Heidi

If your looking for a Family film that will appeal to all ages, then look no further. This movie is well acted, the scenery is beautiful and the score is outstanding. Noley Thornton is not to be missed! Once you see this movie, it will stay with you for the rest of your life. Even if you've seen other Heidi movies, don't let that stop you, this one ranks at the very top!

I grew up with this movie. So loving, was, and beautiful. Of course there are some sad parts but overall a very touching film that for me, is a comfort film. Please, please..give it a try! :-) if you enjoyed The Secret Garden (1993, which is one of my favorites as well) you'll probably enjoy this!

Disney is known for some pretty cheesy rock-to-the-head morals but usually the high budget production at least makes it tolerable. This, on the other hand, is low budget Disney cheese - the stuff you find at the back of your fridge and shove way back in, in the hopes that maybe if you ignore it long enough it'll go away. It begins by shoehorning in an overdramatic scene with Heidi's parents. They are on screen for a handful of minutes so who even cares about them? Nobody, at the point where they stand frozen in stupidity watching a tree really really really slowly topple over after being struck by lightening. Seriously. I was glad they were dead. They deserved it. And it all went downhill from there. Whoever cast the Heidi kid... I'm not sure what they were going for. It was like they said "we're looking for another Annie, only with no personality." Honestly, I don't even particularly like Shirley Temple, and the Shirley Temple version was a thousand times beyond this one in terms of quality. Shirley brought personality and precociousness to the role that this kid entirely lacks. As the movie rests on this kid's shoulders, it fails dismally, especially as the rest of the cast perform equally poorly, making the whole movie an exercise in wondering "good god, how much of this can possibly be left to watch?"

I've watched at least two of the other Heidi versions, and this is probably my favorite. I liked the Shirley Temple version a lot, too, but this one is very charming and Noley Thornton is very cute as Heidi. I watched an older version of Heidi today, and it was good as well (with Jean Simmons), but it was definately not as good as this one (though they both have their strong points).

Johanna Spyri's two books "Heidi: Her Years of Wandering and Learning" and "Heidi: How She Used What She Learned" are among the best-known and best-selling children's books in the world. It is therefore crucial that the spirit of Heidi's novels is embraced. This series is a very free adaptation of the novel. I think Johanna Spyri would be surprised at what has been done with her story here. As a Swiss who is familiar with the mountain world, the Heidi novels and the various film adaptations, I think this is the worst adaptation I have ever seen. As a filmmaker, it's also clear to me that you have to adapt and dramatize things when adapting a novel. But this has been painfully unsuccessful here. I recommend Heidi (1978), which is a children's series co-produced in Germany, Austria and Switzerland with 26 parts from 1978. It is closely based on the novels and great importance was attached to a realistic portrayal of the living conditions at the time of the story. For me, it is the best and most detailed film adaptation of the story of Heidi. If you would like to see a more recent movie version of the Heidi story, I recommend the 2015 film tt700392, which, however, ignores the Christian-accented narrative elements of the original.