"The Secret Garden" is one of those rare films that forces you to see Life's inherent beauty. It is a gothic tale which miraculously transforms itself into a pastoral idyll. For once, we enjoy the intoxicating experience of seeing unhappy people find love and bliss, instead of watching happy people meet their disillusionment. What's more, the principal characters are children, who, in an odd twist, are able to mature only because they've found the bliss of being young. Like Mike Newell's "Enchanted April," "The Secret Garden" celebrates the curing effects of the natural world and the possibility of human beings rediscovering (or discovering) their sense of contentment. It dares us to consider that our existence has a magical component that we cannot articulate. The film's lavish photography and beautiful landscaping serve to underscore these themes, as does the soulful celtic soundtrack. It is simply impossible to watch these children and not be moved to thankfulness for own humanity, however flawed it may be.