DVD Review: Celebrate With Kai-Lan

Nickelodeon, Paramount's 4 Episodes Of Ni Hao, Kai-Lan On DVD

Jan 14, 2009 Dominic von Riedemann

Nick Junior's Ni Hao, Kai-Lan is a sweet Dora the Explorer knockoff with its heart in the right place. 8/10.

After the runaway success of Dora the Explorer and its offshoot, Go Diego Go, Nickelodeon started looking for similar animated shows with multicultural themes. Enter Ni Hao, Kai-Lan creator Karen Chau, whose experiences growing up in a Chinese-American household form the basis of her show.

Celebrate With Kai-Lan, the 2nd DVD from the series, is a sweet-tempered DVD that is designed to introduce pre-school age children to Chinese vocabulary and customs. "Ni Hao," as Kai-Lan repeatedly tells the viewer, means "Hello" in Mandarin Chinese and she regularly attempts to teach the viewer common Chinese words, much like Dora the Explorer does with Spanish vocabulary.

What's Ni Hao, Kai-Lan About?

Kai-Lan (Chau's actual first name before she anglicized it) is a 6-year-old girl who regularly goes on adventures with her friends: speedy tiger Rintoo, panda-obsessed koala bear Tolee, bouncy monkey Hoho and Kai-Lan's kindly grandfather, Ye Ye.

Like Dora and Diego, there is a great deal of interactivity associated with each episode, as Kai-Lan encourages the viewer to pronounce Chinese words with her, and perform actions alongside the on-screen characters. However, Ni Hao, Kai-Lan has an anime-inspired artistic style that actually works better than Dora's more blocky images.

As with other Nick Junior DVDs, Celebrate With Ka-Lan features four episodes.

  • "Happy Chinese New Year" features Kai-Lan and her pals celebrating the New Year, and learning about Chinese customs. Rintoo the Tiger, however, gets miffed when he's stuck carrying the middle part of the dragon.
  • "Safari Pals" introduces Stompy the Elephant, whose large size and big bellow make Rintoo feel inadequate.
  • "Kai-Lan's Campout" shows Kai-Lan and her pals camping out in a ladybird-shaped tent, and learning about sharing their things.
  • In "Tolee's Rhyme Time," the gang decide to put on a musical concert. In the process, they learn about rhyming and perseverance. Classic image: Hoho the Monkey parachuting in with his DJ equipment.

Unlike Dora, Diego and The Wonder Pets, who constantly try to "save" various creatures, Kai-Lan's adventures are confined to her back yard, and usually involve learning some kind of lesson, whether it's about Chinese customs or universal concepts like sharing, working together, self esteem and perseverance.

Extra Features

Extra– BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! You want extra . . . that's so funny! <wipes tear>

As with other Paramount/Nickelodeon DVDs, you just get the inescapable, increasingly irritating trailers for other Nickelodeon animated show DVDs, including this one. Ahem, dear Paramount: we already bought the fraggin' DVD, you don't need to sell it to us again!

The Final Analysis

Despite the occasional temptation by adult viewers to add their own , ahem, colourful commentaries to the DVD, Ni Hao, Kai-Lan is a really good animated kids' show that hasn't yet succumbed to Dora the Explorer's formulaic plot-lines.

That gives this series a freshness and charm that adults will enjoy, along with their kids. The only problem will be getting that insanely catchy theme song out of your head! 8/10.

The copyright of the article DVD Review: Celebrate With Kai-Lan in Animated Films is owned by Dominic von Riedemann. Permission to republish DVD Review: Celebrate With Kai-Lan in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
Ni Hao, Kai-Lan, copyright 2009 Paramount Home Video Ni Hao, Kai-Lan
   
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