Madeline (1998)

Lets go back to 1999. I was 5 years old, and even though I was a boy into "boy things" that didn't like "girl things," I enjoyed Madeline a lot even though it was "girly." There was a lot of fun adventure, great characters, and stories that were simple enough for me to follow. I absolutely loved the cartoon that aired on Toon Disney. That year in Kindergarten we watched this movie, and it was great because it was just like the cartoons I watched on Toon Disney. It captured the imagination very well, even if it was a little scary.And that's it's single flaw, the "PG edge." I watched it recently, and this movie doesn't really do anything for me outside of nostalgia. I can see how it's great for young children, but not really beyond that. I'm kind of board as a young adult, would have been board as a teen, and would have been board as an 8 year old. The 2 swear words, Pepeto's animal room, and the kidnapping plot (main contributors to the PG I suspect), don't really do anything to make the movie "more appealing for older audiences." All I can see these doing is make it less appealing for parents and guardians to put this on for their young children. While all the plots are handled realistically, they laid them on a tad thick, considering that the TV-Y cartoon could pull them off without being too scary.I recommend this for the target audience of young children, and don't be too turned off by the PG rating. This isn't Goonies PG, this isn't Star Wars PG, this is Frozen and Moana level PG.

Madeline is a clever movie about a brave and smart little girl and how she stands up to Pepito and Lord Covington. It can be syrupy and corny sometimes but it's got some entertaining moments, too.Hattie Jones is a pretty decent actor for her first role. She may not have had the acting chops to play Madeline, but she still did pretty good for her age. Her anger, her fearlessness, her mischief, her sadness, her precociousness was enjoyable to watch and this was my movie as a kid. Most of the other actors also did well for their roles and personalities but I didn't like Vicki. It's too bad I couldn't get to see more of Hattie. Some people may have problems with her having a British accent instead of a French accent, though.Madeline doesn't act much like a real kid because of her acting too mature for her age but she's a unique character and her bravery, friendliness, and fierce personality are good qualities in a little girl. Pepito is a good character because he changes from a troublesome little boy, to a friendly and helpful boy. Lord Covington is a sympathetic and relatable antagonist because he wants to close down the school because of his sadness for the death of his wife.Now my real problems are:They picked a little Asian girl to be one of the girls, I don't think this was used in the book? I haven't read much of it.I've never liked the trouble Madeline and the girls cause. Yes, I know they're children, but they shouldn't be influencing girls to act like them. And also, yes it's a movie, but I never liked seeing kids misbehaving a lot. And the kids cry over an appendix, while it's faithful to the book, I think that them crying over something like getting their appendix out is weird. I still remember fondly watching this movie as a kid and over the Summer and Fall in 2015. It's not one of the best movies to watch, in fact, it might be forgettable because of its formulaic writing, storytelling, characters and directing but this mostly lies in the writing and directing, though it's certainly better than the Madeline cartoons that were out in the 80s and 90s and always had been to me, being 11 years old and watching the movie, I was too old for the cartoons. I didn't care much for them.

Taken from the classic books by Ludwig Bemelmans, Madeline is the darling story of 12 little girls who live in a boarding school. The woman in charge of the home is a nun, Miss Clavel (Frances McDormand). Red-headed Madeline is the smallest of the girls but is, nevertheless, fearless and curious. The film follows Madeline's escapades as she has her appendix out, clashes with Pepito (the boy next door), falls in the river and more. There is a subplot concerning the approaching sale of the school and what it will mean to the girls who live there. Is it possible to have a happy ending?This extremely watchable movie for children is a wonderful addition to the repertoire of good children's films. Hatty Jones is a delight as Madeline and the other little girls are fun and expressive. The leap from book to movie is smooth and successful; the film includes many of the books' key elements and will thus be appreciated by Bemelmans' fans. There is more than enough action and humor to keep children interested from start to finish. Adults will be charmed by the film as well. Recommended for families who are looking for quality alternatives to Disney, Beethoven the dog, Charlotte's Web, etc.

The fixation with turning any old cartoon or TV series into a contemporary movie continues with this adaptation of the classic chidren's stories and cartoons. So much care and attention has been lavished on getting absolutely everything right that you can't help but think to yourself, why did they bother? Sure, it's reasonably pleasant while it's on, and overwhelmingly inoffensive, but do we actually gain much from having a 1998 live action version of Madeline? What does it add exactly?At least Frances McDormand gets to dabble a little in gentle comedy. Nigel Hawthorne wanders in and out only long enough to pick up his paycheque. However, in one all-too-brief scene Stephane Audran shows how it should be done. Little Hatty Jones is charm itself as Madeline, engaging in various misadventures that lack the urgency of most other kiddie movies, and almost certainly the same level of violence.It's a film about 9 year old girls. And because of its inoffensive nature in all areas, that's precisely who's going to like it the most.