Terrible, but your 3-year-old will LOVE it!
We have lots of children's movies in our home... LOTS... and a pre-schooler who's a huge Caillou fan (just ask what I'm doing on eBay at present... "Oh, you know... shopping for obscure items to complete a Caillou birthday party!"). So chances are, if you're looking for this flick, you already know the drill: unelegant animation with a sweet-if-annoying protagonist, often with the "valuable/ practical life lesson" underlying each episode.
And really, that's what you'll get in "Caillou's Holiday Movie." If your child enjoys Christmas/ Hannukah (do you know any who don't?) and *loves* Caillou, chances they'll likely be thrilled (which honestly is the important part).
But you will not. Why? Because the format for Caillou works best in 10-minute increments, not a feature-length film. It comes off as cloying and forced, despite having DAYS upon animated DAYS to anecdotally explain holiday traditions from around the world, as well as the Biblical inspiration behind Christmas/ nativity story.
And while that's all grand and swell, it results in "Caillou's Holiday Movie" boasting a plot arc over the span of a MONTH's time. Yes folks... Caillou gets up, he has breakfast, goes to school, has a conflict or learns a lesson, comes home, and learns a new historical or traditional fact, EVERY day, for the ENTIRE Advent season, all in a 90 minute film! Doesn't that sound exciting?!
The routine is perhaps comforting to preschoolers and small children, but to parents... we already live a routine that looks a lot like this, don't we? When we watch movies, or go on dates, when we take a vacation or go camping, it's all about escapism isn't it?? And yes, I fully realize "Caillou's Movie" is not aimed at my cynical adult heart, but let's face it, who's watching and hopefully guiding alongside our kids every day?
All that being said, your son or daughter will enjoy. It's certainly not painful in the way that say, "Thomas and the Magic Railroad" was (Worst. Kids. Movie. EVER!), but it is definitely unengaging, repetitive fodder that your children likely won't be able to sit through more than twice.Read full review
