Pollyanna Movie Review

I've long heard and even used the term "Pollyanna" to reflect a relentlessly (and even inappropriately) happy person, movie, or story -- but I've never had the context.

Disney's Pollyanna is everything its name would imply, the story of an orphan (Hayley Mills) sent to live with her stern aunt (Jane Wyman) in a small town. Along the way, she cheers up everyone's lives, and Pollyanna's naive lessons on life change everyone, presumably for the better.

Watching this 1960 production, heavy on religion, patriotism, and small-town-aw-shucks morality, is extremely difficult to watch today. It's so saccharine it's difficult to take seriously. Pollyanna actually sings "America the Beautiful" while draped in an American flag costume... at a carnival, of course.

Of course, if you love 1960s Disney live-action movies, you'll want to run -- don't walk -- to pick up the double-disc DVD set. The rest of us can live our lives in blissful ignorance.