Dora The Explorer – Dora’s Christmas
Carol (DVD + CD)
+
Let’s Hear It For The Laurie Berkner
Band! (Nickelodeon DVDs)
Picture: C+
Sound: C+/B/C+ Extras:
C-/C Main Programs: C
In a rush to speed up holidays that are a quarter of a
year away, Nickelodeon has decided to not only issue a DVD of Dora The Explorer in Dora’s Christmas Carol, but have also
decided to add a separate CD release. To
say this is too soon is an understatement.
Why doesn’t the company issue it in July or in January so we don’t
forget it is coming again the next year?
That it comes from “Dora’s Nochebuena Party” is irrelevant, it is just
out of place and if the idea is to beat the competition to make it a holiday
classic, that will not work because it is just not that good.
She battles robbers, sings and teaches her audience more
child-friendly lessons, but there is not enough here and it tries too
hard. Also, the menu has an episodes
selection and this is the only episode on the disc! That makes this one of the poorest of the
Dora DVDs to date and the franchise should be treated better. The program runs 52 minutes.
Let’s Hear It For
The Laurie Berkner Band! is a newer live action show that wants to continue the tradition of the
live-action sing-a-long show, with over a dozen numbers in this 44-minutes-long
show. It is not bad and you could do
worse, but the problem is that the songs are very simple and not too memorable,
no matter how child-friendly. The
semi-animated Moose & Zee also star.
The 1.33 X 1 image on each of the DVDs are just fine for
analog video releases with good color and the taped live action concert footage
is on the clean side, while the Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo on both are also just
fine, though the surprise is how good the Dora CD sounds. I expected it to be compressed or
problematic, but it is a clean new recording.
Extras are few on each and include Music Videos (two on Dora, four on
Berkner), plus Dora adds a very, very brief featurette about the Young People’s
Chorus.
- Nicholas Sheffo
