Nickelodeon
Spring 2015 DVD Singles: Big Little Movies (Dora's Explorer Girls:
Our First Concert, Dora Saves Fairytale Land, Umi Space Heroes), Max
& Ruby: Sharing & Caring, Bubble Guppies: Puppy & The
Ring, Team Umizoomi!: Meet Shark Car/Tom
& Jerry: The Gene Deitch Collection
(1961/Warner DVD)
Picture:
C+/B- Sound: C+ Extras: D/C Main Programs: C+
Here's
the latest children's DVD releases...
In
a move that is a little surprising, Nickelodeon is really stepping up
the release of DVD singles to the point that I think they are setting
a new kind of personal best record, so I grouped 6 of them in this
review to prove my point and show what they are up to.
These
basic discs with no extras include three in a series that may or may
not continue called Big
Little Movies
and include Dora's
Explorer Girls: Our First Concert, Dora Saves Fairytale Land
and Umi
Space Heroes.
It is hard to say if this will be the beginning of a new series or
just a one-shot thing, but it is more of the same though Saves
has the new older Dora who coexists with the younger, traditional,
iconic one and Space
has Team
Umizoomi!
in what they expect is a fun new situations. We also get three
regular releases in
Max &
Ruby: Sharing & Caring, Bubble Guppies: Puppy & The Ring
and (making sure the original version of the hit show is also issued
with the special DVD)
Team Umizoomi!: Meet Shark Car.
These
are all fine and half (the Movies
DVDs) run only 45 minutes-long (which is too short), but they are
fine for what they are (Max
has the most adventures at 94 minutes, three minutes longer than
Shark,
but Puppy
runs 114 minutes) and they are just fine. They are more of the same
versus the many earlier releases we have reviewed elsewhere on this
site, leaving one question: Is Nickelodeon overdoing it or is this
smart DVD releasing and marketing? Time will tell, but I hope they
start releasing a more diverse lot of titles soon.
Tom
& Jerry: The Gene Deitch Collection
(1961) is a controversial set of theatrical cartoons by the
underrated Mr. Deitch whose animation was done overseas, tended to be
abstract and were a big change from the expensive, lush shorts Tom &
Jerry creators Hanna-Barbera had made when they created the
characters and animated theatrical shorts series in the first place
with the big money backing of MGM. Before these
deconstructions-by-default of the duo's adventures became too much
for MGM to take and there was a leadership change, Deitch and company
made 13 shorts and the results are not as bad as you may have heard.
I
have seen these over the years and they are always an interesting
break in what you usually see, something that has remained so as TV
media has changed so much since the 1970s. They have held their
uniqueness, flaws and all, for they are fun and push the artform into
a new direction that is not always comfortable. Yet these are still
funny, creative and prove the appeal of Tom and Jerry without the big
budget... something proved by later hit TV versions of the duo and
makes one wonder why they have not had a comeback. This set is worth
catching, especially since you can finally see the artistic intents
of these underrated works.
Extras
include the new Tom
and Jerry... and Gene
featurette and vintage featurette Much
Ado About Tom And Jerry
on the DVD, while a paper inside the case has an listing of the
shorts, plus text statements from Deitch and animation scholar Jerry
Beck.
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image in the Max,
Puppy
and Fairytale
DVDs are just fine, but they are not so extraordinary that they
outright topple the 1.33 X 1 image on the rest of the Nickelodeon
DVDs. They are all in line with most of the previous, many DVDs we
have covered from the company.
The
1.33 X 1 image on the newly remastered Jerry
shorts are more of a revelation, looking like they were issued
in dye-transfer, three-strip Technicolor 35mm prints showing a new
dimension and how much more thought went into these shorts than all
previous video copies would let on. Add some more detail, depth and
the wide-ranging depth of color you can see how much of the limited
budgets got onto the screen and how much heart and soul Deitch put
into them. I am impressed, even if some shorts work better than
others, though I won't elaborate as you should take a deeper look at
them yourself.
As
for sound, the lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 on the Puppy
and Fairytale
DVDs are decent, but their soundfields are not so strong that they
can outright outdo the lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo on the other
four Nickelodeon DVDs, but all are fine and sufficient for their
young audience. The big surprise is that the lossy Dolby Digital 2.0
Mono in Jerry
sounds better and clearer than ever being remastered from the
original elements. It brings out more in the creative, unique
soundtrack work that was a little more ahead of its time than it gets
credit for.
-
Nicholas Sheffo
