Lets go back to 1999. I was 5 years old, and even though I was a boy into "boy things" that didn't like "girl things," I enjoyed Madeline a lot even though it was "girly." There was a lot of fun adventure, great characters, and stories that were simple enough for me to follow. I absolutely loved the cartoon that aired on Toon Disney. That year in Kindergarten we watched this movie, and it was great because it was just like the cartoons I watched on Toon Disney. It captured the imagination very well, even if it was a little scary.And that's it's single flaw, the "PG edge." I watched it recently, and this movie doesn't really do anything for me outside of nostalgia. I can see how it's great for young children, but not really beyond that. I'm kind of board as a young adult, would have been board as a teen, and would have been board as an 8 year old. The 2 swear words, Pepeto's animal room, and the kidnapping plot (main contributors to the PG I suspect), don't really do anything to make the movie "more appealing for older audiences." All I can see these doing is make it less appealing for parents and guardians to put this on for their young children. While all the plots are handled realistically, they laid them on a tad thick, considering that the TV-Y cartoon could pull them off without being too scary.I recommend this for the target audience of young children, and don't be too turned off by the PG rating. This isn't Goonies PG, this isn't Star Wars PG, this is Frozen and Moana level PG.

I loved the Madeline picture books after reading them. They were so popular back at the 1930s it spawned an animated TV series that used to air on Playhouse Disney (it got cancelled a few years ago) with some of the episodes on video cassettes. Later, in 1998, Tristar Pictures tried adapting only four of the pictures on screen and did they succeeded in keeping true to the spirit? You're darn right they did.I was shocked to see that this got a 5.9 on this website and yet, the critics from Rottentomatoes gave it some positive reviews. I think that the rating on this website needs to be boosted up to a 7.3 because this happens to be, in my opinion, an underrated classic from my childhood back at 1998.The script was the only problem that I do have with this movie as it could've been better with much more depth. Everything else was great. The sets are amazing and the look of the Parisian skies were beautiful to look while capturing the essence of the setting from the books. The story has some dark serious tones including the death of Lady Covinton, Lord Covinton's wife after telling Madeline a secret about her carving on Madeline's bedroom and her real name was Marie Jean Pierre, but also has some heart to it.The strongest aspects, however, goes to the original music score (with pop songs including Louis Armstrong and Carly Simon), it's characters and how the actors looked like the ones from the books. The acting, on the whole, it's excellent. Frances McDormand did a fabulous job as Miss Clevel because she acted the part and sounded the part. Nigel Hawthorne did pretty good as Lord Covington due to his strict and emotional nature and Kristian De La Osa did fantastic as Pepito, the Spaniard troublemaker who became Madeline's enemy, but was kind to her near the end of the movie, but I think that Hatty Jones steals the show because she was just the right actress for the title character.Overall, Madeline is an underrated classic and my childhood favorite despite it's weak script and I think that some of the users on this website should always watch it no matter what the cost.Rating: 9.0/10

The fixation with turning any old cartoon or TV series into a contemporary movie continues with this adaptation of the classic chidren's stories and cartoons. So much care and attention has been lavished on getting absolutely everything right that you can't help but think to yourself, why did they bother? Sure, it's reasonably pleasant while it's on, and overwhelmingly inoffensive, but do we actually gain much from having a 1998 live action version of Madeline? What does it add exactly?At least Frances McDormand gets to dabble a little in gentle comedy. Nigel Hawthorne wanders in and out only long enough to pick up his paycheque. However, in one all-too-brief scene Stephane Audran shows how it should be done. Little Hatty Jones is charm itself as Madeline, engaging in various misadventures that lack the urgency of most other kiddie movies, and almost certainly the same level of violence.It's a film about 9 year old girls. And because of its inoffensive nature in all areas, that's precisely who's going to like it the most.

The reviews of Madeline range from superb to rubbish, the villain is believable or hopeless, the children charming or irritating, the story gripping or arduous, loved by kids or hated by kids. But one comment cuts to the nub, the children loved the cartoon but not the film.For the MTV generation Madeline is a disappointment, just a well made film, well acted and superbly filmed. No explosions, car chases (well a battered van chase - but not really the same thing), incredible gadgets or over the top villains. Just a good story, low key comedy and if you don't have a tear in your eye at the end then stick to Arnie and Sly.Yes, Paris isn't really like this, and Uzbekistan wasn't independent at the time, but so what. My daughter failed to be appalled at the lack of realism, but watches it over and over again. Perhaps if Spike Lee had made it, the film would have had more gritty realism, but that is to miss the point. If you want a film that younger children will adore, be entertained by and you can let them watch without any qualms then Madeline is it.