Bella
Sara: Emma's Wings
(2014/E1 DVD)/Shuriken
School: The Ninja's Secret
(2004/Cinedigm/Flatiron DVD)/SpongeBob
Squarepants: SpongeBob, You're Fired
(2014/Nickelodeon DVD)
Picture:
C/C+/C+ Sound: C+ Extras: D Main Programs: C-/C+/B-
Here
are some new children's-aimed titles....
Bella
Sara: Emma's Wings
is a short fantasy/fairy tale release where the characters look like
Barbie (with animation not unlike the recent CGI series based on that
enduring toy line) that has the title character facing evil on flying
horses. I expected a little more than that, but this offers little
more and the dialogue is very talk-at throughout. Save a small group
of young girls who might want to really see this one, this was a
dull, flat disappointment not even reaching the usual heights for its
intended audience.
Shuriken
School: The Ninja's Secret
(2004) fares a bit better as an animated comedy about school children
who land up getting involved with martial arts and in that,
adventures are always around the corner. With that said, this can be
a mixed bag overall, but had a few amusing moments and maybe one or
two I wondered about. This is child-safe enough, but is a little on
the aggressive side for young children, so you know.
Finally
we have the SpongeBob
Squarepants: SpongeBob, You're Fired
(2014) compilation that runs just over 3 hours and has some laughs,
even enough to be the best release out of these three singles, but
despite the consistent quality content, it seems a little pat and is
not one of the better non-season long-play singles we have
encountered. Still, there is more than enough to keep most young
fans happy and in that respect, it is a success.
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image on Bella
is softer than even a fantasy release should be and is the visual dud
here, but the same playback on Secret
is pretty good, matched by the 1.33 X 1 and sometimes letterboxed
1.78 X 1 on SpongeBob.
Sound is all even here with the lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 on Bella
not having much of a soundfield and lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo on
the others on even par with each other and Bella.
Oddly, there are no extras on any of these releases.
-
Nicholas Sheffo
