I liked Ni Hao, Kai-Lan when I was little, but I lost interest in it when I got older, mainly because I believed the false claim a lot of people have made about it being a rip-off of Dora the Explorer. I went on this page in October 2023 so I could do a negative review, but then I saw a review that said NHKL was a good show for autistic kids. I liked the sound of that, with me being on the spectrum myself, and I thought to myself, "Maybe it's not as bad as I remember. I shall revisit it at some point. Doing a review on it can wait." I watched a few episodes on Paramount+ recently, and I now like it again! It is much better than Dora, and it fixes most of the problems I have with the latter! I read in another review that the voice of Dora sued the creator of Kai-Lan for ripping off Dora, which led to the former getting canceled. That's a stupid reason to cancel it because it's fake news, though it's easy to see why people would think that it's true.
Even though Kai-Lan does ask the audience dumb questions at times, similar to Dora, but she handles her fourth wall breaking in a more tasteful manner than the latter and teaches Chinese instead of Spanish. Thankfully the former knows where things are and doesn't scream all the time. She always asks the audience how they think her friends are feeling and what they (her friends) should do to work out their problems, and a lot of the time she answers, "I think so too!" I don't think those questions are that dumb because they're opinion based questions, and I agree with some of Kai-Lan's opinions (e.g., in the episode where Hoho hits Rintoo, she thinks that the former should use his words to say how he feels instead of hitting, and I'd have to agree). Her catchphrase, "You make my heart feel super happy!", is extremely heartwarming! I can't imagine how anyone could go wrong with a catchphrase like that. Making other's hearts happy can easily make me (and probably you) happy too!
I agree that this is a good show for autistic kids and kids at heart. Why? It shows how to handle emotions, which can be hard for those on the spectrum at times, including yours truly. Kai-Lan always says that whenever you feel too mad, all you have to do is calm down. In the episode I mentioned earlier where Hoho hits Rintoo, Kai-Lan's grandpa Yeye (I think that's Chinese for grandpa) gives the former a time out for doing such a thing, gently explains to him that hitting hurts, says that he can get out of time out when he (Yeye) comes back in the playhouse, and doesn't yell at Hoho or spank him at all (after all, that would go against the message about not hitting people. That's a violent way to punish kids if you ask me). Kudos to Yeye! I'm sensitive to loud noises, including yells and screams, and I've had a strong dislike for being disciplined for all my life. I vaguely remembered the aforementioned episode before revisiting it, but I forgot about Yeye's gentleness. Now I always strive to be good and stay on my best behavior, but I wish would've revisited it sooner or didn't lose my memory in the first place because I now have a better understanding as to why parents and guardians sometimes give their kids timeouts when they misbehave after all these years. I've heard complaints about the characters throwing temper tantrums and being angry so easily, and that's another one of the main reasons why I used to hate this. They always learn from their mistakes and find a way to work things out, which makes the aforementioned criticism somewhat invalid, though some of those moments can be mean-spirited. The show also promotes acceptance and diversity, which some non-autistic people may struggle with around autistic people. Even though Tolee can be shy and the characters are all different in their own ways, they still include each other in their activities and don't leave anybody out. I heard theories about Tolee having autism, and I think it could be true because he has various symptoms of the spectrum (e.g., he has a special interest in pandas, it takes longer for him to calm down than everyone else, he has angry outbursts when frustrated, has a stuffed panda for comfort, cries easily at times, has anxiety, etc.)
One of the main things I like about this, other than what I already mentioned, is the art style. It's bright and colorful like many other preschool shows. The characters have extremely cute, anime-like designs. Most of them have big heads, big eyes, and small bodies, somewhat resembling Funko Pops. Kai-Lan's head is shaped similar to Mickey Mouse's head.
I give this a 7/10 for a reason: there are some major aspects about it I don't like, like how Kai-Lan talks down to the audience from time to time, the mean-spirited moments I mentioned earlier, and most of all, the characters sing the lesson over and over again in some episodes. There are a few episodes where the lesson is sung 2-4 times, which gets repetitive. This is one problem with Dora that hasn't been fixed here.
If you don't like Dora, watch Ni Hao, Kai-Lan. Maybe you'd like this better!
Even though Kai-Lan does ask the audience dumb questions at times, similar to Dora, but she handles her fourth wall breaking in a more tasteful manner than the latter and teaches Chinese instead of Spanish. Thankfully the former knows where things are and doesn't scream all the time. She always asks the audience how they think her friends are feeling and what they (her friends) should do to work out their problems, and a lot of the time she answers, "I think so too!" I don't think those questions are that dumb because they're opinion based questions, and I agree with some of Kai-Lan's opinions (e.g., in the episode where Hoho hits Rintoo, she thinks that the former should use his words to say how he feels instead of hitting, and I'd have to agree). Her catchphrase, "You make my heart feel super happy!", is extremely heartwarming! I can't imagine how anyone could go wrong with a catchphrase like that. Making other's hearts happy can easily make me (and probably you) happy too!
I agree that this is a good show for autistic kids and kids at heart. Why? It shows how to handle emotions, which can be hard for those on the spectrum at times, including yours truly. Kai-Lan always says that whenever you feel too mad, all you have to do is calm down. In the episode I mentioned earlier where Hoho hits Rintoo, Kai-Lan's grandpa Yeye (I think that's Chinese for grandpa) gives the former a time out for doing such a thing, gently explains to him that hitting hurts, says that he can get out of time out when he (Yeye) comes back in the playhouse, and doesn't yell at Hoho or spank him at all (after all, that would go against the message about not hitting people. That's a violent way to punish kids if you ask me). Kudos to Yeye! I'm sensitive to loud noises, including yells and screams, and I've had a strong dislike for being disciplined for all my life. I vaguely remembered the aforementioned episode before revisiting it, but I forgot about Yeye's gentleness. Now I always strive to be good and stay on my best behavior, but I wish would've revisited it sooner or didn't lose my memory in the first place because I now have a better understanding as to why parents and guardians sometimes give their kids timeouts when they misbehave after all these years. I've heard complaints about the characters throwing temper tantrums and being angry so easily, and that's another one of the main reasons why I used to hate this. They always learn from their mistakes and find a way to work things out, which makes the aforementioned criticism somewhat invalid, though some of those moments can be mean-spirited. The show also promotes acceptance and diversity, which some non-autistic people may struggle with around autistic people. Even though Tolee can be shy and the characters are all different in their own ways, they still include each other in their activities and don't leave anybody out. I heard theories about Tolee having autism, and I think it could be true because he has various symptoms of the spectrum (e.g., he has a special interest in pandas, it takes longer for him to calm down than everyone else, he has angry outbursts when frustrated, has a stuffed panda for comfort, cries easily at times, has anxiety, etc.)
One of the main things I like about this, other than what I already mentioned, is the art style. It's bright and colorful like many other preschool shows. The characters have extremely cute, anime-like designs. Most of them have big heads, big eyes, and small bodies, somewhat resembling Funko Pops. Kai-Lan's head is shaped similar to Mickey Mouse's head.
I give this a 7/10 for a reason: there are some major aspects about it I don't like, like how Kai-Lan talks down to the audience from time to time, the mean-spirited moments I mentioned earlier, and most of all, the characters sing the lesson over and over again in some episodes. There are a few episodes where the lesson is sung 2-4 times, which gets repetitive. This is one problem with Dora that hasn't been fixed here.
If you don't like Dora, watch Ni Hao, Kai-Lan. Maybe you'd like this better!