Babar - King Of The Elephants (1999)

Both pleasant and unpleasant surprises

Since our daughter loves her Babar books, we decided to buy her this DVD.
I often find even DVDs for kids too hectic and fast-moving, but this one is a pleasant surprise: The animation is very well crafted, the story moves along smoothly without too much "action" and dialogue which can easily overwhelm smaller kids. My daughter enjoys especially the songs that are beautifully integrated.

However, the scene in which Babar's mother dies and the war with the rhinos are so drawn out, that my daughter asked to turn the TV off. I have no idea, why these upsetting scenes were given so much more importance than they have in the book.

The other disappointment was that the movie entirely skips Babar's travels with his new wife Celeste! This is my daughter's favored part of the story, and I'm sure she's not the only one. January 16, 2008

Babar - Always the King

As children, both my daughter and I loved the Babar books, and I was delighted to find this video for my 2-1/2 year old granddaughter. It is absolutely the books brought to life, and she never tires of watching it.
I would highly recommend this video to anyone with children 2 years old or more. December 1, 2007

Perfect for Preschoolers!

So few movies are appropriate for sensitive little kids, toddler to preschooler age, that we only have a few DVDs for our 2.5 year old.

This DVD is a gem! Perfect for his age, with only two scenes that need parental interpretation (Babar's mother is shot in one, and Babar battles evil spirits in the other).

A perfect introduction to Babar and the book series. October 27, 2007

Beautiful & colourful

If your child loves animals, this is a perfect video for her/him. But beware that like Bambi, Babar's mother dies in the begining...We always stay around to skip this part. Everything else is just gorgeous. October 14, 2007

Kinder, gentler Babar, gorgeous, wonderful, YES for 3-4 yr. olds

I first bought Babar the King (see my scathing review) and thought I might give this one a try. What a difference! None who have seen both would ever call this violent. Granted the dream sequence is a trifle bizarre, I just fast forward as those creepy dream guys bothered me, too. HOWEVER, the rest of the movie is so gentle and so true to the spirit of Babar that I can easily overlook creepy dream guy, which sequence, btw is from the original. Not sure? Rent it from Netflix, if you don't absolutely love it and go right to Amazon to purchase it for your children, I would be really surprised. That's what I did. Great for 3.5 to 4 on up. January 10, 2007

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