The Madeline Movie: Lost in Paris (Review and Giveaway)

When I was contacted to do a review for the animated DVD, The Madeline Movie: Lost in Paris, I jumped for joy and said, “Oui! Oui!” Ever since I was a young girl, I have loved the little French orphan created by Ludwig Bemelmans. I read all the books and still have two of them. And they inspired a love of the French language, resulting in four years of French in high school and one year in college. (Naturally, twenty-some years later, I barely remember any of it!)

But being the mother of four sons, I expected that The Madeline Movie would be watched by “me, myself and I” only. After all, it’s about a little girl who lives in an all-girls school with eleven other little girls. It’s not exactly “boy material,” I thought. Well, I was wrong! I bribed my six-year-olds with a little popcorn, sat them in front of The Madeline Movie: Lost in Paris, and they watched the entire 75 minutes! (We finished the popcorn in the first fifteen minutes, so I know that wasn’t the motivation.) They really enjoyed this movie.

In The Madeline Movie, our heroine is sad because she doesn’t have any relatives like the other girls in the school. Then a mysterious stranger shows up claiming to be her long-lost uncle and whisks her away. It turns out that he works for an embittered old woman who runs a lace-making factory. All of the lace is made by little orphan girls who are kidnapped like Madeline to make the lace for no pay in very poor conditions. Madeline’s friends at the orphanage find out that she’s been abducted and set out to find her, along with their caretaker Miss Clavel, their neighbor Pepito, and their dog Genevieve. In the end, the villains are apprehended, and (spoiler alert!) Madeline uses the reward money she receives for her help in exposing the criminals to establish an orphanage/school for the poor girls from the sweat shop. Madeline also realizes that she has had a family all along with her friends and Miss Clavel at the school.

Although this movie tackles some serious subjects (like being orphaned, child labor and kidnapping), it is done very tastefully and encourages discussion between parents and children. It’s never frightening, just thought-provoking. And, typical of Madeline movies, there are plenty of songs and funny moments to lighten things up and amuse your children. They may even pick up a few French words along the way! The Madeline Movie: Lost in Paris is narrated by screen legend Christopher Plummer (I loved him as Captain Von Trapp in The Sound of Music), and stars the voice talents of Lauren Bacall and Seinfeld’s Jason Alexander. I highly recommend it for family viewing!

The Madeline Movie: Lost in Paris is available for purchase on April 13, 2010. (You can also pre-order on Amazon!)



GIVEAWAY

You can also win a copy of The Madeline Movie: Lost in Paris! To enter to win, leave a comment on this post with the name of your favorite book character from childhood and why you loved him or her. This first entry is mandatory.

You can earn optional, additional entries by:

- Following me (@ParentingAuthor) on Twitter and tweeting about this giveaway. You may tweet this giveaway twice a day. Leave a separate comment with the URL of each tweet. (It’s easy to tweet this giveaway by using the Bookmark button at the bottom of this post. 1 entry per tweet.)

- Subscribing to Susan Heim on Parenting via email, RSS and/or Kindle (see sign-up options on left sidebar). Leave a comment for each subscription method. (up to 3 entries)

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- Posting this giveaway on your blog with a link to this page. Leave a comment with a direct link to the post. (3 entries; leave a separate comment for each)

One winner will be randomly selected from the qualified comments received by Friday, April 16, 2010, at midnight ET. Please leave an email address on one of your comments if it’s not available on your Blogger profile. Winners must respond within 72 hours or another winner will be drawn.

CONTEST CLOSED. Congratulations to the winner, Tabathia!





DISCLOSURE: I received a complimentary copy of The Madeline Movie: Lost in Paris to facilitate this review. No other compensation was provided.