This compilation of cartoons takes from different Madeline series’, produced from about 1993 to 2001. Each episode is in the half-hour long format, with different title cards, theme songs and narrators, but all following the same format of rhyming narration, and imaginative story lines, songs peppered throughout, and a couple even dipping into the supernatural.
I wish I had a niece or daughter I could show this to so that I may get a better perspective of how well this adventures are to be received. I indulge by letting my inner child run amok more often than may be healthy, but he tends to want to pop on Freakazoid or those old, barely animated Marvel cartoons from the 60s (do yourself a favour and look them up). Still, I can appreciate the lessons of friendship, imagination and friendship (again) that these stories teach children, and the bright portrayals of every location and character. I am more than aware of the beloved children’s books by Ludwig Bemelman, and these are deserving to be in the canon of Madeline tales (one of which is a direct adaptation of the book Madeline and the Gypsies).
Video
Full frame. The quality wavers as the episodes come from older or newer sources, but each is as clear as they can be. The most recently produced episode reveals a near-perfect picture.
Audio
Stereo. A decent track with nothing special done to it. The songs would be the greatest test and they come off very clear…clear enough to catch the one moment where the singer suddenly breaks the fourth wall and acknowledges the difference between the cartoon children and “you.”
Special Features
None.
Final Thoughts
A perfectly acceptable sample platter of the most recent, animated incarnation of Madeline. Surely to be enjoyable for many young children.
