Surprising to see such a high rating for this movie, and I can only guess it's because people don't know the original story. The rating would be much lower if people understood how much stuff director Greta Gerwig changed and added. Greta is a great writer and director when doing her own projects. But when she took on this classic, she inserted herself too much. First and foremost is the back-and-forth timeline. Don't pretend you had no problem keeping up. It was near impossible. You see a married couple, and then you see them meeting for the first time. Okay, that is obviously a flashback. But then you see a different couple, and you have no idea what timeline they are in. Jo has hair in one scene, and then it's gone, then back again. So it was easy to see which timeframe she was in. But not for any other character. The back and forth story frames was the same thing that ruined the last few seasons of LOST, and it was very intrusive of Greta to do that to Alcott's classic. Next, we have Greta's own inventions, characters such as the book publisher who looks into the camera and speaks directly to us in the audience. I don't remember where that part was in the original book. Oh yeah, it wasn't. The director did this on her own and invented an unneeded story line where Jo March was the writer of Little Women, and not Louisa May Alcott. A huge mistake. All 4 girls looked the same age, and this was a big casting mistake, plus Laurie looked 12 years old throughout. I know Great wanted to hire the A-list of young actors, but the characters are not the same age like these actors are.

Starting at the end is rarely a good idea because it destroys all the emotional payoffs. We open with Jo selling her stories (so now all the earlier stuff where she's struggling to be a writer is diffused of that struggle). We open with Amy already in Paris and painting (so now we understand that Amy does escape to a more glamorous life as desired),and even worse, we open with her running into Laurie and us finding out that Jo turned down his engagement (so ALL romance in their earlier years is now "who cares?" because we know where it leads). Oscar nominated?? Filmmakers wanted to be different? Put their mark on the story by telling it out of order? Makes no narrative sense. So if you already know the story and you won't to see pretty costuming, watch it. If you don't know the story, watch the 1994 version instead.

First let me say - I love this book and the story. There are LOTS of flashbacks in this version - which really made continuity hard. I think Beth dies ... now Beth is alive in the next scene. Just tell the story. I'll stick with the 1949 and 1994 movies!