Puff the Magic Dragon
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Movie Reviews of Puff the Magic Dragon
Movie Review: Not for sensitive kids
Summary: 3 Stars
My daughter loves Puff the Magic Dragon. The song is on the cd my kids listen to as they fall asleep, an instrumental version, and she's always loved it. For Christmas, she so badly wanted this movie and was soooooo happy when Santa brought it. I watched parts with her, but not the whole thing and remembered it somewhat from when I was a kid. My daughter ended up hysterical crying and asking me to turn it off as it upset her too much. My daughter does happen to be a very sensitive kid, but I wasn't expecting such a reaction from a movie she'd been looking so forward to seeing for months. She still loves Puff and adores the Puff the Magic Dragon book with cd her aunt gave her (I'd highly recommend that!). She still says it's her "favorite song in the whole wide world." She would like to try watching this again when she's older, she says. I'd just be wary of buying this if you have a very sensitive kid, like mine. I wish I'd watched it first, but after all the good reviews I wasn't worried.Movie Review: A dragon-sized disappointment
Summary: 2 Stars
I was so excited to see this again after having remembered it fondly from my childhood (although since I'm only in my early twenties, even then it wasn't exactly new). But although, then and now, I enjoyed Jackie Paper's psychological journey, the ending blows, literally.
A lot of people will point out that in the lyrics to Peter Yarrow's original song, it is heartbreaking because Jackie leaves Puff and never comes back, leaving the dragon to crawl, sad and lonely without the friend who made him brave, back into his cave. In this version, Jackie's hardly gone for two seconds before coming back and creating a tacked-on happy ending, thereby stripping this version of all the emotional impact of the original song.
But actually, the most disturbing part about this movie, I ultimately realized, is not HOW the movie ends. It's rather that, because of the way Puff himself is characterized from the beginning, the ending, the way Yarrow originally wrote it, is made utterly irrelevant. As it's written, the character's dialog, combined with Burgess Meredith's voice work, results in a portrayal of Puff as a wise, grandfatherly spiritual guide for Jackie, one who is all-knowing and can do no wrong. By the time the story gets around to Jackie leaving, the story's already written itself into a corner - the Puff in this version is not the vulnerable, childlike Puff of the song (the lyrics refer to them as "lifelong" friends), the Puff who, and here's the key, NEEDS JACKIE AS MUCH AS JACKIE NEEDS HIM. And because the writers know this, they sweep that ending the rug, knowing it will ring false. It would be unnatural for the wise, invulnerable Puff they've created to mourn for his friend. Given that Puff, as Yarrow created him, should be a symbol and a vehicle for the fragility of childhood imagination, which only holds its tremendous power so long as children use it (see: "Pirate ships would low'r their flag when Puff roared out his name...Puff could not be brave") the result is an ending that is not only treacly but cowardly and rhetorically weak. If you want your child to experience the power of the real message of this story, play him or her the song and use your imagination to make up the rest -- that's what Yarrow and Puff, the real Puff, would have wanted.
Movie Review: Not a good choice for me
Summary: 2 Stars
My child is 2 1/2 years old . She watched about 10 minutes into the movie and appeared to be quite frightened by some of the images. The story line appeared to be sensible but not one that a toddler will understand. At the end of the day I do not think the point of the story is what she remembers as much as she will remember the scarry pirate.Movie Review: a little outdated
Summary: 2 Stars
This only kept my 4 year old grandson's attention for a little while. I think it is for kids 2 to 3,Movie Review: I never received this item
Summary: 1 Stars
I ordered this dvd over a month ago and have not received it, I personally will never order from this company again and would advise the same from everyone else.