Abner
The Invisible Dog
(2013/Inception DVD)/Bubble
Guppies: Animals Everywhere!
(DVD)/Dora In Wonderland
(Nickelodeon DVD)/Leap
Frog: Letter Factory Adventures: Letter Machine Rescue Team
(Lionsgate DVD)/Sesame
Street Elmo's World: All About Animals
(Warner DVD/all 2014)/Snowflake
The White Gorilla
(2013/Lionsgate DVD)/Strawberry
Shortcake: Big Berry Help
(2013/Fox DVD)
Picture:
C+ Sound: C+/C+/C+/C+/C+/C+/C Extras: C-/D/C/C/C-/C/C
Main Programs: C-/B/C+/C+/B-/C/C+
Here
is a new cycle of children's DVD releases, most of which are good,
but a few fall short.
Fred
Olen Ray's Abner The Invisible
Dog (2013) is a sloppy,
flat, dull, odd comedy about a dog who becomes invisible when he
drinks a stolen invisibility formula, but anything that might work
here never gets anywhere with its cast of mostly unknowns (though an
older David Chokachi shows up looking bored) and this runs on and on
for 89 minutes in a romp that I was shocked at being so bad.
Andrew
Stevens produced this and though the dog in the film is some kind of
sheep dog, the one of the case is too digitized to be anything real
and the one of the back cover is more of a bearded collie! That
epitomizes the lack of effort throughout.
A
trailer is the only extra.
Next
we have two Nickelodeon entries, the 138 minutes of Bubble
Guppies: Animals Everywhere!
and the shorter than expected Dora
In Wonderland (an Alice
In Wonderland take-off) which are the latest entires in their
respective series, but the former is much better than the latter. I
like Dora enough, but the DVD had room for much more and I find it
hard to believe there were not more shows or content that could have
been added. There are no extras for Bubble,
but Dora
has a bonus episode (sorely needed) and our edition included a paper
doll set.
Leap
Frog: Letter Factory Adventures: Letter Machine Rescue Team
further expands the educational universe of the Leap
Frog franchise well and
though this is shorter than Dora at 35 minutes (not including
extras), this has a little more impact. Designed to educate young
viewers, this has turned out to be a growing franchise that has a
bright future. I am pleased with that development.
Music
Videos and video segments for parents are the extras.
Sesame
Street Elmo's World: All About Animals
runs 137 minutes and though it was a bit uneven, it has more content
than most entries on the list and has its moments. I just felt it
was too much indoor activity for a show on animals and not in the
Sesame Street tradition of being outside as much as it should have
been. All in all, it is not bad, though.
A
DVD-ROM downloadable activity book is the only extra.
Andres
S. Schaer's Snowflake The
White Gorilla (2013) is
the Americanized/English-dubbed version of the CGI animated Spanish
production about the out-of-place title character. Too bad this
version has awkward, loud voiceover work by a cast that includes
David Spade, Keith David and Christopher Lloyd, all of whom are
capable of good such work. This runs 86 minutes and never really
goes anywhere, but it would be nice to see if the original Spanish
version sadly missing from this release is any better. It could not
be worse.
Extras
include 4 episode of Miniscule and the featurette Giving
The Characters A Voice.
Finally
we have Strawberry
Shortcake: Big Berry Help
(2013) the latest CGI installment of the revived franchise and the
first we have seen of it at all in many, many years. Running 66
minutes, it may not be as long as one would like, but I was surprised
how child-friendly and consistent it was. The characters have been
revised, so older fans may not like it, but it is nice for what we
get and is worth your child's time if interested.
Digital
HD Ultraviolet Copy for PC, PC portable and iTunes capable devices, a
Music Video and Printable Coloring Pages are the extras.
The
image quality is on even par across all the DVDs here, despite
different aspect ratios including anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1
presentations on Abner,
Frog
& Berry,
1.33 X 1 on Bubble,
Elmo
and an anamorphically enhanced 2.35 X 1 frame on Gorilla.
Color is just fine, though the CGI programs tend to have more muted
color. The lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 on Abner,
Gorilla,
Dora
and Berry
should be the sonic champs here, but Berry
is sadly the weakest presentation on the list by being transferred at
a low volume, while the others have weak soundfields, so the lossy
Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo on the rest of the DVDs can more than
compete.
-
Nicholas Sheffo
