Archives for 2017

Twenty six cuddly ABC Monsters live within the walls of Capital Castle. Each monster represents a letter of the alphabet, but should any of the monsters go missing for longer than a day, all the letters will be wiped clean from every book in Capital Town! In this DVD, embark on adventures with Alice, Brian, and Cherry Berry to search high and low for the letters V, W, X, Y, and Z. It’s a very windy day in Capital Town. After checking the ABC Monsters, it seems that one of them is missing – W-Monster! So Alice, Brian and Cherry Berry head into town in hopes of finding their missing friend, W-Monster. Along the way they meet, Wanda the Weaver, Wendy the Window Cleaner and then Willie Webster. Hopefully, one of them will be able to help Alice, Brian and Cherry Berry find W-Monster during this windy day. Get set for a spellbinding series of magical adventures that engages preschool children’s imaginations, while making learning exciting and entertaining. KIDS FIRST! Film Critic Jolleen M. comments, “This educational DVD is super cute and hilarious. I love that it is interactive and that there is music. The animation is very colorful, bright and vivid.” Sahiba K. adds, “My favorite part is the journey of finding the monsters because, even I had the pleasure of guessing the riddles and seeing how one puzzle would lead to the next. The message of this DVD is “always help those in need and good will always transpire.”  Rachael V. wraps it up with, “I love seeing such a positive portrayal of little girls on screen. All of the Alphabet Monsters are funny and somehow manage to have different personalities. This show provides fun adventures, but I honestly just love the fact that these 26 monsters have 26 distinct looks and 26 distinct personalities.” See their full reviews below.

ABC Monsters: Starring VWXYZ

By Jolleen M., KIDS FIRST! Film Critic, age 12

This educational DVD is super cute and hilarious. I love that it is interactive and that there is music. The animation is very colorful, bright and vivid.

In the story, the letters of the alphabet are all different monsters. Each episode stars one of the letters of the alphabet. Later in the episode, the letter goes missing and it’s up to Alice, Brian and Cherry Berry to find the missing letter. If one of the monsters goes missing for more than a day, then all of the letters will be erased from every book. Throughout the episodes, they teach letter recognition, spelling, writing each letter, identifying the missing letter in a word and there are parts where you can sing-along.

I like the style of animation in this show. It is really cute, cheerful, colorful and pleasing. The animation flows well and has lots of detail. The backgrounds look really cool as well. I love the way the characters’ faces have different expressions and they show a variety of emotions through their facial expressions.

Each of the characters has a different hairstyle and different personality. This shows me that the creators took the time and the effort to give each character a completely different and unique look as well as a completely distinctive personality. It makes the DVD just that much more interesting to watch and it impacts the storyline as well.

My favorite part of the episodes is when they can make alliterations with the letter that is starring. It is really creative and amazing to see how many words they come up with. For example, on the episode that stars the letter W, they met Wanda the Weaver, Wendy the Window Cleaner and Willie the Webster.

The message of this DVD is about teaching kids to do the right things when different situations arise. The goal is to educate kids about the alphabet and help them develop their language skills. The film also has sing-alongs, which can help in developing your reading skills. This show excels at teaching while entertaining kids. I believe that a child can learn a lot about the alphabet from watching it. I give this DVD 5 out of 5 stars and recommend it for ages 4 to 7. It is available on DVD now so go check it out.

ABC Monsters Starring VWXYZ

By Sahiba K., KIDS FIRST! Film Critic, Age 15

ABC Monsters Starring VWXYZ, directed by Ah Loong, is an interactive adventure full of fun and games! Songs, puzzles and dances encircle each episode with excitement. Puzzles where viewers are asked to help kept me engaged as I felt I was a part of the show, helping the main characters along their journey to find the missing monsters.

The story follows Alice, Brian and their fairy Cherry Berry, who embark on different adventures to find the missing letters. On their way, they face many puzzles, meet new friends and visit new places. They even learn new songs and dance moves as they embark on their exhilarating quests.

The animation and songs are unforgettable. The children and adults have a larger head than body, which allows an exaggeration of emotions. It makes it easy to understand what the characters are feeling. The monsters come in different colors, have distinctive hairstyles and unique personalities. Each characteristic adds to their charm including their smiles and even their unique teeth. The backgrounds are colorful and radiant. They appear to have been drawn as there are sketchy lines that outline the trees, hills and houses. This adds to the calm feeling of watching different, lively scenes. The animation becomes more visually appealing when different patches of designs merge to create walls, floors and hills. It prevents certain areas from being one solid color and gave me more to look at on their adventures.

When a song begins, the scene changes into vibrant shades of yellow, pink and blue with a multitude of flowery shapes. The characters dance on screen while colors and patterns flow past them. There are sparkles everywhere and lights flash as if the characters are at a disco. Captions also appear at the bottom, encouraging viewers to sing along. The ambiance of these scenes are exuberant and energetic. The songs themselves are catchy and made me want to sing along too.

My favorite part is the journey of finding the monsters because, even I had the pleasure of guessing the riddles and seeing how one puzzle would lead to the next. The message of this DVD is “always help those in need and good will always transpire.” I give this DVD 4.5 out of 5 stars and recommend it for ages 2 to 6. This DVD is available now so be sure to check it out, especially if you have pre-schoolers.

