Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Ni-Hao Kai-Lan!


It's like the new Dora the explorer. Except Chinese. Kai-Lan is a young Chinese girl who runs through the episode talking to her grandfather and animal friends. She does everything she can to help and be kind to her friends. She also flits between English and Chinese. She is interactive with the audience, and pauses after speaking so the audience can "reply".

The majority of her animal friends appear to be boys(yet the rhino is questionable). she dresses in a t-shirt, shorts, and sneakers. she is a simply drawn character and carries a lot of similarities to Dora the Explorer. But yet she isn't as popular as Dora, even though I personally prefer it.

Kai-Lan will burst into sing, go on quests, encourages the audience to think and play along.

What I wonder is, does Mexico or China have a television show with an American girl as the main character, who speaks a few licks of English, goes on adventures and talks to animals?

the overall message of this show is to be good to your friends and adults, share, and be helpful. This show manages to convey a good lesson every episode without using violence, sexism, or any "us v. them" arguments And I wish that more shows like this will be aired on television for young children.