Clever, believable, and super fun to watch. It totally has replay value.

Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Madeline is a clever movie about a brave and smart little girl and how she stands up to Pepito and Lord Covington. It can be syrupy and corny sometimes but it's got some entertaining moments, too.Hattie Jones is a pretty decent actor for her first role. She may not have had the acting chops to play Madeline, but she still did pretty good for her age. Her anger, her fearlessness, her mischief, her sadness, her precociousness was enjoyable to watch and this was my movie as a kid. Most of the other actors also did well for their roles and personalities but I didn't like Vicki. It's too bad I couldn't get to see more of Hattie. Some people may have problems with her having a British accent instead of a French accent, though.Madeline doesn't act much like a real kid because of her acting too mature for her age but she's a unique character and her bravery, friendliness, and fierce personality are good qualities in a little girl. Pepito is a good character because he changes from a troublesome little boy, to a friendly and helpful boy. Lord Covington is a sympathetic and relatable antagonist because he wants to close down the school because of his sadness for the death of his wife.Now my real problems are:They picked a little Asian girl to be one of the girls, I don't think this was used in the book? I haven't read much of it.I've never liked the trouble Madeline and the girls cause. Yes, I know they're children, but they shouldn't be influencing girls to act like them. And also, yes it's a movie, but I never liked seeing kids misbehaving a lot. And the kids cry over an appendix, while it's faithful to the book, I think that them crying over something like getting their appendix out is weird. I still remember fondly watching this movie as a kid and over the Summer and Fall in 2015. It's not one of the best movies to watch, in fact, it might be forgettable because of its formulaic writing, storytelling, characters and directing but this mostly lies in the writing and directing, though it's certainly better than the Madeline cartoons that were out in the 80s and 90s and always had been to me, being 11 years old and watching the movie, I was too old for the cartoons. I didn't care much for them.

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

What a waste. A charming book for little girls is turned into the "adventures" of a group of representative, largely disagreeable little girls. Some makes no sense: why is the owner of a house in Paris "Lord Covington"? Why do some of the girls speak with English accents? But that's almost beside the point. Suddenly there are kidnappers, and the aggravating boy next door becomes all warm and fuzzy. Then Madeline suddenly understands Lord Covington and he becomes all warm and fuzzy too. Like a very bad Halmark Hall of Fame special.Frances MacDermond is good here. Some of the photography of Paris is good - though the Eiffel Tower appears everywhere, as if to keep reminding us that we are in Paris even though it seems to be populated with English.If you liked the children's books, stick with them. This movie isn't at all done in the same spirit. And the "spirit" of this movie is just to provoke a few very manipulated tears.

Taken from the classic books by Ludwig Bemelmans, Madeline is the darling story of 12 little girls who live in a boarding school. The woman in charge of the home is a nun, Miss Clavel (Frances McDormand). Red-headed Madeline is the smallest of the girls but is, nevertheless, fearless and curious. The film follows Madeline's escapades as she has her appendix out, clashes with Pepito (the boy next door), falls in the river and more. There is a subplot concerning the approaching sale of the school and what it will mean to the girls who live there. Is it possible to have a happy ending?This extremely watchable movie for children is a wonderful addition to the repertoire of good children's films. Hatty Jones is a delight as Madeline and the other little girls are fun and expressive. The leap from book to movie is smooth and successful; the film includes many of the books' key elements and will thus be appreciated by Bemelmans' fans. There is more than enough action and humor to keep children interested from start to finish. Adults will be charmed by the film as well. Recommended for families who are looking for quality alternatives to Disney, Beethoven the dog, Charlotte's Web, etc.