DVD Review: Madeline And Her Friends

My family and I recently received a copy of the new animated DVD Madeline And Her Friends to review.


YAY! Another new Madeline release! We love the books and series around here, so we were excited when this one arrived. Madeline And Her Friends contains six really cute new to DVD episodes: "Madeline And The Soccer Star", "Madeline’s Singing Dog", "Madeline And The Missing Clown", "Madeline And The Talking Parrot" (our favorite on this one!), "Madeline And The Big Cheese", and "Madeline’s Rescue". As you can tell by the DVD title, the stories included place a bit of an emphasis on friendship and being kind - although, really, ALL Madeline stories tend to do that.

As usual, the stories on this family friendly DVD are all inspired by the stories in the books, and you'll see Madeline's spunky self, along with her adorable doggy Genevieve, her teacher Miss Clavel, Pepito from next door, and of course, all her friends. Once again, with Madeline's help, the DVD delivers the message that little girls can achieve anything they want to, if they are stubborn enough! ;) As a mom, I love series that go hand in hand with books, and the bonus part with this series is that it's appropriate for little girls - I never have to worry that anything inappropriate is being said or done on any of the episodes of Madeline.

In "Madeline And The Missing Clown", the circus has been canceled! You'll see Madeline get Monsieur Funnybones, the shortest clown, laugh again. In "Madeline And The Soccer Star", Madeline's is playing soccer - another one that shows little girls can do anything they put their mind to.

There are no special features included on this DVD. :( I hold out hope that maybe we'll see something included on one of the Madeline discs in the future. (How about a celebrity read-a-long? How cool would that be?)

Madeline and Her Friends will be released this coming Tuesday, June 7th, 2011. Full screen format, it is rated G, safe for all ages, but probably best for the 2-5 crowd. The total running time is 138 minutes. The suggested retail price is $12.99, but Amazon has it on pre-order for $11.99 as of this posting. (Netflix users: this DVD is not yet listed on their site, but be sure to check back. If you need a Madeline fix right away, they do have several other Madeline titles available for streaming right now)

I received a copy of this DVD in order to share my thoughts on it. All opinions are my own.