Common Sense Note

Parents need to know that Back to the Secret Garden is a sequel to the 1993 film The Secret Garden and is a charming tale of mystery and magical realism set in 1946 Yorkshire, England. The kids in the school occasionally get into brief shouting and shoving matches as they try to figure out why the school's secret garden is dying, and how it can be brought back to life. But on the whole, the kids remain quite prim and proper as they come of age. The headmistress, Martha Sowerby, is a tough but fair authority figure, and a welcome contrast to the two-dimensional authority figures often portrayed in kids' movies.

Sexual Content

Not applicable.

Violence

A fire breaks out on the bed of one of the students in the boarding school, but it is quickly put out. A boy is shoved into a fountain when a girl thinks he stole a key that opens the door to the secret garden. A boy is shoved from his chair by a girl after the boy calls her names.

Language

Some name-calling and disrespect, like calling a teacher a "sow," or when a boy calls Lizzie "American" in a derogatory way.

Social Behavior

Some good messages about the importance of loving and caring for people and things (like gardens), and how a lack of attention can cause things to falter.

Consumerism

Not applicable

Drugs / Tobacco / Alcohol

A student of an English boarding school asks a girl newly arrived from America if she brought cigarettes, because she says they could make money selling the cigarettes in the nearby village.