An enjoyable film and for the most part well done, but very annoying due to the use of both English and American actors - resulting in both accents amongst supposed family members!! So jarring and sadly all too frequently done. I understand the marketability of TransAtlantic appeal but please, please, why can't they all sound alike?? Unfortunately it does suffer from Disneyfication with very large helpings of saccharine and some predictable "gushy" emotional scenes. There's a particularly wearing scene where Heidi tumbles down the hillside and ends up hanging over the river gorge clinging to a tree branch - all the time while Peter is trying to rescue her, Klara is shouting "Heidi!" at 1 second intervals. I felt like shouting "Shut the **** up!" Otherwise the scenery, sets, etc. are lovely - nice period details and gorgeous mountains! (Filmed in Austria though and not Switzerland - although I daresay we have to be grateful it wasn't filmed in Montana!)
... View MoreI don't remember reading the book to know if this adaptation was faithful but it wouldn't have mattered. I watched this on YouTube ,and quite honestly found it to be way too long and rather boring- did it really need to be a miniseries?. I mean the scenery was beautiful and I had actually visited the areas a few years before it was filmed but besides that it had little too offer. Noley Thornton as Heidi was cute and a decent actress but she just didn't move me into caring about her.She just seemed as if she was sleepwalking through her lines half the time. Lexi Randall as Klara was not my cup of tea much either, she came across a bit too whiny in her acting and dull. Jane Seymour basically phones her role in, overacting badly and the kid who played Peter was awful - He looked as if he was bored and couldn't wait to finish his scenes so he could go play video games or something. Now my biggest disappointment is the way the grandfather's part was portrayed. I love Jason Robards and always found him handsome and wonderful to watch even in his twilight years however this was not one of those times. His grandfather is totally uninteresting and has nothing to offer, the synopsis says Heidi charms him too but she really doesn't. Most of the movie he is frowning or scowling at her and just plain mean ,she never charms him. If anything his guilt prevents that and his cowardice too,he even admits it. I was really disappointed as I think Robards should have had something more to work with instead of a one note script that basically had him scowling and walking away. The Shirley Temple version to me seemed much better and vastly different with the grandfather really loving her and going after her whereas Robards character didn't seem to care that she was leaving and even at the end he asks her why shed wanna live with him "she responds ,because i love you grandfather " and while he hugs her ,he doesn't say it back. I just cant see how she could love him when he never really acts as if he truly cares about her. 5/10 mostly for the scenery
... View MoreThis is well-acted and written, but, if you want a faithful adaption of the book keep looking.This movie does not follow the book. To sum up: the kids know everything and the adults are selfish or cruel or incompetent or some combination of the three.Grandfather never yelled at Heidi in the book. But he did throughout the movie, including the last scene where he tells Heidi, "Go back to Frankfurt!!!". Of course, Heidi doesn't because she knows more than her grandfather. Ridiculous.Maybe if I had never read the book I could have enjoyed this movie, but when they make caring characters cruel, and change the meaning of the book, it just ruins everything for me.
... View MoreExcellent movie!! This is one of my all-time favorite movies. It is beautifully acted and I never get sick of watching it over and over!! Noley Thorton is cute as a button and perfect as little Heidi and Lexi Randall's performance as Clara is amazing! Jason Robards is wonderful as grandfather and Jane Seymour is great as Freuline Rottenmier, the character you love to hate! I think this is one of the best if not the best family movies of all time! I reccomend it to anyone of any age!
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