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''The Secret of Moonacre'' is a 2008 fantasy film based on the novel ''The Little White Horse'' by Elizabeth Goudge. The film was directed by Gábor Csupó and starred Dakota Blue Richards in the leading role. The film premiered at the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival and was released in the United Kingdom on February 6, 2009 by Warner Bros. ==Plot== This begins with Maria mourning her father at his funeral. In the English countryside of Moonacre Valley there resides two clans: the de Noirs and the Merryweathers. A woman of the de Noir clan is so pure of heart that nature gifts her with a set of powerful magical moon pearls, and she comes to be known as the Moon Princess. The two families unite to celebrate her wedding to Sir Wrolf Merryweather, and exchange two beautiful animals as gifts: her father, Sir William offers a rare black lion to the bridegroom, and Sir Wrolf bestows a white unicorn from the ocean to his bride. In return, the Moon Princess decides to share the moon pearls with both families. But the power of the pearls incites greed in her father and fiancee, and the two begin to fight over them. In the scuffle, Sir William gets the locked casket containing the pearls, and Sir Wrolf the key. Angered and hurt by their selfish desires, the Moon Princess curses the land. If another Moon Princess does not arrive to reconcile the families and return the pearls to the ocean within five-thousand moons time, Moonacre valley will be plunged into eternal darkness. From that day on, the Merryweathers and de Noirs despised and blamed each other for the loss of the pearls, which mysteriously vanished. Hundreds of years later, Maria Merryweather is left an orphan after her father is murdered in London. At the reading of his will, she discovers that he gambled away the family's estate and most of her inheritance. The only thing left is a mysterious book titled ''The Ancient Chronicles of Moonacre Valley''. Due to the loss of the house, Maria and her governess, Miss Heliotrope, must go live with Maria's estranged uncle, Sir Benjamin, in Moonacre Valley, where her father departed from years before her birth. On their journey to Moonacre Manor, Miss Heliotrope and Maria are attacked in their carriage by bandits. Upon arrival, Maria discovers that her uncle is a strict, cold, bad tempered man with very little interest in them. Sir Benjamin confiscates the book on sight, claiming his brother had no right to take it from the manor. He warns Maria that the bandits who attacked them are de Noirs, and she should keep out of the woods if she wants to avoid encountering them again. Maria begins to notice there is a strange magic in the house. A piano plays by itself; there is a large ferocious-looking dog with black fur and red eyes, named Wrolf, who appears as a black lion in mirrors. There is always food available despite there being no cook or kitchen in sight; the ceiling of her bedroom projects a moving image of the night sky; from her bedroom window she has seen a white unicorn, and a portrait of a woman in a forest appears each day in the hall outside Maria's bedroom, no matter how many times Sir Benjamin takes it down. Sir Benjamin teaches Maria to ride a horse. As she's taking it around Moonacre, she hears a distressed cry coming from the forest. She finds a rabbit in a trap. As she's releasing it, Maria is ambushed by the de Noir bandits. They intend to take her back to the clan's leader, but Wrolf arrives and fights them off. She takes the rabbit home and dubs it Serena. The next day, Maria is led by Wrolf to the secret kitchen and its magical cook, Marmaduke Scarlet. He tells her where her uncle hid the book and advised her to finish reading the story. Once she does so, Marmaduke claims she is the new Moon Princess, citing her seeing the white horse (which only a true Moon Princess can) as proof. Maria refuses to believe him, and returns to her room, where she works out the next full moon will be the five-thousandth. Feeling she can not possibly save the valley in time, she decides to run away. Finding the main gate locked, Maria looks for an exit through the woods, where she hears a voice calling her name. Following it, she finds an entrance to a large hollowed out tree. It's the home of the person who was calling to her, a strange woman called Loveday. In her mirror Maria sees a vision of the moon crashing into Moonacre. Loveday advises her against running away, and tells her to find the pearls. Maria realizes that the book holds the key to the pearl casket - she plans to give it to the de Noirs, thinking the pearls are still locked in the box. Loveday agrees to show her to their castle, but turns