Dr. Donna's Review

About the Film
Candyland is preparing for the big day called Sweet Celebration, the day when new candies blossom all over the land. Jib the Gingerbread Boy has been given the job of taking his mother's special gingerbread icing to the castle for the celebration. His mother has prepared him for this big responsibility. She packed up his backpack, made sure he knew the way, and the time when he needed to arrive at the castle. Jib has never been away from home before and he is both excited and a little nervous when he sets off down Rainbow Road. In the meantime, the King of Candyland is explaining to his daughter, Lolly, that this year she has the important task of holding up the special scepter and standing in the center of the Sweet Circle when the celebration begins. The King and Lolly do not realize that they are being spied upon by the licorice bites that work in the service of Lord Licorice. Lord Licorice has a plan to steal the special scepter and take over Candyland.

As the adventure unfolds, Jib tries very hard to do what his mother expects of him but when he meets new friends along the way, and is encouraged by one of them, Mr. Mint, to take a shortcut through the Licorice Forest , he gets into unexpected difficulties. He and Mr. Mint overhear Lord Licorice and the licorice bites plotting their takeover and get chased through the scary forest. Meanwhile Lolly, concerned that she will be unable to meet her father's expectations, confides her worry to her older sister Frostine who offers her encouragement and support. But soon Lolly leaves herself vulnerable and the licorice bites grab the scepter from her. Worried and bewildered, Lolly goes to her grandmother's house for advice. Now both Jib and Lolly have deviated from their original tasks and both have to respond to new and unpredictable situations.

The central theme of the story is how both Jib and Lolly are required to make decisions and solve problems as they try to carry out the new responsibilities. The two young characters mature as they overcome obstacles, prevent Lord Licorice from taking over Candyland, and ultimately save the day for the Sweet Celebration.

About the Kids
This story will have the greatest appeal to younger children, e.g. 3 to 6 year olds, and it will appeal to both boys and girls. Jib and Lolly will be easy characters for young children to identify with, and the dilemmas that Jib and Lolly face as they try to meet their parent's expectations will be familiar to the age group. Older children (6 - 9) will be familiar with the Candyland game and characters, and should enjoy revisiting this delicious fantasy land, the action of the story and the upbeat and humorous songs.

Film content and features
The animation in The Great Lollipop Adventure is simple and direct. The colors are rich and bright, making the candy background look good enough to eat! There are many imaginative and fun uses of familiar candies used in unfamiliar ways. There is a wide array of clever and funny characters. The film includes five original, singable songs that help to keep the story moving along.

Things to talk about
The story provides an opportunity to talk with children about accepting new responsibilities, deviating from the expected path and needing to be resourceful about solving problems without adult guidance

Some ideas to start discussions with children after seeing the film include:

• Why did Jib leave the Rainbow Road to take a shortcut through Licorice Forest? (He was afraid he would be late getting to the castle.)
• Was that the right thing to do?
• Would Jib have been better off to stay on Rainbow Road even if it meant getting to the castle late?
• Why did Lolly worry that she might not be able carry out the special assignment of standing in the center of the Sweet Circle with the scepter at the Celebration? (She knew she had not been good about accepting responsibility in the past.)
• Jib found some clever new uses for the gingerbread icing. What were they? (He used it to repair Mr. Mint's broken candy cane. He used it to stop the licorice bites when they were chasing him. He throws it in the path of Lord Licorice and stops him from getting the scepter from Lolly.)

This is also a good story to use to help young children with the important task of following and remembering story sequence. Asking them to remember what happened first, what came next, and then what happened, etc. will provide practice in this important pre-reading skill.