I’m always interested in screen adaptations of classic literature—at least, the ones which promise a modicum of “trueness” to the story. We have at least three (!!!) coming up in the next three months:

Little Women (Dec 2019) – Link to trailer on YouTube

Emma (Feb 2020) – Link to trailer

Call of the Wild (Feb 2020) – Link to trailer

Ok, my thoughts…

The feminist take on Little Women is somewhat misleading since the trailer doesn’t even show Jo’s love interest Professor Bhaer (who is going to be in the film, albeit as a Very Young and Suspiciously Handsome Guy). However, the plot looks fairly close to the book, so I may go see it. If I’m disappointed, at least we’ll still have the amazing 2017 PBS version, which has become my new gold standard. (I still like the Winona Ryder film, too).

Emma—wow. I’m curious about this one, but it looks potentially horrible. (For one thing, Mr. Woodhouse is completely out-of-character.) Again, I’m really happy with the 2009 Masterpiece Classic series, which managed to be hilarious and classy, so I’m not itching to see this.

I haven’t read Call of the Wild, so I can’t comment on the trailer as it pertains to adaptation. It looks like a traditional, feel-good, Disney live-action film for families, which is not a bad thing. The CGI is a bit unfortunate, but other than that, it looks like it might be the best of this bunch.

I’d like to take this moment to observe the dearth of adaptations of other, equally worthy classics. I posted a list of suggestions earlier this year, but there’s so many, many more.