Creators: Jennifer Oxley, Robert Powers
Cast: Sofie Zamchick, Teala Dunn, Danica Lee
Rating: Not Rated
Studio: Nickelodeon and Paramount Home Video
Release Date: October 2, 2007
As Christmas approaches, parents are clamoring to find the perfect presents, including DVDs for their children. Recommended for children between the ages of 2-7, the Wonderpets! is one of the most popular cartoons on Nick Jr. Kids love the Wonderpets! and it is easy to see why. These adorable animals are fun, entertaining, and help kids learn about various types of animals and different locations all while enjoying singing and dancing by three animals that are the pets in a elementary school classroom.
We had a Christmas party with Emma, Madison, and Lil B, three of our children reviewers. The OG Kid, one of our teen reviewers, also got the chance to check out the latest Wonderpets! DVD, Wonderpets!: Save the Reindeer. Emma is 2, Lil B is 3, Madison is 5, and the OG Kid is 13. Despite the age differences, nobody was totally bored. Even the OG Kid begrudgingly admitted he like the show. It’s hard to be a teen who likes a preschool aged show, but the Wonderpets! are just so darn cute. How could anyone not love them?
Release Information:
Wonderpets! first aired on Nick Jr. on March 3, 2006. Fans of the show have been waiting nearly a year for new episodes. This DVD features the double length Save the Reindeer episode as well as three additional, regular sized episodes. It also includes a few different bonus features. This translates to 97 minutes worth of Wonderpets! fun.
This is the first Wonderpets! offering from Nickelodeon in a year, though this and the other episodes included on this DVD aired previously on Nick Jr. However, Wonderpets!: Save the Reindeer is just in time for the holiday season.
Wonderpets!: Save the Reindeer is available in a standard DVD case. It was released by Nickelodeon and distributed by Paramount Home Video on October 2, 2007. We’ve chosen to review this a little closer to Christmas due to the holiday theme of the main episode on this DVD.
The Wonderpets!: Save the Reindeer Plot
Wonderpets! is a Nick Jr. show that teaches young children about teamwork. In the process, children learn problem solving skills, creativity, and about various types of animals and geographical locations. The show happens to have a bit of a cult following with adults and teenagers also regularly watching and enjoying Wonderpets!. This is akin to another Nick Jr. television show that also has a cult following, The Backyardigans.
I love the Wonderpets!. Emma and Madison watch them whenever they can on Nick Jr. I know that Lil B is also a fan of the show. While our teen reviewer had never seen the show, he was obliged to watch it for his young cousin, Lil B’s sake. He ended up saying it was one of the most enjoyable shows he had seen for a preschool age group. Unlike other shows (the OG Kid specifically mentioned Barney – though a tidbit from his mother Ashtyn tells us he loved Barney at Lil B’s age) for children in the 3-7 year old age group, this show wasn’t overly annoying. I have to agree, though I have watched my fair share of Barney, as well.
Nevertheless, Wonderpets! is just too darn adorable to be offensive or annoying. It isn’t just the characters, Linny the Guinea Pig (voiced by Sofie Zamchick), Tuck the Turtle (voiced by Teala Dunn), and Ming-Ming Duckling (voiced by Danica Lee), but the entire story, the singing, the songs, and the things that children will learn from this show that make it so endearing. Sure, it is a bit repetitious from show to show, but that’s what makes it so fun. Children memorize, learn, and sing along with each episode, as they learn about new places and animals, in the process.
Each episode of Wonderpets! has a formula. The three main characters, Linny, Tuck and Ming-Ming are pets in an elementary school classroom. Once the student’s leave for the night, weekend or holiday (depending on the show) the Wonderpets receive a call on their special phone. As they sing about answering the phone they already know a baby animal is in trouble. The three sneak out of their enclosures and put on their Wonderpets! gear. Linny has a blue cape and a yellow (sometimes it looks orange) cap. Ming-Ming wears a green cape with her leather pilot helmet and goggles. Tuck’s outfit is a red cape with blue sneakers and a French sailor’s cap in white. After changing and getting into their flyboat (a flying sailboat they make from objects they find around the classroom) the three head out to save the baby animal (or animals) that need their help.
