Pippi Longstocking, who travels on the ship Hoptoad with her sailor father, Efraim, encounters a sudden storm caused by a volcanic eruption.

After Efraim disappears into the sea, Pippi travels to the small coastal town of Rocksby, accompanied by her horse, Alfonso, and monkey, Mr. Nilsson.

They become friends and get into various adventures together such as making pancakes, cleaning the floor with scrubbing shoes, serving ice cream to residents of the local children's home, riding a motorcycle, and dodging "splunks".

Pippi must also fight off Mr. Blackhart and his henchmen, Rype and Rancid, who want to demolish her house and sell the property, as well as avoid being legally taken to the children's home by the owner, Miss Bannister.

However, after she sends a message in a bottle to Efraim, she rescues two of the orphans after the children's home catches on fire accidentally started by the janitor and is lauded by the townspeople as a heroine.

Pippi is reunited with Efraim on Christmas Day, and he offers her the chance to become a cannibal princess of the uncharted island he had washed ashore on and was crowned king.

[4][5] When he wrote a letter to her expressing interest in acquiring the rights to the film in November 1983, she declined, as she regarded the character as "her own daughter".

[6] Eventually, in August 1984, Mehlman traveled to Stockholm during pre-production of The Yellow Jersey to meet with Lindgren and Svensk Filmindustri executives Lennart Wiklund and Conny Planborg for the film rights.

[8] On October 16, 1985, it was announced that Ken Annakin would write the screenplay and production was scheduled to start early in 1986 with an estimated budget of $10–12 million; Bavaria, Florida and North Carolina listed as filming locations.

[17] Richard Harrington, writing for The Washington Post felt that "it's just as hard to imagine Lindgren sending Pippi to Hollywood again anytime in the near future" and criticized the film's subplots.

"[18] People's Peter Travers was critical of the film's storyline, the music, and the acting, saying "If cute could kill, pigtailed Pippi could bring nations to their knees".

Although McCarthy praised Pippi's characterization, he found Erin's acting "overbearing" and stated "putting up with her lack of charm for 100 minutes is a tall order.

However, he praised the performances of Eileen Brennan, Dianne Hull and John Schuck and later stated, "Despite major gaps in some of the staging, [writer/director] Ken Annakin's production is presentable enough for what's needed here.

She thought that Erin "seems to embody the relentless good nature, physical agility and spunk necessary for the role", but questioned the film's plot and soundtrack, concluding that it is "a Pippi Longstocking museum rather than a movie, crammed with bits and pieces from a number of [Lindgren's] different books, none of them quite working together".

[21] In his 2015 Movie Guide, critic Leonard Maltin found Pippi a "tiresome troublemaker" and stated that the film would likely appeal to "undiscriminating children.

She gave it three stars, concluding that Ken Annakin "deserves to be proud of the Disney-esque The New Adventures of Pippi Longstocking".

[26] Speaking with the Daily Herald, Tami Erin reflected on the film in 2013, saying "Becoming a real movie star in a studio picture gives you sort of an all-access pass to things in life, and I've been really lucky for all the doors that [The New Adventures] has opened for me.