I really loved the book Heidi, so when this movie came onto daytime TV I thought I might as well watch it.

The young Heidi, from the book of the same name by Johanna Spyri, is given a gift of the three Wise Men carved in stone. These then come to represent Faith, Hope and Charity for Heidi, in three separate stories within the movie.

The trouble with this movie principally is that it's a sequel. The Alm Uncle has already stopped being crabby, Clara doesn't need her wheel-chair, Heidi isn't going to be whisked off to Frankfurt and Peter's grown up a bit. There is not very much interesting about the characters. Come to think of it, Clara was never a very interesting character in the first place - she had the role of "angelic invalid", and without her chair she's lost any interest she had previously.

The first story within the movie is about Peter entering a singing contest. With some obvious dubbing, it turns out the young goatherd has a beautiful voice. Heidi bullies him into entering and then realises that perhaps entering a 12 year old into a contest with adults was not the best idea. Luckily he bursts into a "simple little song" that turns out to be Avé Maria, and Heidi learns about faith.

Then Clara comes to visit with her uncle (or some other male relative, I have since forgotten which one) who at first refuses to trust the Alm Uncle with his precious charge, and then becomes obsessed with the idea that Clara might be ill. With childish logic (probably the cleverest bit of the movie, though perhaps this was by accident) Heidi and Clara decide that the uncle actually wants Clara to be ill so that he can care for her, so Clara fakes illness. The uncle feels touched by Clara's attentions and learns to lighten up. Thus they learn about charity.

Finally Peter and Heidi rescue some foolish American mountaineers. Or rather, they go to find the mountaineers and then have to be rescued themselves. This bit is admittedly quite tense. Heidi learns about hope. Or something.

The motifs in this movie are really quite hokey and the characters are wooden and uninteresting. Heidi seems to burst into tears a lot and really it just gets quite annoying. Also, Heidi for some reason refers to "the Alm Uncle" when in fact he is her grandfather, so you'd think she'd call him that.

It might keep bored children quiet. It will probably keep bored children bored. There are some genuinely humorous moments, but not because the movie intended them to be humorous. If $65 is the lowest price for this, I'd suggest buying a better movie for your collection - this movie is justifiably rare.

Recommended:
No

Video Occasion: None of the Above
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children up to Age 4