Heidi, Girl of the Alps

Original Title: アルプスの少女ハイジ
Romanized: Arupusu no Shoujo Haiji
Literal: Heidi, Girl of the Alps

Plot Synopsis

This is the story of Heidi, a five year old girl living in the Swiss Alps, orphaned as an infant and raised by her aunt Dete. When Dete finds work elsewhere, she takes Heidi to live with her Grandfather, a hermit who lives alone on a mountain with only two goats and an old dog for company. Heidi's innocence softens her Grandfather's heart, and she finds adventures every day up on the mountain with the poor goatherd Peter. But, eventually, Heidi is taken to live with a rich family in Frankfurt as the companion of a wheelchair-bound girl, Clara. Heidi struggles to keep up her spirits in the strict confines of a proper city household, and perhaps to bring joy to Clara as well.

Review

Rating: 5 / 5
Reviewer: Marc
Review Date: 2003-08-13

Heidi, Girl of the Alps is a story that has been adored by countless people around the world for over a century. This animated adaptation is, unlike many others, an artistic achievement worthy of being the quintessential interpretation of the original, faithfully capturing the simple beauty and pure heart of the original. Almost guaranteed to delight young children, it also holds some hidden magic that makes it a pleasure to watch even for adults.

Heidi is a simply wonderful series. That phrase is not an empty platitude, but quite literal--it is simple, and filled with wonder. Simple in its portrayal of nature both grand and small, the details of life, normal folk, and everyday events. Filled with the wonder to be found in all of those things when seen through the fresh, innocent eyes of Heidi.

That, more than anything, is how this series works its magic; it presents its world and story in a straightforward, unadorned, unexaggerated way, letting the images and characters speak for themselves. It then lets the viewer see this world not through eyes hardened by the burdens of adulthood and the modern era, but through the eyes of a child who finds joy and wonder in the smallest of things. And by experiencing these bygone times and rare, beautiful places through untainted eyes, even an adult can enjoy this "children's" series, if they're willing enough to let it absorb them.

Those are the broadest brushstrokes with which I can explain Heidi, and I hope I've captured a bit of whatever it is that has endeared it to viewers for over two decades. But I'm going to go ahead and pry into some specifics.

To start with, those familiar with Hayao Miyazaki's work will want to note that he is responsible for the design of every scene in the series, and his magical touch is evident. The director, Takahata Isao, is also worth mentioning, being that he has long worked with Miyazaki, directing several of Ghibli's best films. Among the earliest anime the two had a controlling part in, Heidi has many elements that pervade later Ghibli works, and deserves in every way to stand among them. An impressive lineage, to be sure.

Heidi is a gentle series, and for the most part, one designed for young children. The stories are simple, and clearly explained, with few surprises and only mild tension. The series is certainly in no hurry to get where it is going--at times it meanders along as leisurely as the lazy summer days in the Alps, and an entire episode can be spent on the most trivial matter. In fact, that is what is perhaps most unique and impressive about Heidi, and one of the reasons it has withstood the test of time: Much of it is about absolutely nothing of particular import. Many of Heidi's adventures, ranging from a single scene to spanning several episodes at a stretch, revel in the simple joys and trials of everyday life--learning to make cheese, discovering a beautiful place atop a mountain, or wandering about a city.

Almost completely devoid of symbolism or pretense, I found these parts of the series so enjoyable because of a combination of the unassumingly realistic way they are presented and the absolutely infectious sense of childhood innocence and wonder that Heidi brings with her. Heidi takes pleasure in the smallest things and finds adventure in the unlikeliest of places, making it hard not to love her, and she is the main reason I could sit through 52 episodes of a children's series without getting the slightest bit annoyed.

This is the crux of what I'm trying to say here: The series works because it somehow manages to take the simple things that children take great pleasure in and present them through Heidi's eyes in a way that lets even an adult share in the experience. In the early episodes of the series, there may have been a few too many of the "simple things in life" episodes in a row for the taste of an adult, but younger children won't have any complaints and in the later parts of the series I was having so much fun that I actually wanted more.

