i have absolutely no knowledge of author phillipa pearce or any of her novel and if tom ` s midnight garden be typical of her work i probably would have have little interest in her book a a child . when i be a child i wasn ` t really interested in litreture unless it have soldier fight monster complete with a high body count judging by this film version of tom ` s midnight garden i guess pearce write for low middle class kid since much of the story of revolves around protagonist tom long move to a house with no garden then suddenly find a metaphysical one . have a garden of your own be no doubt something that work class people didn ` t have in the 1950s so i guess there some political class ridden subtext there somewhere . there also a romance involve a young girl call hattie but again be cynical kid amoured by love story . perhaps the bad criticism be that very little in the way of excitement or adventure happens within the narrative this be a childrens film that seem date by it source . it inoffensive but i ` m surprise by it high rating by the imdb voter . i wonder how many of them would have give it so many high mark if they be 10 year old who ` d just see the lord of the ring trilogy .