As the dog days of summer drag on (oh how I dislike this heat!) many families find themselves stuck inside because it is just so unbearable to be outside for too long. When children are stuck inside for too long the inevitable happens – “Cabin Fever!”
If your children are bored with the same worn out DVDs they have watched three dozen times already perhaps its time to invest in some new entertainment.
On July 27, 2010, Mill Creek Entertainment, a recognized leader in value entertainment, released eight kids and family titles from Cookie Jar Entertainment as ten-episode-sets on DVD. Every ten-episode-set will be available for the low price of $9.98 each.
The engaging lineup includes: Busytown Mysteries, Wimzie’s House, Mona the Vampire, The New Adventures of Nanoboy, The Busy World of Richard Scarry, Horseland, World of Quest and Super Duper Sumos. Many of the featured episodes from the popular children’s TV series will be making their DVD debuts. Each release contains over four hours of content with ten half-hour episodes plus a bonus episode.
“We are really excited to offer such great children’s programming on DVD while giving the consumer an incredible value,” says Ian Warfield, President and COO of Mill Creek Entertainment. “This assortment offers up to four times more content than similar products from studios and major networks. This is just the beginning of an amazing lineup of titles this partnership with Cookie Jar Entertainment presents.”
“We are pleased to partner with Mill Creek and to offer fans numerous classic Cookie Jar Entertainment series at affordable prices,”said Brenda Bisner, Director of Sales, CPLG US. “With such a wide range of DVDs, we are able to provide people with a variety of choices.”
We received several of the DVDs to review. I was most excited about the Richard Scarry DVDs. We love Busy Town. It was my husband’s favorite when he was a young boy. I remember having some of the books when I was younger. My kids have several of the books as well. It was really fun to see the characters come to life on the TV.
The DVDs we received were Busytown Mysteries and The Busy World of Richard Scarry: It’s a Busy, Busy, Day! It was fun to watch our favorite characters such as Lowly Worm (or “Wormie” as my husband called him when he was little), Huckle Cat and Sgt. Murphy.
Busy Town is entertaining for adults to watch. They are perfect for preschoolers because it teaches them about the everyday world around them using the lovable characters and silly humor.
Each Busy Town DVD is 4 1/2 hours long! If you pick them both up you’ll have more then enough episodes to entertain your child for the rest of the summer and beyond.
We also received Wimzie’s House: A World of Enchantment. Wow! Talk about a “blast from the past”. My daughter LOVED this show when she was little. She couldn’t get enough of it. I haven’t seen Wimzie in 10+ years. I didn’t even know she was still around. I thought she was off the air.
Wimzie is a dragon-like monster, similar to a Muppet. Her and her monster friends (Jonas, YaYa, Lou Lou, Bo and others) all attend daycare together. The gang offers up a lot of fun songs and activities for preschoolers.
Each episode is about one of the characters and a problem or issue they are having. The other monsters help to find solutions to the problems.
The show offers a lot of cute songs and teaches children about having empathy and accept others no matter their differences are. After all, they are all monsters and each one is different and unique, just like all of us.
This was a fun DVD to watch because it brought back a lot of memories from when my daughter was little.
Two of the DVDs that we received were not exactly my “cup of tea” but I can see how they would be appealing to young boys.
I have never heard of The New Adventures of Nanoboy or World of Quest: The Quest Begins, before. Both are animated shows.
The World of Quest reminds me of Shrek in a way. Quest is actually a character in the show. He’s a big, burly man with over exaggerated muscles. He’s forced to protect a young prince name Nestor, even though he doesn’t want to. Like Shrek, Quest just wants to be left alone to do his own thing. He rather not have to “baby sit” young Nestor.
I didn’t find the characters visually appealing, however there were a few moments worth giggling over. I would say this would appeal more to an elementary aged boy.
The New Adventures of Nanoboy was just plain weird. It has a bit of anime look to it. Nanoboy is a 10 year old boy who is the size of of a human cell. Another words he’s microscopic in size. Instead of fighting monsters and wild beasts he’s off fighting germs and bacteria. The monsters and other characters (aside from Nanoboy) are pretty creepy looking.
I didn’t realize that you can rent the series on NetFlix (instant view & DVD). On NetFlix it’s rated PG which I thought was really odd.
This if definitely a show geared towards boys. There is nothing cute and cuddly about the show (or things that would normally appeal to girls). I would say this was also good for elementary aged children.
Another DVD we received is called Horseland: The Greatest Stable Ever! This is another show I have never heard of before. It is also animated but not “cutsie” like the Busy Town characters. Right away you can tell this DVD would appeal to older children and ‘tween girls, especially those who love horses.
Horseland is about a stable where young teen girls go to practice and compete in horse related activities and events. Unlike the other DVDs (Busy Town, Wimzie…) the problems faced in each episode are situations that a typical 8 or 9 year old (for example) might face. There are issues with friendship, honesty, competition and more.
Horseland reminds me of the series Saddle Club, except in cartoon form. My daughter, who is not, necessarily a horse person, enjoyed the DVD, which I was surprised about. I think it appealed to her because of the realistic problems the girls faced. She could relate to them on some level.
The last DVD that we received was for another show I have never heard of before called Mona the Vampire: Show Us Your Fangs. This is a really cute DVD. I was a bit skeptical after watching Nanoboy and Quest, but I was pleasantly surprised. I think it’s a cute series.
Mona is a young girl with a big imagination. She loves a good mystery and they all seem to be around creepy things like spiders, a phantom dog, a robot and a freaky snowman.
Both of my kids really liked it too. I think this was one of their favorite DVDs out of the collection.
Mona kind of reminds me of Scooby Doo. Each episode she’s off to solve a monstrous mystery. It’s silly but a lot of fun to watch. This would appeal to older children and perhaps ‘tweens too.
Each DVD also featured a bonus episode from one of the other DVDs I reviewed. All except one called Super Duper Sumos: They’ve Got GUTS!. I didn’t get that DVD to review, which I’m OK with since I didn’t find the show entertaining at all and the sumos were not cute or appealing in anyway. I think they looked really strange with their itty bitty heads and ginormous bodies. Super Duper Sumos is also part of the Cookie Jar DVD releases.
All of these DVDs are available at most retail locations including Amazon and Barnes & Noble.
For more information about Cookie Jar please visit www.cjar.com.
For more information about Mill Creek Entertainment and to see more available DVDs in different genres (horror, family, documentaries, fitness, mystery, Sci-Fi…) visit http://millcreekent.com.
Kimberly
*I received free sample DVDs in order to do this review. There was no other compensation. The opinions expressed are my own.