DVD Roundup

Click to Buy	Ratings Summary (Scored out of a maximum of five)
	Audio		Video
	Goodies		Interface
	Value

At one time or another, all three of my young boys have watched some
of the Baby Einstein titles, which combine simplified orchestrations of
classical music with visually stimulating action images such as puppets,
real-world environments, and toys. They are actually pretty good for keeping
the attention of babies and toddlers, but beyond those age groups, if
you have preschool or elementary school age children like my mine, you’ll
get some rather strong opposition to the very suggestion of Baby Einstein.
Thus, the idea behind Little Einsteins was born.

Expanding on the concept of mixing classical music with art, animation,
and real-world imagery, Little Einsteins introduces a team of five animated
characters that star in the show. This team, which will remain constant
through the TV series and subsequent DVDs, includes two young boys, Quincy
and Leo, two young girls, June and Annie, and Rocket, the team’s trusty
spaceship that takes them around the world to solve a puzzle or mission.

In this first disc, the team must search around the world to help a caterpillar
become a butterfly, and then they must help the butterfly find an invitation
to his family reunion in Mexico. Throughout the show, children are introduced
to classical music by Beethoven, art by Van Gogh, Hokusai, and Monet and
several real world stills and video clips, including Niagra Falls, a cattle
ranch, a cave, and others. The show also introduces musical concepts,
like allegro and adagio, and vocabulary expanding words like chrysalis
and metamorphosis. The show is actually pretty cute, and my 4-year-old,
who is squarely in the middle of the target audience, enjoyed it quite
a bit. My 7-year-old was less enthusiastic, but he hung in there and watched
the whole thing without any complaints.

There is not a lot to say about either the audio and video transfers
or the user interface. The video transfer is perfectly suitable for the
intended audience, and colors and detail look very nice. The audio is
equally pleasing but not particularly outstanding. As for the interface,
it is child friendly, but not as much as some of the other discs Disney
has targeted at preschoolers. For example, a couple of the older Pooh
discs have a narrator that explains what each of the menu icons does,
but the Little Einsteins disc has textual menus that may be difficult
for preschoolers to navigate, if you let them handle the remote. However,
the menus do feature plenty of animation, animated transitions, and background
audio, and they fit in well with the theme of the disc.

As for the goodies, there are a few of them, and they will mildly entertain
your preschoolers for a little while. There is a “Navajo Maze Set-Top
Game,” in which your child helps the team find their way through a maze
made from a Navajo rug. Then, if the opening of the show is not quite
enough to figure out who the team members are, there is a “Meet The Team”
featurette that is an expansion of the show’s intro. Finally, there is
a brief Disneypedia program that takes your young viewer on a more in-depth
tour through some of the scenes and topics in the show. Finally, there
is a small “passport” in the DVD case that has stickers and little activities
for your children to work on, and there is a code that they can enter
on a website that will allow them to download Little Einsteins stuff.
All of these are decent additions to the disc, and they all seem to be
on target with my preschool viewer.

Overall, this is a cute disc that extends the Baby Einstein concept to
the next child development stage. If you and your preschooler enjoyed
the Baby Einstein tapes and DVDs, then this disc will probably play pretty
well. The cute animation, educational tidbits, and characters your children
can relate to.

Click to Buy	Ratings Summary (Scored out of a maximum of five)
	Audio		Video
	Goodies	—	Interface
	Value

For some time now, Disney has been releasing quite a few animated compilation
DVDs. Some, such as the Walt Disney Treasures, focus on one character
and are very comprehensive and targeted at collectors. Whereas others,
such as the Walt Disney Cartoon Classics, have a more focused approach
that takes a topic, such as sports, and pulls together several varied
Disney animated shorts on that topic. The latter DVDs are shorter in length
and have a more general appeal, but as a collector, I prefer the Treasures
collections.

With the release of the Timeless Tales series, Disney delves deeper into
their vault and puts together several of their classic animated shorts
and intermediate length movies (approx. 20 – 40 min) that do not really
fit into any of their previous compilation series. These first two discs
focus on classic stories, including The Three Little Pigs, The Tortoise
and the Hare, The Ugly Duckling, and others. Here are the specifics:

VOLUME ONE

• The Prince And The Pauper
• The Three Little Pigs — Academy Award for Best Animated Short, 1933
• The Tortoise And The Hare — Academy Award for Best Animated Short,
  1935
• The Grasshopper and the Ants
• The Pied Piper

VOLUME TWO

• The Wind In The Willows
• The Ugly Duckling
• Ferdinand The Bull — Academy Award for Best Animated Short, 1938
  
• The Country Cousin — Academy Award for Best Animated Short, 1936

As you can tell, all these titles were animated quite a while ago, but
the stories themselves are indeed timeless and well told. For the most
part, both my 7-year-old and 4-year-old enjoyed watching these discs.

The unfortunate thing about the age of these shorts, though, is that
the video transfers show a lot of the scratches, dust, etc. from the original
prints. Also, the colors seem to be a bit washed out, and the end effect
is that, while the story is timeless, the animation looks very dated.
Granted, while I noticed the all the problems, it did not seem to lessen
my boys’ enjoyment all that much. As for the audio, it was acceptable,
but you just have to keep in mind that there is only so much that can
be done with approximately 70-year-old mono soundtracks. Finally, in somewhat
stark contrast to the main content, the menus feature modern 3D animation,
but they are suitable for the intended use.

Overall, these are pretty decent compilations of Disney’s animated adaptations
of classic stories. The presentation of the shorts leaves a bit to be
desired, particularly for collectors, but for most people and children,
these should be fine.