The New Adventures of Pippi Longstocking (1988)

Touches You

Simply A Masterpiece

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

When they were growing up, my kids latched onto this film. They probably watched it thirty times. I could hear it in the background until the tunes were stuck in my head. It is a musical with songs that are not all that sophisticated. The story is simplistic. But it is for kids. Pippi is played by a young lady named Tami Erin. She does a decent job as the weird daughter of a sea captain that has arrived at an old house, along with a horse and a monkey. Of course, she gravitates toward the neighbor kids whose parents immediately see her as a bad influence. She is a child, living a world of rules and regulations. Soon the cold blooded authorities swoop in. It's all pretty formula but there are nice scenes and she does kind of sparkle.

After her father's ship is carried off by a sudden storm, the spunky Pippi Longstocking is stranded with her horse, Alfonso, and monkey, Mr. Nilsson, and takes up residence in the old family home, which is thought by neighborhood children to be haunted. Soon, two children, Tommy and Annika, venture into the house only to meet up with Pippi. The three soon become friends and get into various adventures together, including cleaning the floor with scrubbing shoes, dodging the "splunks", going down a river in barrels, and helping Pippi with the problem of having to go to a children's home. Older children will probably get the most out of this movie.

Ah, another member of The 100 Worst club! At this point I've already seen Batman & Robin, Can't Stop the Music, Cool As Ice, Dungeons and Dragons, and about 10 more, so it's about time I saw another one. And trust me, Pippi Longstocking is pretty yucky. One of my friends loves it because she watched it constantly as a child, but I couldn't help but laugh at most of this movie. The special effects are very obvious, especially when anyone gets thrown great distances (uh, wire work, anyone?). And for some reason we're supposed to believe that Pippi is this magical child, but half of her 'magical' abilities are simple flips and cartwheels that any gymnast could pull off. But, I admit, few children could make a plane fly just by telling it to go up or pick up a grown man and hurl him into a tree. The songs are patently 80s, and stuck in my head for way too long (maybe because my friend knew them by heart and sung along!). Then there is the title character herself, who comes off less sympathetic as she does bratty and simple minded. She has the attention span of a knat, never listens to anyone and for some reason that makes her adorable? Uh, I'm gonna go with a "no" there, Alex. But for all its glaring faults, Pippi is not pure evil like some flicks I've watched (Dungeons & Dragons, anyone?). I got my revenge, though, because after we watched this I made my friend watch Can't Stop the Music from start to finish. Talk about your torture sessions! I give Pippi a respectable 1.5/4 stars.

I've always liked Astrid Lindgrens children's books very very much, and watched the original Swedish TV-series of Pippi over and over again (with Dutch subtitles). I think the Swedish girl (Inger Nilsson) who played Pippi in the original version was WAY better then this annoying American teenager pretending to be all cute and 10 years old! True, the original series look rather out of date now (being filmed in the 1970's), but for me, that always added a kind of innocense and charm to it. And the horse and monkey were not supposed to talk! Why add such "It's a kiddy movie, so all animals are fluffy and can speak" nonsense to an already great story ?The only possible justification I can think of for "improving" the Swedish series like this is that the original TV-series isn't available in the US. Maybe American kids like this new version, but I will surely NEVER watch this crap again! I still have some of the original episodes on tape, and my cousins still laugh every time they watch them (despite the lousy special effects and the subtitles)!I give this terrible rip-off 1 star out of 5 (maybe kids who don't know the books or the Swedish version like it)