Customer Reviews

Madeline - Cooking School [VHS]

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

My two sons (aged 6 and 3) like this video. For days after viewing it they go about the house singing, "Fry it, we'll try it. Stew it, we'll do it. Now we've got the hang of it there's really nothing to it!" They like watching Madeline et al make souffles and roast chickens. I am happy to let my children watch this video because a) There is no violence, or belching or other antisocial behaviour b) There is a charitable message c) The kids like to dream of being let loose in the kitchen d) The video is not too long, but long enough to satisfy them. I give 5 star ratings very sparingly.

This video is a big hit with my 3 1/2 year old and would be good for older kids too. At about 30 minutes it's a great length for parents who want their kids to watch something good but not too long. The target group would be predominantly girls, but there is a token boy for boy viewers to identify with. He's Pepito, the son of the Spanish ambassador, and he lives next door to the girls in their Parisian boarding school. He washes the floors as well as learning to cook at cooking school, so relax about the gender stereotyping. As for the plot, in a nutshell, the girls' cook at their boarding school is suddenly taken ill just as the head of the board of trustees (one Lord Cucuface) is coming to lunch. He gets awful cheese sandwiches, made by the girls, so they are packed off to "Le Cordon Rouge", the best cooking school in the whole of France, to learn how to cook with chef Flambe. They all get their diploma, except Madeline, because she gave her diploma-exam dish to some hungry children on the street. The moral of the story is "kindness is more important than cooking" and it isn't even too sentimentally done. Highlights are the music: some nice catchy tunes, and some charming French accents. But the icing on the cake is Christopher Plummer's narration. Rich, rounded upper-class British English which is a real pleasure to listen to. Another half a dozen Madeline videos are on order for this household. But do get the books too!

This video is a big hit with my 3 1/2 year old and would be good for older kids too. At about 30 minutes it's a great length for parents who want their kids to watch something good but not too long. The target group would be predominantly girls, but there is a token boy for boy viewers to identify with. He's Pepito, the son of the Spanish ambassador, and he lives next door to the girls in their Parisian boarding school. He washes the floors as well as learning to cook at cooking school, so relax about the gender stereotyping. As for the plot, in a nutshell, the girls' cook at their boarding school is suddenly taken ill just as the head of the board of trustees (one Lord Cucuface) is coming to lunch. He gets awful cheese sandwiches, made by the girls, so they are packed off to "Le Cordon Rouge", the best cooking school in the whole of France, to learn how to cook with chef Flambe. They all get their diploma, except Madeline, because she gave her diploma-exam dish to some hungry children on the street. The moral of the story is "kindness is more important than cooking" and it isn't even too sentimentally done. Highlights are the music: some nice catchy tunes, and some charming French accents. But the icing on the cake is Christopher Plummer's narration. Rich, rounded upper-class British English which is a real pleasure to listen to. Another half a dozen Madeline videos are on order for this household. But do get the books too!