magical film, directed by Gábor Csupó, and will definitely appeal towards a younger audience especially and will definitely have an appreciation of all the magic and fantasy they get to experience. Highly Recommended!
Andrew C. Miller – Your Ultimate No.1 Film Aficionado
Le Cinema Paradiso
United Kingdom
