The New Adventures of Pippi Longstocking

It seems like I'm one of the few Americans who read translations of the Pippi Longstocking books, AND saw this movie as a kid. At this point, I can't remember what came first for me, the books or the movies, but I will say that as a child, I enjoyed both.

Pippi is a GREAT character in literature, I could consider her arguably one of the greatest female characters ever created.

She's strong, she's independent, she's fun, intelligent and gifted.

What girl WOULDN'T want to be like Pippi? I know that reading about her as a little girl, I was endlessly jealous of Tommy and Annika who got Pippi as a playmate. I wished she'd move next door to me.

This movie doesn't do such a great job of translating the Pippi character. She seems less creative and imaginative, and more crazy and dim. There's something about the character of Pippi that is lacking in the movie and the movie loses a lot because of that.

But Pippi aside, the movie isn't ALL bad. It's a late 80's kids movie with cheesy special effects, poor acting, and a silly story. But through all this, it is still enjoyable. The situations that Pippi and Tommy and Annika get in are still fun, and it's a good movie for young kids. If you do show this movie to your kids though, be sure to buy them the books afterwards and show them what Pippi is REALLY like. This movie is a good starting point to get kids introduced to the great character of Pippi.

This movies is great fun for kids considering some of the garbage that is on tv these days. The kids love Pippi's outlook on life and her dream in believing that you can do what you set your heart on. She is a girl who believes in herself and looks for the good in others. Kids could do worse.

I'll be the first to admit that this film is light-hearted and often silly. After all, the Pippi books are silly and light-hearted, so why shouldn't a movie version be? The character of Pippi is a great character study for kids: She is imaginative, creative, confident and above all, a good-willed and courteous child. Anyone who expects her and the stories she stars in to be methodical depictions of the serious side of life should re-examine his/her life and priorities. Maybe then the detractors will realize that life can be fun, at all ages.

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)

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.