In Wonderpets!: Save the Reindeer, the Wonderpets have to save a baby reindeer that is stuck on a patch of ice that could crack at any second. This isn’t any baby reindeer. It is the reindeer that is going to help lead Santa’s sleigh. Without the reindeer, all the children in the world will be disappointed as Santa will be unable to make his flight. Part of this episode also deals with the true meaning of Christmas. Ming-Ming, the funniest Wonderpet, is obsessed with presents, but she realizes the mission comes before presents. In doing so, she learns an even more valuable lesson then she could have ever realized.
The other three episodes on this DVD are “Save the Camel/Save the Ants”, “Save the Egg/Save the Flamingo”, and “Save the Goldfish/Save the Baby Birds”. In “Save the Camel/Save the Ants”, the Wonderpets use the flyboat to travel to the desert where they will guide a thirsty, baby camel back to the desert oasis where it can get a much needed drink of water. Then they have to fly to a picnic to stop a fight between two groups of ants fighting over the fruit. “Save the Egg/Save the Flamingo” has the trio going to Yellowstone National Park where they must rescue something inside the egg. From there, they must save a flamingo that is a coloring book drawing. “Save the Goldfish/Save the Baby Birds” has the Wonderpets travelling to save a goldfish in a child’s bedroom. Finally, it’s off to Canada, where the threesome helps three baby birds and moose.
Audio/Visual:
Wonderpets! is a form of mixed-media. This means that some of the animation is hand drawn and some uses the manipulation of photographs of real animals. This gives the picture a sort of collage art style reminiscent of elementary school. This type of animation is called photo-puppetry and it was invented specifically for Wonderpets! For those who have never seen the show, no screen adjusting is needed. At first, I thought the characters in the Wonderpets! looked like crudely cut up photographs, but this just adds to the charm of the show. Otherwise, the video quality is impeccable. With a full screen transfer at an aspect ratio of 1.33:1, Wonderpets!: Save the Reindeer looks exactly like it would, if not better, then when seen on a Nickelodeon television broadcast.
The audio comes through loud and clear on the Wonderpets!: Save the Reindeer DVD. The audio is available in Dolby Digital Stereo sound in English, Spanish and French. I didn’t have any problems hearing anything that was going on and the singing wasn’t too much of a contrast with the talking the characters do on this DVD.
Bonus Features:
Nick Jr. included a few special features with the Wonderpets!: Save the Reindeer DVD. Normally, a Nick Jr. DVD just features trailers for other Nick Jr. shows and their upcoming DVD releases. Wonderpets!: Save the Reindeer offers trailers for Dora the Explorer, Go, Diego, Go!, The Backyardigans, Max & Ruby and other cool, new Nick Jr. shows, such as Blue’s Room.
Unlike the other Nick Jr. DVDs I’ve had the chance to review, this DVD also includes a special Blue’s Room featurette and a music video for Jack’s Big Music Show. These extras were a nice touch when comparing the bonus features to other, recently released Nick Jr. titles.
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Bottom Line: Wonderpets!: Save the Reindeer is an excellent show. All of our reviewers, no matter what their age was, enjoyed watching this double length episode. By the time it ended, they were ready to move on to the next three on the DVD. This DVD is recommended primarily for preschool and early elementary age children. However, I firmly believe that anyone can enjoy the adventures the Wonderpets have, no matter their age. This one is highly recommended. |
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Technorati Tags: Wonderpets, Save the Reindeer, Nick Jr, Nickelodeon, Cartoon, Animated, TV Show, Review
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Kassidy received her degree in Journalism in 2002. She lives in the Midwest with her husband of six years, Jason, their two little girls, Madison (6) and Emma (3), and four month old, Little J (Jason Jr.) . The couple is very excited to welcome their first son. Passions in life for Kassidy include painting, writing, being a Mommy, watching romantic comedies, and dancing.
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