ABC Monsters: Starring VWXYZ

By Rachael V., KIDS FIRST! Adult Juror

Oh no, W-Monster is missing! Capital Castle is a grand place that houses the 26 Alphabet Monsters, but today we have one missing and we must find it! My son was loving the search and kept asking where W had gone. It is adorable. My favorite thing about this DVD is the alliteration and how it coincides with the main cast. For example: since we are searching for W, we encounter Willie Webster and Wanda the Weaver and all this takes place on a windy day! Isn’t that fun? One of the children searching for W-Monster is named Alice and she is such a sweetheart. I love seeing such a positive portrayal of little girls on screen. All of the Alphabet Monsters are funny and somehow manage to have different personalities. This show provides fun adventures, but I honestly just love the fact that these 26 monsters have 26 distinct looks and 26 distinct personalities. It’s wonderfully done. This is best for preschool-aged children, however, I recommend it for ages 2 to 6 and give it 5 out of 5 stars.

Credit: KIDS FIRST!

Gather Around For Six Hearth-Warming Holiday Tales! Tis the season to celebrate with family and your very best friends. But you know that no holiday in Equestria is complete without a little adventure. Join Twilight Sparkle, Spike, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity and Fluttershy as they embark on six exciting adventures sure to put you in the holiday spirit! KIDS FIRST! Film Critic Calista B. comments, “The animation of My Little Pony is fluid, unique and, best of all, colorful. The colors in My Little Pony are amazing. I love the different combinations of colors on all the different characters and how every pony has distinct color combinations.” Carla P. adds, “This DVD is a great way of putting you in the holiday mood.  I love these episodes because of the cute characters and the message in each episode.” See their full reviews below.

My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, Holiday Hearts

By Calista B., KIDS FIRST! Film Critic, Age 14

I really enjoyed watching the episodes on this DVD. A few are a little bit too young for my taste but I still had fun watching them.

This DVD is a collection of six episodes from My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. Most of the episodes aren’t connected and you might actually need to have knowledge of the show to understand what’s going on all of the time. That’s a bit of a problem since I don’t watch the show on TV. I originally thought this DVD could be a good introduction to new fans, but by the third episode, Twilight Sparkle had wings all of a sudden, her house was destroyed and she became a princess. None of this was explained and it left me very confused. So this DVD definitely feels like it’s for people who already have knowledge about the show.

Although I didn’t know everything that was happening, I still really appreciate My Little Pony for its great characters and animation. Let’s start with the animation. The animation of My Little Pony is fluid, unique and, best of all, colorful. The colors in My Little Pony are amazing. I love the different combinations of colors on all the different characters and how every pony has distinct color combinations. My favorite designs are probably Rainbow Dash’s and Twilight Sparkle’s. Now, characters development is always important and I think My Little Pony has some great characters. The main focus of the show is on six characters, or “The Mane 6”, as the fan base calls them. Each of them are equally fascinating and all are quite different from each other, which makes the show more enjoyable. Each of them is special. My favorite of The Mane 6 is Fluttershy. I found her really likeable and absolutely adorable. Unfortunately, she doesn’t seem to get enough screen time.

I have to say my favorite episode of this collection is A Hearth’s Warming Tail, which is a parody of A Christmas Carol. The episode excels in parodying the story, yet making it fit the My Little Pony Universe. However, what drives this episode for me are the songs. I love all five of the songs in this episode. I might even listen to them on my own time. I give this DVD 4 out 5 stars and recommend it for anyone ages 4 to 12. The DVD is available now and would make an excellent gift for a My Little Pony Fan!

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic: Holiday Hearts

Reviewed by Carla P., KIDS FIRST! Film Critic, age 13

This DVD is a great way of putting you in the holiday mood.  I love these episodes because of the cute characters and the message in each episode.

This DVD is a collection of episodes from the show, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. It’s a compilation of the holiday-based episodes from the show that follows Twilight Sparkle and her friends from Ponyville (Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity and Fluttershy) as they explore Hearts Warming Eve.

The voice actors in these shows are quite extraordinary. I love how the voice actor for Twilight, Tara Strong, has such a matter of fact voice that matches Twilight’s character. I’m impressed by Ashleigh Ball’s voice acting as both Rainbow Dash and Applejack. She pulls off a great southern accent so that I actually believed she was Southern. All the voice actors portray exactly how I might imagine these characters would actually sound if they came to life.

I love how the animators pay attention to detail. Every character is quite unique. They don’t all look the same, even though they are the same type of pony. The main characters are also all different. Rarity and Twilight are both unicorns, but both are very different in the way they are imagined.  Rarity looks way more fashionable with her wavy hair, while Twilight looks a little bit more ordinary.

The message of this show is to be yourself. Each one of the characters has different interests and styles, but they still all get along. Their uniqueness plays a huge role in the storyline of the show.

I recommend this to ages 5 to 10 and give it 5 out of 5 stars. This DVD is available now so go check it out.

Credit: KIDS FIRST!