BigWhiskers I don't remember reading the book to know if this adaptation was faithful but it wouldn't have mattered. I watched this on YouTube ,and quite honestly found it to be way too long and rather boring- did it really need to be a miniseries?. I mean the scenery was beautiful and I had actually visited the areas a few years before it was filmed but besides that it had little too offer. Noley Thornton as Heidi was cute and a decent actress but she just didn't move me into caring about her.She just seemed as if she was sleepwalking through her lines half the time. Lexi Randall as Klara was not my cup of tea much either, she came across a bit too whiny in her acting and dull. Jane Seymour basically phones her role in, overacting badly and the kid who played Peter was awful - He looked as if he was bored and couldn't wait to finish his scenes so he could go play video games or something. Now my biggest disappointment is the way the grandfather's part was portrayed. I love Jason Robards and always found him handsome and wonderful to watch even in his twilight years however this was not one of those times. His grandfather is totally uninteresting and has nothing to offer, the synopsis says Heidi charms him too but she really doesn't. Most of the movie he is frowning or scowling at her and just plain mean ,she never charms him. If anything his guilt prevents that and his cowardice too,he even admits it. I was really disappointed as I think Robards should have had something more to work with instead of a one note script that basically had him scowling and walking away. The Shirley Temple version to me seemed much better and vastly different with the grandfather really loving her and going after her whereas Robards character didn't seem to care that she was leaving and even at the end he asks her why shed wanna live with him "she responds ,because i love you grandfather " and while he hugs her ,he doesn't say it back. I just cant see how she could love him when he never really acts as if he truly cares about her. 5/10 mostly for the scenery

admatha-767-524200 Disney is known for some pretty cheesy rock-to-the-head morals but usually the high budget production at least makes it tolerable. This, on the other hand, is low budget Disney cheese - the stuff you find at the back of your fridge and shove way back in, in the hopes that maybe if you ignore it long enough it'll go away. It begins by shoehorning in an overdramatic scene with Heidi's parents. They are on screen for a handful of minutes so who even cares about them? Nobody, at the point where they stand frozen in stupidity watching a tree really really really slowly topple over after being struck by lightening. Seriously. I was glad they were dead. They deserved it. And it all went downhill from there. Whoever cast the Heidi kid... I'm not sure what they were going for. It was like they said "we're looking for another Annie, only with no personality." Honestly, I don't even particularly like Shirley Temple, and the Shirley Temple version was a thousand times beyond this one in terms of quality. Shirley brought personality and precociousness to the role that this kid entirely lacks. As the movie rests on this kid's shoulders, it fails dismally, especially as the rest of the cast perform equally poorly, making the whole movie an exercise in wondering "good god, how much of this can possibly be left to watch?"

Melissa Alice I've watched at least two of the other Heidi versions, and this is probably my favorite. I liked the Shirley Temple version a lot, too, but this one is very charming and Noley Thornton is very cute as Heidi. I watched an older version of Heidi today, and it was good as well (with Jean Simmons), but it was definately not as good as this one (though they both have their strong points).

eponine406 Excellent movie!! This is one of my all-time favorite movies. It is beautifully acted and I never get sick of watching it over and over!! Noley Thorton is cute as a button and perfect as little Heidi and Lexi Randall's performance as Clara is amazing! Jason Robards is wonderful as grandfather and Jane Seymour is great as Freuline Rottenmier, the character you love to hate! I think this is one of the best if not the best family movies of all time! I reccomend it to anyone of any age!