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Category:    Home > Reviews > Animation > Literature > Children > Abel’s Island/Dancing Frog + The Marzipan Pig/Jazztime Tales (The Films Of Michael Sporn/First Run Features DVDs)

Abel’s Island/Dancing Frog + The Marzipan Pig/Jazztime Tales (The Films Of Michael Sporn/First Run Features DVDs)

 

Picture: C+/C     Sound: C+     Extras: C+     Main Programs: B-

 

 

First Run Features is back with more of The Films Of Michael Sporn with four more works on 2 separate DVDs:  Abel’s Island & Dancing Frog and The Marzipan Pig & Jazztime Tales.  For more on Sporn’s previously released work on DVD, try these links:

 

Hans Christian Anderson

http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/5546/The+Films+of+Michael+Sporn

 

Whitewash/Champagne/The Talking Eggs/Hunting of the Snark 

http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/479/Films+of+Michael+Sporn+(Volume

 

 

This time, we get Abel’s Island from Shrek creator William Steig, about a mouse who gets stranded on an island for a year (with voices by Tim Curry, Lionel Jeffreys and Heidi Stallings) and The Dancing Frog (with Stallings and Amanda Plummer doing the voices) of a team of performers who travel the world to great success until their retirement in an alternate take on the Warner Cartoons Michigan J. Frog short.  It is a good set.

 

The Marzipan Pig (narrated by Curry from the Russell Hoban book) as the title character gets lost behind a sofa, while Jazztime Tales (narrated by Ruby Dee) is about two young ladies, one black 7 one white in 1919 Harlem who become best friends.  It is set to the music of “Fats Waller” and is as well rendered as the rest.

 

The 1.33 X 1 color animated image on Island is good in all cases, but for whatever reason, the Marzipan set has softer transfers in all cases.  The Dolby Digital 2.0 sound is adequate (and somewhat stereophonic at best) in both cases.  I would love to see all of these on Blu-ray.  Extras include stills, animatics and Inside The Animation Studio short on both discs.  You cannot go wrong with any of these releases and all are recommended.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo


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