Categories: Toddlers and Preschoolers , Early School Years

Toddlers and Preschoolers

Play with Maisy   
(Universal $12.98) Maisy's little slice of life adventures with her friends are very slow-paced and are just right for young video viewers. Play with Maisy includes time at the playground and the fair. Still top rated, last year's PLATINUM AWARD winner, Count with Maisy, where she is the conductor of the train and picks up two giraffes, three peacocks... you get the idea. 2H & up.

 

Birthday Stories 
(Time Life $12.95) A collection of seven animated stories about birthdays by well-known writers and illustrators such as Alan Ahlberg, Michael Foreman, Helen Oxenbury, and Shirley Hughes. They have a true storybook quality that is charming, but quieter and slower than most video fare for this age group. Watch this 44-min. video in several sittings rather than one long sit-down. 3 & up.

Discover Spot 
(Disney $19.99) A creative blend of short animated stories featuring Spot and his friends and live action showing real kids doing similar things. For example, when Spot and his friends see a band in the park they go home to make their own music. Video then features real-life kids trying different instruments. Features the voice of Haley Joel Osment as Spot. 3 & up.

Little Bear's Band   
(Paramount $9.95) This series continues to be one of the best for preschoolers with age appropriate stories about friendship and family. Little Bear's Band with four musical tales includes our favorite, "Diva Hen." Also recommended, Summertime Tales, with four adventures revolving around games Little Bear and his friends play in the garden and in the woods. PLATINUM AWARD '00. Also entertaining: A Kiss For Little Bear, Friends, Winter Tales, and Goodnight, Little Bear (PLATINUM AWARD '99). Forget Little Goblin Bear, a seasonal attempt at safe scare with several dream sequences that may be edgy for some viewers. 3 & up.

Goodnight Moon & Other Sleepytime Tales
(HBO Kids Video $9.95) Our favorite video of the year. Though toddlers might enjoy the title story, this is not a film for the very young. Through interviews with dozens of real kids, this refreshing film captures kids' typical feelings about dreams and bedtime. Viewers will find comfort in knowing that they are not alone in some of their fears. Laced throughout these wise remarks from kids are Natalie Cole narrating Faith Ringgold's Tar Beach, Billy Crystal's telling of Mercer Mayer's There's a Nightmare in My Closet, and familiar bedtime songs sung by Tony Bennett, Aaron Neville, Lauryn Hill and Patti LaBelle. Oh, yes, and Goodnight Moon comes to life faithfully with brilliant color and minimal animation, and read just as it should be with simplicity by Susan Sarandon. Save this for kids from 4-7.

Early School Years

Joseph: King of Dreams 
(Dreamworks $26.99) It's refreshing that this animated version didn't take liberties with a story that needs no added drama. Joseph's coat is not quite as colorful as one might imagine it, but the story of jealousy, dishonesty, courage, and forgiveness is all here. Though the animation does not compare to Dreamworks' Prince of Egypt, the images, the straightforward script, and even the music bring Joseph and his dreams to life without turning them into a nightmare! 6 & up.

Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea   
(Disney $26.99) A satisfying sequel to the "happily ever after" tale of the Little Mermaid. The drama begins when Ariel's daughter Melody is threatened by the sea witch Morgana. To keep her safe, Ariel decides that her daughter should never know of her mother's past or her relations in the sea. Rebellious like her mother, Melody dives in and runs into her own set of underwater sidekicks and big-time trouble. Another happy ending, of course. The music isn't as grand, but will satisfy those looking for more adventures. Two fins up! Because the opening is particularly scary, our recommendation is to save this for 6 & up.

Chicken Run  
(Dreamworks $26.99) Like many so-called family films, this one is loaded with visual quotes from movies that kids won't know. Yet, on a very basic level, this is the tale in which the underdogs (make that the chickens) join forces and use their ingenuity to outwit the evil, greedy, inhuman humans who are plotting to turn them into pot pies. With plenty of sunny-side up chicken/egg jokes to lighten the dark side, it's "Stalag 17" and "The Great Escape" recast in fine fowl claymation. 6 & up.

Disney Presents Annie    
(Sony $19.99) If you missed this on network TV during the holidays or you wish you could see it again, here's a masterful, made-for-TV production of the musical Annie. Kathy Bates plays the dastardly Miss Hannigan to 12-year-old Alicia Morton's spunky Annie, with Victor Garber as Daddy Warbucks and Audra MacDonald as his secretary. It's better than the movie or other revivals we've seen. This is a keeper! 5 & up.