It is also worth mentioning the rest of the characters, since I was honestly surprised at how much depth most of them are given. Perhaps depth is the wrong word; it would be more accurate to say that they feel relatively real, with both strengths and flaws, and there are few caricatures among them. For example, the "villain" of the story (an inappropriate term, though), Rottenmier, is overly strict rather than malicious, and her honest concern for Clara despite her inflexible methods is subtle but apparent. Conversely, wise and good characters, such as Clara's Grandmother, are not infallible, making the occasional mistake in judgment. Even Heidi has a bit of a mischievous side, playing the occasional prank, making her all the more lovable and easy to associate with.

Looked at as a complete story, Heidi, Girl of the Alps makes some impressive transitions through its various phases. The story is classic enough that I hope I'm not giving much away by my rough overview, but you may want to skip the next two paragraphs if you haven't read the book and are intent on seeing it with untainted expectations.

The initial episodes take place in the idyllic Swiss Alps; the beautiful scenery alone is reason enough to watch, but Heidi's frolicking and adventures through the seasons atop the mountain are lively fun. But it is the next arc in the story, Heidi's move to Frankfurt, where the series begins to become something more. Frankfurt is not portrayed as some sort of foul place unfit for habitation, but as a reasonably nice European city. Still, the barren cobblestone streets, imposing houses, unending sea of rooftops, hurried residents, and strict discipline stand in such stark contrast to the freedom and natural beauty of the Alps that Heidi's sadness and isolation in this environment is made almost palpable without needing a push from dramatic music or any exaggerated melodrama whatsoever.

This is where the series drives its lesson home; trapped in this withering environment, Heidi still hunts out what joy she can, and refuses to be broken by Rottenmier and the city. And thanks in part to the length of the series and the time it takes to get where it is going, when the scene finally returns to the Alps, the relief is so dramatic it is amazing. The closing episodes feature such pure, unadulterated joy at Clara's tiny successes (there are no spectacular breakthroughs--her recovery is realistically slow) that I was truly impressed at how much the series could make one feel with so little apparent effort.

Clara's methodical attempt at recovery is just one example of Heidi's impressive realism. I was honestly surprised at how much things both large and small seem to be a part of a real life. From the stunning vistas of the Alps, to the genteel German house of a wealthy family, to the goats in the field, to a collection of city dwellers going about their everyday business, everything seems to be taken out of a real place somewhere, and amazingly few spots are embellished or exaggerated, particularly for a children's series. The animals in particular play a large part, and have a minimum of anthropomorphism. For the most part they move, act, and sound quite a bit like the real thing.

Also worth noting is the layering of adult and children's worlds; adults in the series will occasionally have conversations that are not oversimplified or dumbed down to a child's level, letting the more mature viewer see a side of the story that Heidi and the other children aren't aware of.

The next piece in the exquisite puzzle of Heidi, Girl of the Alps is the visual component of the story. Inspired by the artists' visits to the real locales, the background paintings are stunning, and there isn't a single location that seems unrealistic or out of place, let alone unattractive. The character animation, likewise, is impressive, and when you take into account the fact that the series is a TV show from the '70s, it's downright spectacular--the animation is always relatively smooth, and there is a pervasive attention to detail and realism in the way the characters move.

In fact, the character animation is so good that I have to give the animators some credit for the quality of the acting in the series, since many scenes have little or no dialogue, yet Heidi expresses herself quite well. Lastly, there's some notably creative visual directing (due in large part, I'm guessing, to Miyazaki's scene design); camera angles are rarely boring or fixed, often letting us view Heidi's actions from a distance, giving the viewer better sense of her surroundings, or lingering for longer than you'd expect on a single shot as Heidi goes about her business. When you take into account the age and pedigree of the series, the visual creativity and quality are all the more astounding--the series really does hold its own with even modern works.

