“The New Adventures of Pippi Longstocking” was a box office and critical fiasco when it was released back in 1988. Watch it once and you’ll realize why people stayed away in droves from this turkey. I don’t know really where to begin to describe how dreadful this movie really is. It’s badly directed, has cheesy sets, absolutely horrible songs, and a wretched script. It has all the elements of a bad movie, but one element helps make it a cut below even the most awful films- the performance of Tami Erin. Ms. Erin is the most talentless person (I will not apply the word actress to describe her) that has EVER been given a starring role in a major motion picture. Why are people asking what happened to her?!?! It’s perfectly clear what happened to her- she proved she couldn’t act and therefore no one would hire again for another acting job. She plays Pippi Longstocking as a demented, socially obnoxious, teenaged nut job.

And please do not defend this movie with the tired cliche, “It’s a children’s movie.” Oh, it was made for children all right. However, it was not made to entertain children, but to punish them: threatening children with being forced to watch Tami Erin ought to be a good incentive to keep discipline.

I have to agree with another review- how did this awful movie see the light of day in 1988 and I weep for those parents and children who actually saw it in the theater.

Arrogant is a good one. Another is rascal. Other ones that fit rather well are show-stopper, shameless, unrepentent, metahuman, Goddess, and powerful almost to the point of being menacing but not quite. You need only fear her if your life depends on NOT having fun.
Oh, yeah. And she’s probably older and smarter than she pretends to be, and she’s definitely MUCH wiser.
All these things have made her one of my favorite fictional characters ever.
So why is it that in this movie, she is none of those amazing things?
As a child, I was a fairly poor individual, not at all like Pippi, but I did have a library card, and so I spent much time reading. Naturally, when this movie came out, I couldn’t go to see it, however, I did read the book, and I was immediately swept up into a childhood crush on its main character that lasted for years and years.
At the age of 18 or so, I finally got the chance to see this movie, and I was apalled! This film makes a mockery of everything Pippi is.
For about 70% of the film, Pippi behaves completely out-of-character, and much of the rest of it is consumed by lousy characters who have no substance. Pippi does get to rough up a few people, but unlike in the books, she only does it to three bad guys that act like the Curly, Larry and Moe.
Additionally, this movie is plagued by the curse of having way too many unnecesary songs. It could have been so much better.
If you want to speak kindly of this movie, however, you won’t be entirely without ammunition. It does contain a few scenes of pleasing metahuman powers, and several of Pippi being a brat which ALMOST threaten to drag the movie out of the gutter it made for itself.
If you still don’t understand what I’m griping about, read all three Pippi books, then carefully review the scenes in the children’s home. You should be able to tell quite easily that none of them should have happened, especially the one where Pippi flinches at the striking of a ruler, as opposed to her book incarnation, whose skin was about the consistency of a brick wall.
Long and short, as a movie, it’s only marginally bad, but you definitely don’t want to watch it because frankly, you’re better off reading the books by about a billion times.

My 2 yo is obsessed with this movie, she watches it 5 times a day! She loves Pippi’s horse Alfonso but I don’t really appreciate the way he is so dismissed as a character in the movie. He isn’t listed in the credits however Mr Neilson her monkey is. Alfonso talks almost as much as the monkey and yet no one even knows anything about him (plus he’s much cuter and cleaner than the monkey, he takes bathes by himself). Does anyone know who does him voice over? I’ve looked everywhere and I can’t figure it out.