What makes us identify or sympathize with a character? Overcoming hardship; sacrifice; a human flaw; growth; making amends for a past misdeed; humility; compassion; suffering; remorse; integrity in the face of struggle; being good without being righteous- unless the countervailing force is evil. I find these qualities in short supply in Jo, Beth, Amy, and Meg. They come from tremendous advantage; they're hyper competitive and vindictive. Father comes home from the Civil War unscathed, the family whole again. Frustrated that she's merely "very talented, Amy laments that she's "not a genius" then switches to another art form, at which, of course, she excels. Without much room for originality, as the novel has been converted to film several times already, Dir. Gerwig chooses a non-linear narrative and indulges colorfully luscious repasts, sumptuous costumes, and close-ups that flush the young women in boastful rants that the viewer is supposed to accept at face value- I'm great! Aren't I great? You're 'darn' right I am. I wanted to injure my sister with jealous rage, but I also mightily admit it. Etc. Saorise is a very good actress again, while Streep provides generational ballast, though she teeters on caricature throughout, albeit for humorous effect. Jo's curmudgeonly publisher is influenced by HIS daughters to launch, in effect, Jo's career, and she scores big for independent women everywhere by refusing to sell the copyright, giving him a second dash of comeuppance, his future success dependent on his support of Jo's. Beth's death to Scarlet Fever is the one tragedy, but after a few tears and funeral, the family moves beyond it and fast, catapulted by those precious drives to find their respective lots in life- in a movie that could have avowed that Daddy March's lot could easily have been death, maiming, or- at least- trauma from fighting in a brutal war. Or show mother losing her calm and not just admitting to one daughter in private that she has to 'work' hard