I loved the Pippi films when I was little. I was always amazed by her superhuman powers and envied the life she led in Villa Villakula with Mr. Nilsson (her pet monkey), her treasure chest of gold, and a complete and utter lack of adult supervision. I read the books too, but always liked the movies better. I always wondered if maybe the English translations of the novels just weren't very good. They seemed a bit stilted.
Anyway, each of the Pippi films are pretty much interchangeable, and I remember at one point hearing that they were all filmed at the same time, which didn't come as a surprise. Each seems to involve Pippi, Tommy, and Annika (the two neighbor kids) engaging in a series of adventures that always end up making the local adults look like complete idiots, but in a rather harmless way. Pippi's father, an old, salty, sea-faring-type, pops up from time to time. He seems to have a remarkably close and loving relationship with his daughter, despite the fact that he's never around.
Watching these films now, it's obvious they were made on a very low budget. The English-dubbed versions used the same voice actress for the spoken parts of Pippi, Tommy, and Annika, who just modifies her voice slightly for each part. This is a bit distracting.
Even though it has to be acknowledged that the books made an important contribution to Children's Literature, time might forget these old Pippi movies. I hardly ever see them on TV anymore, and they're hard to find in the video store. They're kind of fun, kind of campy, but all in all, not worth going out of your way to see.
