Waste of time

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

Blistering performances.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

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.

The cartoon series are good but not as good as the movie that is life action and also makes you think how it feels having no blood related family and you have to live in an Orphanage even though it is sort of good fun. Madeline is a orphan that lives in an orphanage and the owner is dead,so the owners sister decides to look after the Orphanage and her big brother in law wants to sell the Orphanage.I just loved this version of Madeline, with the inimitable Frances McDormand and Nigel Hawthorne. Funny, attractive movie that is lively enough for adults to enjoy as well as just children.Madeline:Good Morning Cucu face. Lord Covington: What did you call me?

It wouldn't be fair to judge this movie on a comparitive scale or measure it my some objective movie standards. Leave that to the experts. I can give you one good reason for watching this movie. Hatty Jones. Super performance. One sample would do. Watch her face react after hearing Lady Covington's death. For more, keep track of this girl's expressions thru the movie. Its simply great. Madeline is a movie for kids between the age of 0-100.

The reviews of Madeline range from superb to rubbish, the villain is believable or hopeless, the children charming or irritating, the story gripping or arduous, loved by kids or hated by kids. But one comment cuts to the nub, the children loved the cartoon but not the film.For the MTV generation Madeline is a disappointment, just a well made film, well acted and superbly filmed. No explosions, car chases (well a battered van chase - but not really the same thing), incredible gadgets or over the top villains. Just a good story, low key comedy and if you don't have a tear in your eye at the end then stick to Arnie and Sly.Yes, Paris isn't really like this, and Uzbekistan wasn't independent at the time, but so what. My daughter failed to be appalled at the lack of realism, but watches it over and over again. Perhaps if Spike Lee had made it, the film would have had more gritty realism, but that is to miss the point. If you want a film that younger children will adore, be entertained by and you can let them watch without any qualms then Madeline is it.