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The Story
As parents of younger children ourselves, we were excited
when we heard that Big Idea Productions is releasing its
latest VeggieTales title (as of March 2001), "Lyle, the Kindly
Viking", on DVD. For those
of you who are not familiar with VeggieTales, it is a series
of videos geared for children ages four and older and features the lovable vegetable
characters (such as Bob the Tomato and Larry the Cucumber) in their
fun-loving and wholesome musical song-and-dance numbers. Not only will these
Pixar-like computer animated characters (but with less visual detail) entertain the youngsters, they will also
teach them various Christian values. This latest title
features a lesson in sharing. Though originally marketed at
Christian family households, these VeggieTales
have gained popularity with the mass market in the past several years and
have become "mainstream" in the secular world.
In this latest title, Bob the Tomato and Larry the
Cucumber opens the episode only to have Archibald Asparagus interrupt them
to ask if they would allow him to produce this show. Bob reluctantly
agrees after Larry reminds him that the episode is a lesson in sharing.
Taking over, Archibald aims to produce something more "classy"
than your average VeggieTales episode. He starts off by putting on an
all-vegetable production of Shakespeare's classic, "Hamlet", where
the King Hamlet learns to share his last "light and fluffy" eggs
with the subjects of his kingdom. In return, he makes friends and
earns the respect of his subjects and learns that the kingdom has always
been blessed with plentiful eggs (only that his subjects thought that eggs
were ping pong balls).
Next, Archibald puts on a hilarious production of the
Silly Song, "Larry's High Silk Hat". My whole family was on
the floor laughing. The last production is the title episode,
"Lyle, The Kindly Viking", starring the cute and lovable Junior
Asparagus in the title role. The production is wonderfully staged and
tells the story of a group of Vikings. As with most Vikings, this
group pillage and plunder neighboring villages and towns. One day,
after returning from their pillaging and plundering mission from a monastery,
they see Lyle leaving on a trip in his small Viking boat. Curious as
to what Lyle is up to, two fellow Vikings follow him and find out that Lyle
is graciously sharing his portion of the pillaged gold and his hand-made
potholders with the monastery victims of a recent Viking raid. In
return, Lyle earns their friendship and assistance when something goes wrong
later...
As a musical, this latest VeggieTales title is a smash
hit. The songs are incredible catchy and fun to sing along with.
Your kids are sure to love this title. Ours did. (They are 8, 6, and
4 years old.) As kids will want to view this title over
and over and over and over again, DVD is the perfect format. It allows
them to skip to the chapters that they really want to see. And parents
will love it too, since it doesn't wear out after repeated viewings and with
age, like VHS tapes do.
The Extras
"Lyle, The Kindly Viking" contains these bonus
material:
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Interview with Phil Vischer, Big Idea founder of
Top Tomato, and director Tim Hodge: an insightful interview about this
VeggieTales episode.
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Widescreen version of the Silly Song, "Larry's
High Silk Hat": the same hilarious production, but in 16:9
widescreen format.
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Story reel split-screen peek at animation development:
Shows original storyboard stills in comparison to the final and finished
sequence when Bob and Larry confronts Junior, as his character Lyle
returns home from his mission of sharing.
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"Jonah" theatrical trailer: VeggieTales is
releasing its first feature length film, about the biblical story of
Jonah, to theaters in 2002. (For follow-up and additional
information this theatrical release and other VeggieTales titles, visit
the Big Idea web
site or sign up for our free
e-Newsletter and we'll notify you.) We're big fans and are
excited to see Big Idea's success with their VeggieTales
productions. And it's promising to know that VeggieTales has gone
this far in popularity with the secular world.
Overall, it's a good set of bonus features,
considering the affordable list price of only $15 (retails for less than
$15). But for future releases, we
would love to see even more. Please? Maybe a sing-a-long feature
for kids to sing along with the lyrics prompted by a bouncing ball (karaoke
style). And even perhaps more bible references for
additional study. Bloopers are welcomed!
Video & Audio
The image quality of this DVD is excellent. The colors are accurate and
saturated. The Silly Song segment, "Larry's High Silk Hat"
is purposely "embellished" with simulated film dust specks, to
give it a classic, aged film look. The Dolby
Digital 5.1 soundtrack is well balanced and the surround channels are
aggressively used, to capture the off-screen action. The dialog
is crystal clear. The musical numbers are great, catchy and very well
performed. Overall, this DVD transfer is top notch.
Conclusion
VeggieTales is a very lovable series of children's
videos. Keep
up the great work, Big Ideas. Your products are a blessing to us all.
This DVD and other VeggieTales videos (in VHS/home video
format) are available from our affiliated online merchants such as Amazon.com
and Buy.com, at your local Wal-Mart stores, or at your local family
Christian store. Enjoy! If you're new to VeggieTales, won't you drop
us a note and let us know how you like VeggieTales?
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Visit the Big Idea web
site.
Did you find this DVD movie review helpful? Let us
know your thoughts, send an e-mail to us at Staff@TimeForDVD.com.
Associated equipment used in evaluation: Sony
DVP-S7700 reference DVD player, Sony
KP-61V45 61" rear projection TV (4:3 screen aspect ratio), Sony ES
STR-V444ES A/V receiver, NHT 2.1 as left/right main speakers, NHT 1.1C center channel speaker, NHT
SuperZero as surround speakers, Monster Cable M-series S-Video cable MSV-500, Monster
Cable Interlink LightSpeed 100 (Toslink) optical cable, Monster Cable XP speaker
wires, and Sony MDR-V600 studio monitor headphones. Our home theater equipment was calibrated
with the Video
Essentials DVD.
Be sure to check out our Top 10 DVDs of the year
2001 and our list of this year's Oscar winners on DVD.
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