I have only three minor nitpicks with the visuals. First, the character art is rather simple, but this is hardly even noticeable since the animation is so expressive and the background art so rich. My second and largest complaint is the lack of aging; the story takes place over three or four years, but Heidi doesn't look significantly different from beginning to end, and only wears two or three outfits through the series; Peter and Clara change even less. Though a shame, it's not really a big deal in the long run. Lastly, I was bugged a bit that some of the scrolling backgrounds (when characters are running, for example) tend to jitter a bit when they are repeated near the end of the shot, which seemed unnecessary. That's just a tiny nitpick, though.

Moving on to the acting, I have less to say, other than that it is very good. Heidi has all the lovable spunk you'd expect, and the rest of the cast is equally likable. The standouts, though, are Rottenmier, notable for her strict but believable reprimands and amusingly exasperated moments, and Grandfather, for his gruff but likable voice, hardened by the occasional blunt and angry outburst when dealing with other townsfolk.

Finally, there's the music. Wonderful. On one hand are the beautiful songs that fill the series, a number of which appear briefly as background music, but never part of a musical number. On the other are the milder orchestral pieces, plus the occasional chunk of a very traditional-sounding German song appropriate to the period. Though the rest provides color, the Japanese songs in the soundtrack are the best of it, ranging from somewhat Japanese-sounding to more European flavored, and even including some simplified yodeling in the opening and end themes.

Beautiful settings. Likable, realistic characters. Masterful character animation. Simple but engaging story. Creative directing. Heidi, Girl of the Alps simply has everything. It is a masterfully directed series worthy of its lineage, and a children's series so good it does not deserve to be in such a restrictive category. Though it is no doubt too simple for less patient viewers, and won't be nearly as enjoyable for those who don't allow themselves to be absorbed by its magic, I can't recommend it highly enough to children and adults alike.

Related Recommendations

The series has some of the same richness of detail and sense of realism of Miyazaki's later Kiki's Delivery Service, but none of that movie's fanciful fantasy. Miyazaki's My Neighbor Totoro, similarly, is a creative but more fanciful children's story. The Ghibli movie Whisper of the Heart shares the same director and its portrayal of small scale adventures from the perspective of a (slightly older) child, though the setting is modern Japan. Most similar, though, are the other as-yet-unreleased-in-English TV series that were in the same World Masterpiece Theater franchise as Heidi, with 3000 Leagues in Search of Mother probably being the most popular.

US DVD Review

None exists outside Japan.

Content Guide

Though there are moments of mild stress, the series is appropriate for viewers of any age.

Violence: 1 - There is brief discussion of violence and some physical drama, but never anything serious.

Nudity: 0 - Young Heidi is frequently in her old-fashioned undergarments, but that hardly qualifies as nudity of any sort.

Sex/Mature Themes: 0 - Absolutely nothing is even implied.

Language: 0 - Completely clean.

Notes and Trivia

Based on a novel by Johanna Spyri, Heidi is one of several World Masterpiece Theater titles produced around the same period. These series have a similar pedigree, and are based on classic tales from around the world; most, like Heidi, ran one year on TV, and were (and still are) extraordinarily popular. They include Anne of Green Gables, Perinne's Story, The Dog of Flanders, 3000 Leagues in Search of Mother, and Rascal the Raccoon.

For today's useless look at what people with too much time on their hands do, there is this site; this guy decided to analyze the precise physical properties of Heidi's swing in the fanciful opening sequence. Among his conclusions: She's swinging at 68kmh on a 27m swing 100m from the ground, hanging from a 127m tree. His best comment (translated from Japanese): "The line in the song asks 'Tell me, Uncle, why I can hear a whistle from so far away'; it's because you're so bloody high up!"

Availability

Not yet available in English, in any country. The first four episodes were fansubbed, and another fansub is currently in the early stages of production.

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