Dr. Donna's Review
About the Film
Holly Hobbie is back to Kidtoon Films with another fun adventure about Holly, her family and her best friends Amy and Carrie.
“Best Friends Forever” opens with Holly, Amy, and Carrie sitting in the back yard of Aunt Jessie’s house in the village of Clover. The girls are complaining about having nothing to do and feeling bored. Aunt Jessie advises them that they will never be bored if they open their eyes to the world around them and see new things. The three girls go off seeking new adventures and come upon an old, scary looking house that Holly realizes she had never noticed before. Amy tells them it is called the “Crow” house but she doesn’t know any more about it and doesn’t like how scary it looks. Doodles crawls through a hole in the fence. When the girls go after him, they see the dark shadow of a person at the window. That night, Holly proposes that as a test of Bravery for the Hey Girls club, they go back to the Crow house. Reluctantly, Amy and Carrie agree and the three friends sneak up to ring the doorbell. To their surprise, someone opens the door before they can play their prank, frightens the girls and they run away.
Feeling bad about what they did, Holly gets up early the next morning and goes back to the Crow house alone. She meets the elderly Annabelle Crow who turns out to be a kind, gentle person who used to be best friends with Holly’s grandmother. Annabelle shows Holly the special dollhouse they played with when they were girls. A special friendship begins.
Meanwhile, new adventures are also taking shape for others in Holly’s circle. Kyle and Robbie who are trying to find ways to break a world record – any world record. When they annoy grumpy neighbor Mr. Scranton, he insists that they help him clean out his barn. That turns out to be quite an experience because old mister Scranton saved the kind of interesting stuff that the boys like. And, Uncle Dave gets a call from Andy, his old friend and fellow high school band member, who soon shows up for a visit.
Holly’s friendship with Annabelle Crow blossoms. Soon she and Amy and Carrie are visiting and doing things for Annabelle. When the news comes that Annabelle’s house needs to be torn down because a new freight train line will go through the property, Holly is devastated and tries ways to save Annabelle’s house. Her efforts fail until Aunt Jessie reminds her of the Amish tradition called “barn raising.” Holly proposes the idea of a new holiday for Clover called “Best Friend Day” to the mayor – Annabelle Crow will be the first “new friend.” The mayor agrees and soon the citizens of Clover have built a new house for Annabelle Crow. Annabelle loves the new house and gives Holly the beautiful, old dollhouse in remembrance of her old friendship with Holly’s grandmother and her new friendship with Holly. Kyle and Robbie have become friends with Mr. Scranton and Uncle Dave renews his old friendship and musical partnership with Andy.About the Kids
“Best Friends Forever” will appeal to girls across the Kidtoon age range of 3 to 9. The films will also appeal to some younger boys who will identify with the antics and humor of Robby and Kyle.
Film content and features
“Best Friends Forever” is a straightforward drama told through appealing animation with very up-beat, age-appropriate songs that highlight story themes. There are many examples of age-appropriate humor that will appeal across the age range. Holly’s little dog, Doodles, and Kyle’s pet pit, Cheddar, provide several opportunities to laugh. There is some tension when the branch of a tree that crashes through her roof during a story, traps Annabelle Crow until help arrives. This segment, however, is brief and will be manageable by most children.
Things to talk about
This story is about both old friendships and new friendships. Through the overlapping stories about Holly and her friends, Holly and Annabelle Crow, Kyle, Robby and Mr. Scranton and Uncle Dave and his friend Andy, children in the viewing audience will see basic lessons about friendship, generosity, loss, sadness, and family history. There are many themes that parents can discuss with children after seeing the film. They include:
- Children are fascinated with stories about family history. Holly is very excited to learn that Annabelle Crow actually knew her grandmother when she was a young girl. The image of Annabelle and Grandmother Holly playing with the dollhouse comes alive for Holly. Talk with children about the fact that grandparents were once children who played with friends. Help them imagine what it might have been like when their grandparents were young. How would their play have been different, the same?
- Similarly, stories about family members that encourage understanding and curiosity about history can be very valuable to children. Holly’s fascination with the old dollhouse could be a starting place for a discussion of pioneer times. By sharing stories about family members who lived the experience, you might start discussions of topics such as transition from farm to city, immigration from other countries, and the origin of family cultural rituals.
- Share old photographs of family members and use them as a starting place for children to make an album of drawings about their ancestors.
- Holly was the one who suggested that the girls go to the Crow house late a night as a test of bravery. Ask children how they feel about the “test of bravery” idea. Was it a real test of bravery? What does it mean to be brave?
- After the girls went to the Crow house late at night, Holly had second thoughts. Encourage children to think about why Holly felt bad and went back the next day to apologize. Ask if they think Holly did the right thing by facing up to her feelings and doing something about it. Ask children if they have ever participated in some kind of prank and then felt bad afterward. If the answer is yes, ask children to talk about what they did about feeling bad?