Customer Reviews

Babar - King of the Elephants [VHS]

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I agree with another reviewer that the scene where Babar's mother is killed is a little disturbing. However, it is still relatively mild compared to the more violent themes in the other Babar video ("Babar The Movie"). My 2-year old doesn't seem too bothered by it. Just watch it together with your child a few times to make sure they know that Babar is OK but don't make a big deal of it. The rest of the movie seems to be essentially from Babar books, strung together as a series of stories. The music is good--not fabulous but way more pleasant for adults than Barney or the Wiggles. All in all, I would recommend this for kids 2-4 years with no reservations.

The kids (6 and 2) love it, as do my wife and I. The film takes Babar from infancy to late middle age, with excitement and gorgeous animation in between. A master's choice for any family's collection of childrens' DVDs. The soundtrack ought to be released on its own--it's that good.

My three and half year old daughter loves elephants and loves this video. It provides a nice story line and is very well produced. It's more interesting than other videos for this age group and not as over produced as the Disney movies. It's just right! She now wants to live in Elephant City.

My husband and 2 year old daughter watched this together and there were some parts that were definitely scary for her. The death of Babar's mom, a scary dream sequence and someone getting bit by a snake. She has not wanted to watch it again. She says it is scary and doesn't like it.

The books seem to be on a better level for her. She prefers milder videos like, "Maisy, "Kipper", "The Wiggles" and "The Hungry Caterpillar".

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.

We are thrilled with the DVD version of Babar-King of the Elephants. My 20 month old was so happy to see one of his favorite book characters come to life. Every part of the production is done with such style. The animation is calm and pleasant, the music is toe-tapping and the voices are fun and lively. I find the DVD chapters well divided and useful if you need to skip over the sad parts - a great convenience to keep the movie seamless for toddlers.

The DVD makes for pleasant repeat watchings for parents. The story is well-paced and reworks the original books in an interesting way.

We hope HBO releases more Babar episodes from this director on DVD. A job well done!

I thought Babar - King of the Elephants was a weak DVD, not particularly 'fun,' unless strife is
considered a worthwhile way for children to spend their time. My grandchild Juliet, age 5, was distressed by the gratuitous violence in the film, and we had to turn off the DVD.

I recently watched this several times with our 3 year old twin grandsons. We all just loved it.
I remember the Barbar books from my childhood and they were early favorites of mine. I particularly
loved the kindness and generosity and good will in this film. After a series of dangers, Barbar
had a dream where an ugly fellow, "misfortune" was taunting him, and this was dispelled by some
cute "elephant angels" who came down, singing, with love rays from Heaven. This was a great opportunity
for me to point out to our grandchildren how good is more powerful than evil. I plan on buying all of
the books for our grandsons for their fourth birthday. I am delighted to be re-introduced to these
timeless stories.Babar - King Of The Elephants

This movie is good, especially if your son or daughter LOVES Babar. However, the mother of Babar gets killed by a hunter in the very first 10 minutes of the movie. My son still loved it, he didn't cry or get overwhelmed; It did however, open up a lot of questions about why Babar mom got hurt. So be prepared for that, but otherwise as the story goes on, it is the story of Babar and Celeste which my son watches over and over and over again, until he almost knows the words by heart.

I purchased this DVD so my 2 year old grandson could watch it at my house. He enjoys watching the Babar stories on On Demand. He loved this show! The music, the story, the content were all wonderful! It's sad when mother dies, but we talked about it a little and he was fine. He actually liked seeing the scary dream and asked to watch it again.H-m-m-m- Great purchase!!