Babar, der Elefantenkönig

Babar is just one of the most iconic, important, and most remembered cartoon characters of the '80s, but in spite of everything, I think his series is not as good as it looks or is reenactment, personally I find the series a little drier for the children's public (since this is your target audience). But despite that, I think it's a good series and I recommend it a lot.

"Babar" is one of the sweetest and most innocent childish TV shows ever made. It is one of many animated TV shows I grew up with. Those stories with that affectionate elephant family are something I always found heartwarming. I used to watch this many times in the good old days.

"Babar" also happens to be very educative and moral, teaching valuable lessons for children, as well as good morals and values.

But times have changed very much. This generation doesn't have shows like this anymore. Instead, children of nowadays watch mostly crappy cartoons with violence, crappy humor, too much noise, dreadful artwork and absolutely no interest, not to mention that they don't teach anything worthy or useful for children.

Overall, "Babar" is one of the best "babyish" animated TV shows.

While some fans would argue that this TV adaptation isn't as faithful to the books as they would like, or that the 2D animation isn't as clean-looking and modern as that in the newer "Babar and the Adventures of Badou", I really think personally that out of anything Babar-related at all, this series is my favourite and probably the deepest and best developed version thus far. Unique in its style, brought to life with vivid backgrounds, a beautiful reoccurring soundtrack score and adorable yet complex characters, it's a show which is one of those rare cartoons which both children and adults alike can enjoy. Bureaucratic humour and creative jokes, wacky slapstick scenes and cute moments with whimsical adventures are balanced out with emotional and poignant scenes of true friendship, displays of loyalty and Babar's love for his family, friends and kingdom.

The characters in this series definitely grow over time; the stuffy, high-strung and rather cowardly minister of protocol elephant, Pompadour, proves himself to be more brave and admirable than he initially lets on, and his strong friendship with Cornelius is portrayed beautifully. Rataxes, the bumbling but somewhat menacing king of Rhinoland, starts out as just a basic bad guy villain, but grows as the series continues and shows that he too has the capacity for good, and he genuinely cares about others. Characters such as Basil, Zephir, Arthur, Jacques and Chef Truffles give the show some extra depth and wonderful stories, especially in episodes such as "The Unsung Hero", and stories from the original books remain, as well as characters like Madame.

Truly the character who brings the most to the series and proves to be the most endearing is Babar himself, who after the death of his mother explores the big city with the help of Madame, but then returns to bring modernity, education and most of all safety to his beloved friends, with an image of one day creating a peaceful jungle. Never too heavy-handed for children, nor too dopey and dumbed down, Babar is a show which shares timeless and positive messages without being preachy. The virtual absence of crude humour, vulgarity and gore is really nice to find in the show (in a sea of cartoons such as "The Animaniacs", "Ren & Stimpy" and "Rugrats", there's something pleasant to be said about a show which can be funny without hidden innuendo jokes, offensive humour and crass content), and save for a few clip-based flashback episodes, the show always has something new to bring to the table.

Unfortunately, by its last season it underwent some bad changes, including updating its animation style, dropping Pompadour and Troubadour from the series entirely and presenting stories which were much more silly and childish. Even back when I was six years old, the last few episodes just weren't interesting to me anymore, and I'd instead go back and watch the older ones. The ugliness of the CGI animation in "Babar and the Adventures of Badou", not to mention the sheer dopiness and babyishness of it, has also had me nostalgic for this older version of the show. One day I hope some animator or artist is prompted to continue the stories in the spirit of this version with all its colourful characters and originality, but at the same time maybe it's better that it ended when it did before it just took the route that its latter computer-animated twin went down. This was definitely one of Nelvana's better productions and one which really showed how versatile their company was at creating children's entertainment which could also appeal to adults.

When I was a little girl, at 5, I watched this cartoon and was amazed by it's beauty, matureness and lovely music and backgrounds. It is very moralful to kids and very emotionally touching as people learn lessons throughout life, such as Flora seeing how people would work their hardest to provide for others, (even in the dead of night!) teaching her to be more respectful and more caring and concern for the benefit of other people, that are less fortunate then her. Also to not bad mouth about those shes loves and to bring out the good side of things of all she stands for. Other lessons such as Harsh, emotionally scared ones such as getting your life endangered by a poisonous snake and ending up in a coma. Alexander willing to make up for upsetting other people and endangering the lives of others. Pom learning to be honest and right and to be more confident. And to face up to faults and problems that you cause to people and improve your character. This cartoon is the greatest influence on my life that will stick with me forever:)

I was not a big fan of the books or TV show. I did see a few episodes and it was okay.

Babar had a more slow mellow feeling to it. That's probably why it didn't engage me too well.

Nevertheless, Babar is an iCONIC children show of the 90s. I was not a huge fan, still Babar being a chilled character with mild violence was pretty Gold.

What can be learned? Lions are not the only kings.

Verdict: No pink Elephant in this one. Just elephants in dresses. Will you notice?