Peppa Pig: The balloon ride

Animated / Children’s
52 minutes/ 2014
Rating: 7/10

UPDATE: PEPPA HAS BOWED THE KNEE TO THE LGBT LOBBY

Peppa Pig is a lovable little pig, big sister to her toddling brother George, and daughter of Mommy and Daddy Pig. She’s probably best known for her love of jumping in muddy puddles, which, of course, is natural behavior for pigs (and many a little boy too, especially after watching this show).

Her adventures are of an ordinary kind, going on a bicycle ride with her parents, or trying to learn how to whistle. It’s about as gentle and safe a show as parents could hope for, as of yet untouched by the LGBT lobby.

In this collection, Peppa has a series of 12 short adventures, all about 5 minutes long, that see her take a ride in a hot air balloon, then in a new car, and even lace up a pair of ice skates. For parents, the biggest attraction might be that the short stories make this an easy one to turn on for only a brief time.

Cautions

During the Covid lockdowns, some US children were developing British accents and using British words like “optician” instead of “eye doctor.” Teleworking parents were turning to Peppa as an electronic babysitter.

We probably don’t care if our kids start sounding British – it might bring a little class to our dinner table discussions – but it highlights how a little Peppa is different than a lotta Peppa. The problem here is more with TV as a babysitter than with Peppa herself. No matter how “safe” the material, our young children need their parents to help them digest the stories they ingest. They need to be taught what to swallow, and what to spit out. So, for example, in large doses, Daddy Pig’s occasional cluelessness starts coming off as yet another TV bumbling father. That’s not a problem with parents around to point it out, but becomes an issue if our kids unknowingly take it in. Another example: in large doses, Peppa’s occasional bossiness and bad sportsmanship aren’t that occasional anymore.

Another caution would involve select episodes that are likely to preach a secular perspective, such as their Earth Day episode. But I don’t actually know how bad or harmless it might be, because our family skipped that one.

Conclusion

While a lot of Peppa might be too much, a little Peppa is delightful. The target audience here is pre-school children up to Grade 1 or so. This is too child-ish to be all-ages viewing for a family movie night but will be a great choice for young kids who don’t like much tension or conflict.

A lot of episodes are available for free on their YouTube channel here, and you can check out the trailer for this collection below.