“Little Women” is a classic novel written in 1869 by Louisa May Alcott.  There have been many movie versions made, and I am pretty sure I have seen them all.  I have read the book every few years since I was 12; so it was with a skeptical eye that I approached this latest iteration of a beloved novel.  I LOVED IT.  Greta Gerwig has told a familiar story (keeping very close to the original source material), but has made it seem fresh and new.  The story takes place during the Civil War.  The March sisters are played wonderfully by Saorise Ronan, Emma Watson, Florence Pugh, and Eliza Scanlen,  They are frequently left to their own devices while Father (Bob Odenkirk) fights in the war and Marmee (Laura Dern) tends to the local poor,  The action picks up when the sisters meet Mr. Lawrence, their gruff but kind-hearted neighbor (Chris Cooper) and his handsome son, Laurie (Timothee Chalamet) – who is destined to love one sister, but marry another.  Meryl Streep is Aunt March, the rich relative who hires Jo (Saorise) to be her “companion” in return for a promised tour of Europe.  There is a an innovation, though, that some people may not like.  The story is told in flashbacks, not in the linear way of the original novel.  This may be confusing if you are not familiar with the book, but I didn’t think it took anything away from the story.  If you are familiar with the story, disregard what some people have been saying in reviews, Gerwig did not change the ending of the book so Professor Bhaer definitely makes an appearance.  All this version does is add the publishing of the book “Little Women,” which is alluded to at the end of the original.  Whether you are a newbie, or know the story backwards and forwards, you will laugh and cry with Louisa May ALcott’s delightful characters brought to new life by Greta Gerwig.