back upon seeing it, declaring she's "never going back there again," leaving Maria to continue alone. Maria manages to sneak into the de Noir castle, but is caught in the dining hall. She hands over the key to the Coeur de Noir, but he shows her the casket is already unlocked and empty. He believes the Merryweathers stole the pearls, and the curse will only punish them. In order to stop Maria from fulfilling her role as Moon Princess and finding the pearls, Coeur de Noir locks her in their dungeon. She escapes and is guided home by Wrolf. After she escaped, Coeur de Noir orders her to be killed by saying "their death is our victory." His son Robin seems a little put off by this and remarks: "stupid girl should have stayed where you were". When Maria returns home her uncle is furious, and refuses to listen to her, but apologizes to her later that evening. Loveday appears in her room the next morning, giving her a dress belonging to the first moon princess. Maria persuades her to come downstairs, and the piano plays as if in recognition. Loveday begins to play, and Maria joins her, but soon notices a mirror, showing her Uncle and Loveday, in wedding attire, dancing to the same music. In the mirror, she reveals to Benjamin that she is a de Noir and Benjamin becomes enraged, believing she tricked him to look for the pearls. Back outside the mirror, Maria talks to Loveday about what she saw, and becoming angered at the pride of both her uncle and Loveday, tells her that Pride is the real curse of the valley. Upstairs, looking at the portrait of the first Moon Princess, she realizes that it points the way to the pearls. The chef suggests she asks Robin, de Noir's son, and when she refuses he points out that she has plenty of pride herself, causing her to think again. When leaving, she gives the chef letters addressed to Loveday and Benjamin, telling them to meet in the house. Trapping Robin, by hanging him from his ankle, she makes him promise to listen to her. After he agrees, Maria cuts him down and convinces him to help her find the pearls, which are hidden in a tree deep within the forest. As Robin is creating a false trail, Maria notices that he is keeping her ribbon in his pocket, and there is some gentle flirting between them. Meanwhile, Benjamin and Loveday meet, quickly realize what Maria has done, and follow her with Miss Heliotrope, using Chef's superior sense of smell. On the trip, Benjamin and Loveday's relationship slowly begins to repair itself. Robin is abducted near the tree by one of the de Noir clan and is taken to his father, but Maria thinks he has abandoned her. Wrolf is trapped in a pit by two more of the de Noirs. Maria runs with the help of the unicorn who shows her the way. De Noir vows to catch her himself, calling his son and daughter (as Loveday is revealed to be) traitors. De Noir finds Maria near the tree and Robin escapes to help her; he tries to protect Maria and releases her from his father. They run into the tree roots and into a secret chamber, where they are followed by some de Noir men. Maria finds the pearls on a statue and as soon as she touches them they start to glow. Robin and Maria escape from the de Noir men by running down a secret tunnel which leads them to the place "where it all began." Wrolf has been shot and slowly losing his strength, lies on the grass, seemingly dying. De Noir is waiting for them, but then Maria's Uncle and Loveday arrive, along with Chef and Digweed the cabby, followed by Maria and Robin who stop them all from fighting. Maria attempts to get Benjamin and de Noir to sacrifice their pride, but neither can do it. Attempting to return the pearls to the sea and failing, she realizes she must sacrifice herself if they are to sacrifice their pride, and throws herself into the ocean. Both families are shocked at this, especially Robin. He falls to his knees as he watches her plunge off the cliff and into the water below. The moon accepts her offering, and Maria herself is rescued by the fabled white unicorn from her father's story book. Wrolf is restored to life, but as the giant black lion, restoring the magic to Moonacre. A de Noir attempts to kill Maria, but she is saved by Miss Heliotrope. Benjamin proposes to Loveday again, and she accepts. Digweed confuses Miss Heliotrope's question ("Is there to be a wedding?") as reference to Miss Heliotrope and himself. They all smile as Maria looks behind her towards the camera. The story ends with her face drawn into the book, which is then closed. Beside the book is the box, key, and the pearls. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「The Secret of Moonacre」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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