Madeline: Lost in Paris [VHS]
This 75-minute animated feature is a bright new adventure of Ludwig Bemelmans's French heroine, a much better direction than the ho-hum 1998 live-action film. The makers of the pleasant 30-minuteMadelineanimated videos--including ace narrator Christopher Plummer--create a rich enough story for this longer video. A man (voiced by Jason Alexander) appears at the French school for girls announcing that he is Madeline's long-lost uncle. First overjoyed that she has family, Madeline confronts her emotions in leaving her friends and Miss Clavel. But something is not right, and Madeline is soon lost in the big city with her trusty friends in pursuit. Of course, all will end well, and usually in rhyme, when it comes to Madeline. A fresh dose of new songs makes this Madeline tale--the first released by Disney--a real keeper. Ages 2 and up.--Doug Thomas