As the parent of a two year old, it should come as no surprise that Mickey Mouse Clubhouse is a morning staple in our household. Mickey Mouse Clubhouse: Space Adventure has been available on my cable’s “OnDemand” feature for a month or two now, but it’s finally getting a proper DVD release. Space Adventure follows the usual cast of characters as they launched into orbit to find a treasure in space. Since they’re off in space, they run into alternate universe versions of characters with Martian Mickey, Pluto from Pluto and Moon Men Chip & Dale — plus Space Pirate Pete (my daughter’s favorite) and his helper, Quoodles, a female Toodles. As with most Mickey Mouse Clubhouse episodes, it kept my daughter enthralled the entire time. While Mickey Mouse Clubhouse: Space Adventure doesn’t break any
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The Disney Junior hit sails the home video seas
Read More »Warner Bros. has gone Peanuts-happy this year, releasing a Blu-ray collection of holiday-themed specials (which they neglected to send me — whatever, jerks) alongside Charlie Brown’s Christmas Tales. What’s that, you say? You’ve never heard of Charlie Brown’s Christmas Tales? You’re wondering why it wasn’t just part of the holiday specials box? Well. Read and learn. What we have here is a collection of five clips that the DVD case generously calls “segments,” adding up to a whopping 18 minutes of Christmas cheer. It’s a pure budget title, the kind of thing you can probably find red-tagged in the movie bin at any local drugstore, but given that these shorts aren’t currently part of other Peanuts collections, it has some appeal for completists. As a bizarre bonus, you also get the 1983 special “Is This
Read More »So apparently my love for my daughter knows no bounds, because not only have I refrained from discouraging her rapt fascination with the offensively priced American Girls dolls, but I willingly sat through Samantha: An American Girl Holiday. Twice. And I’m not sure whether or not it’s just paternal weakness speaking, but, uh…this movie really isn’t that bad. Originally released in 2004, Samantha kicked off what has become a burgeoning film franchise — Samantha’s fellow American Girls Felicity, Molly, and Kit Kittredge now have their own movies — and even though Warner Bros.’ reasons for reissuing it now (Celebrating 25 Years of American Girl!) are just as flimsy as the reasoning behind that “Deluxe Edition” on the case (a new widescreen transfer replaces the original full-screen video), the movie remains a sweet, surprisingly thoughtful holiday
Read More »My three-year-old son’s first words were “poop” and “remote,” so when Disney announced its Mickey Mote line of DVDs, I knew we had a winner. If your little ones share his fascination for anything that has buttons and can reprogram your TiVo to record The Jimmy Sturr Show while you aren’t looking, you’ll want to check this out. Basically, what we have here is a chunky red remote, shaped like Mickey’s head, that works with a growing catalog of DVDs, two of which Disney was kind enough to send along with the Mickey Mote. Having let my little menace have his way with the Mote while watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Numbers Roundup and Handy Manny: Big Construction Job, I can tell you that it works as advertised — and these titles, while certainly devoid of
Read More »There are so many Scholastic Storybook Treasures releases that you need a special shelf (or three) just to hold them all, which makes it something of a challenge to review them as they come out — but release schedules be damned, this is one product lineup that deserves your attention, no matter how massive it gets. These three titles are the latest Treasures to grace the Scholastic Storybook lineup: The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs! … and More Animal Adventures, featuring five stories and a handful of extras. The extras are more for parents — your kids probably aren’t going to sit still for interviews with the author and illustrator of The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs! – but the main feature includes about an hour’s worth of dependably entertaining stuff
Read More »Scholastic Storybook Treasures: The Halloween Stories Collection (Weston Woods/NewVideo, 2010) They’ve put together so many collections that I can’t believe they still have any new ones left to release, but if there’s a series that deserves infinite installments, it’s Scholastic Storybook Treasures — and there they go again, with a three-hour-plus bundle of 18 creepy (not really), crawly (maybe a little) stories celebrating the Halloween season. Perfect for teachers looking for a classroom treat, parents of trick-or-treating youngsters, or kids who get a kick out of seeing their favorite books come to (occasionally somewhat limited) life onscreen, The Halloween Stories Collection is good, clean seasonal fun — and at under $12.50 at Amazon, it’s priced to sell, too. Synopsis: 18 not-so-scary stories in a 3 DVD collection. From the kid-friendly Halloween stories A Very Brave
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