Generations of little girls have delighted in Madeline, the petite Parisian schoolgirl with a mind of her own . Madeline has been electronic for while, with her own videotapes, and a TV cartoon series. Now she has her first CD-ROM.
Madeline and the Magnificent Puppet Show is not the usual electronic storybook , in which text and illustrations are replicated on the screen. Instead, this CD-ROM creates an original story that kids help to develop. Happily, the artwork and storyline - along with the heroine's plucky spirit - are pleasingly true to the gentle spirit of the originals. Lively music and the suave narration of Christopher Plummer (both featured in the TV cartoons and videotapes) add to the multimedia pleasures of this attractive CD-ROM. Mais c'est dommage! The program does not live up to the "educational" promises that it will introduce beginning French, Spanish, and spelling skills.
The story: Madeline's kindly old neighbor Mr Benet (along with his large menagerie of animals) face eviction by a greedy landlord. True to character, Madeline jumps in with plans to save the day: She and her classmates will give a puppet show to raise money to pay the rent. Your child's mission: Guide Madeline on a quest for all the things she'll need to make the puppets and organize the show.
The software lets children wander in and out of the rooms in Madeline's large home and through her Parisian neighborhood. Kids interpret verbal clues to figure out what they must find - invitations to the show, balloons, a cape to serve as the theater's curtain. As they click, they trigger animations (statues speak, chandeliers spin) and collect various objects (a loaf of bread, a jump rope) that are stored for future use. (If this sounds a bit like the Putt-Putt adventures from Humongous, you're right; Madeline was designed by the same team.) Along the way, kids also encounter activities like painting backdrops and making puppets as well as a matching game that introduces the French and Spanish words for lamp, stairs, rug, chandelier and clock.
While the product's click-and-explore gameplay is on target for 5-year-old fans of Madeline, there's a major flaw in this CD-ROM adventure: the age appropriateness of its activities is all mixed up. Kids from 5 to 7 will enjoy the hide-and-seek explorations; but older kids expect a more compelling challenge. Older kids might get some benefit from the limited vocabulary lessons; but beginning readers will be in the dark after the first level because the software fails to read the words out loud. And while the game's "creative" activities support the storyline, they are sadly limited. Clicking on a choice of a simple costume for a puppet is more suited to a 3 year old than a child 5 and above. (A more thoughtfullly designed creative adventure would let kids print out the invitations they create, the puppet theater they design and all the Madeline characters so they could create their own adventures off the screen.)
The bottom line: good fun for young Madeline fans. But parents looking for long-lasting creative challenges and an adventure that fosters real learning skills should make another choice.