My Dog Skip   
(Warner Bros. $22.96) With the help of his dog, 9-year-old Willie overcomes loneliness, fear, and his small stature. Set in WWII, this is a good blend of humor, adventure, and the bigger issues of growing up, finding friends, and figuring out what being a hero really means. Skip's eventual death, after Willie grows up, is treated sensitively at the end, with just a voice-over. 8 & up.

October Sky   
(Universal $14.98) It's 1957 and Homer's sights are on the stars and Sputnik, not the coal mines that have swallowed the dreams and hopes of his father's generation. An inspiring film that speaks to believing in oneself and keeping hope alive. 8 & up. Closed-captioned. PG.

Stuart Little   
(Columbia Tristar $24.96) Those who loved E.B. White's book may feel betrayed yet again with the Hollywood version, but some parents preferred the film to the original. Unlike the book's ending, here Stuart (Michael J. Fox) is happily reunited with the Littles (played by Geena Davis, Hugh Laurie, and Jonathan Lipnicki). The mix of animation and live-action high jinks can be confusing and a bit scary to preschoolers who don't have real and make-believe sorted out quite yet. A better choice for 6 & up. Closed-captioned. PG.

The Artists Specials
(Devine Entertainment $19.95 each) Rather than doing biographies of an artist's whole lifetime, these new made-for-TV Artists Series zoom in on a short but significant period in an artist's life. They weave fact and fiction in a relationship between an artist and a young person with very human and universal problems. For example, in Mary Cassatt: American Impressionist  PLATINUM AWARD, the artist fears her visiting family from America will intrude upon her work in Paris. Instead the children provide inspiration plus a meeting with Edgar Degas. Amy Brenneman (of "Judging Amy") stars as Mary Cassatt. In Degas and the Dancer, struggling with debt and his own self-doubt, Edgar Degas inspires a young dancer to believe in herself and her talent. In helping her, he helps himself. For those who love Degas, the ballet, or both-this is not to be missed! Also top-rated: Rembrandt: Fathers & Sons and Monet: Shadow & Light. 8 & up. (877) 338-4633.

Behind the Scenes with Robert Gil de Montes
(First Run $14.95) With lots of amusing help from the comedy team of Penn & Teller, playfully introduces viewers to the "tricks of the trade" of color and perspective that artists use on canvas or computer.  Watching de Montes' painting evolve may inspire young artists or at least help them to better understand the creative process at work. Like others in this outstanding series, this is a keeper! Also new and top rated: Behind the Scenes with Allen Toussant and Joann Falletta. Previous winners: Behind the Scenes with Max Roach, David Hockey, and Carrie Mae Weems. PLATINUM AWARD '00. 8 & up. (800) 229-8575.

Arthur's Famous Friends 
(Sony $12.95) This is the best Arthur video we've seen in ages! Each of the three stories features a guest visitor whose voice is used with animated images. In the first segment, Mr. Rogers comes to visit, but Arthur thinks Mr. Rogers is for babies and is surprised to discover his friends want to meet their old friend. In the second story, poet Jack Prelutsky comes to the local library for a poetry contest and recites some of his own verse. There's some gratuitous gross-out verse in this segment that we could have done without, but kids will find it funny. The third episode, with Yo Yo Ma, centers on a debate about jazz vs. classical music. 5 & up.

The Inventors' Specials 
(Devine Entertainment $19.95) An excellent series about famous scientists introduces young viewers to the past with an artful blend of fact and fiction. Each film pairs a well-known scientist with a young person-and both learn much from each other. Marie Curie (PLATINUM AWARD) is an exciting tale of two sisters whose lives cross paths with Madame Curie during World War I. The girls believe that the Nobel scientist is a spy, and the story allows us to follow Madame Curie's fight to use her revolutionary x-ray machine to save lives. In the end it is Curie's invention that saves the girls' father. Edison (PLATINUM AWARD ) opens with a chase scene as a runaway orphan boy literally runs into the scientist's lab where he becomes an apprentice. A wonderful period piece! Also top rated: Galileo, in which a young prince comes to study with the scientist; Leonardo and his dream of being able to fly; Einstein: Light to the Power of 2 portrays a bigoted teacher, a young black girl in the '50s, and the world-famous scientist who befriends her. 9 & up. (877) 338-4633.