The Secret of Moonacre

Lore & Background

The film follows Maria Merryweather, who inherits a book after her father's death and learns of a curse on Moonacre Valley. The curse, stemming from the feud between the Merryweather and de Noir families, threatens eternal darkness at the rising of the 5000th moon unless a pure heart is heard. Maria discovers she is the new Moon Princess and must unite the feuding families. She retrieves magical pearls, confronts the de Noir leader Coeur de Noir, and ultimately jumps into the sea with the pearls, leading to the appearance of a white unicorn and the lifting of the curse.

Filming began in September 2007, with most scenes shot in Hungary, including locations such as Dobogókő, Alcsútdoboz, Csesznek, and Budapest. The film's score was composed by Christian Henson and features the Sacconi Quartet.

Reader's Guide

The Secret of Moonacre received a mixed critical reception, with a 23% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Critics praised its production values and design but criticized the script, acting, and pacing. Some reviewers found it appealing for younger audiences, noting its 'fast-paced storytelling and beautiful effects' and 'lush colours and elaborate costumes'. Dakota Blue Richards' performance in the lead role was well received. The film's significance lies in its adaptation of a classic children's novel and its attempt to bring a magical, Victorian-era story to screen, though it struggled to achieve commercial or critical success.

Did You Know?

• The film's title was chosen via an internet poll, beating out 'The Moon Princess'.
• Most of the film was shot in Hungary, with Csesznek Castle as a main outdoor location.
• The soundtrack includes a song 'Stars' performed by Skye Edwards, and a lullaby version by Caroline Lost.
• The film grossed only $7,070,330 worldwide against a $27 million budget.

From Goudge's Pages to the Screen

The 2008 fantasy feature The Secret of Moonacre draws its narrative roots from Elizabeth Goudge's 1946 novel The Little White Horse, though the adaptation takes considerable liberties with the source material. Director Gábor Csupó helmed the project, assembling a cast that paired newcomer Dakota Blue Richards in the title role with veteran character actors including Ioan Gruffudd, Tim Curry, Natascha McElhone, and Juliet Stevenson. An interesting detail from the film's development phase was the decision to rebrand the project away from the novel's original name. Rather than simply choosing a new title internally, the production team ran an internet poll that invited fans of Goudge's book to vote between two options: The Moon Princess and The Secret of Moonacre. The latter option claimed the popular vote and became the film's official title, giving the project a name that carried a sense of mystery befitting its fairy-tale premise.

Shooting Across Two Countries

Principal photography kicked off in September 2007, with the production splitting its work between two countries. A handful of scenes were captured on location in London, England, but the bulk of the filming took place in Hungary, where the crew utilized several striking locations including Dobogókő, Alcsútdoboz, Csesznek, and Budapest. Csesznek Castle served as one of the primary outdoor settings, while director Gábor Csupó specifically selected Schossberger Castle to visually represent the Moonacre mansion, a choice that gave the estate a grand, old-world architectural presence. On the musical front, composer Christian Henson crafted the score with performances by the Sacconi Quartet. The soundtrack album made its digital debut on 17 February 2009 before arriving on CD the following month. Among its tracks is the song "Stars," co-written by Henson and Caroline Lost and sung by Skye Edwards; Lost also recorded her own lullaby rendition of the tune, which was issued as a standalone single in February 2009.

A Curse Spanning Five Thousand Moons

At the heart of the story is a young girl named Maria Merryweather who, following her father's death, inherits a volume called The Ancient Chronicles of Moonacre Valley. The text recounts how the first Moon Princess received magical pearls from the moon, and how the Merryweather and de Noir families, driven by greed over those pearls, triggered a devastating curse: Moonacre Valley would sink into permanent darkness at the rising of the five-thousandth moon unless a pure heart was heard. Forced from her London home, Maria travels to Moonacre Manor with her governess Miss Heliotrope to live under the watch of her estranged uncle, Sir Benjamin. There she learns she is the new Moon Princess, identifiable by her ability to see a white unicorn. With the very next full moon set to be the fateful five-thousandth, Maria must locate the hidden pearls and reconcile the two feuding families before the valley is lost forever.

Festival Debut and a Fractured Reception

The film made its world premiere on 6 September 2008 at the Toronto International Film Festival, followed by a screening at the New York International Children's Film Festival in early 2009. Warner Bros. Pictures handled the United Kingdom theatrical release on 6 February 2009. Despite a production budget of twenty-seven million dollars, the film struggled at the box office, collecting roughly 1.4 million pounds in the UK and just over seven million dollars globally. Critical response was largely unsympathetic. Rotten Tomatoes reflected a 23 percent approval rating across twenty-two reviews, with an average score of 4.13 out of ten. The site's consensus noted that while the production values were impressive, the result felt staid and underwritten by a thin script and uneven acting. The Observer's Philip French described it as a film about magic that stubbornly never achieves a sense of wonder, while The Independent's Anthony Quinn awarded a single star, criticizing its sluggish narrative pacing.