Strawberry Shortcake - The Sweet Dreams Movie (2006) Review

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(More customer reviews)"The Sweet Dreams Movie" is the first ever CGI film for the "Strawberry Shortcake" series. It was shown in limited release in theatres and is now available on DVD.Positives:
- To me, the CGI animation really isn't bad. Though I was thrown off by the look of it at first, I quickly grew used to it. I found some of it to actually be rather nice-looking. I also thought that the characters looked for the most part like they do in the TV show. Certainly a better effort to me than the CGI for "Clifford's Really Big Movie" (mediocre) and "Arthur's Missing Pal." (Not good at all.)
- Music and songs --- the best highlight of the film. "How a Garden Grows" is a fast-paced, standout song and very catchy. A couple of other fun songs include "All it Takes" and "The Land of Dreams." The songs overall are berry nice and drive the plot along.
- Characters - This film introduces a number of new characters to the series. Doing this sort of thing is always a bit of a tightrope, but I think all of the new characters work fairly well here. Raspberry Torte, works well as a reluctant protagonist (looking out for Lemon Meringue) and even though the series doesn't necessarily need villains to make it interesting, Purple Pie Man and his sister Sour Grapes fill the role well enough.
- Story - A decent enough plotline, though a bit slow-starting. The Land of Dreams was a fun place to visit and I wouldn't mind seeing it in the series again.Negatives:
- No special features other than Spanish subtitles and previews for other releases on this DVD. Most of the other "Strawberry Shortcake" DVDs at least have a music video and other such direct-to-video (or near direct-to-video) DVD releases have managed to put together at least reasonably interesting special features, so there's no reason why this shouldn't have any.
- Strawberry Shortcake's sister Apple Dumplin' is once again absent-without-leave, a disappointment, as she is one of the best characters in the series. Huckleberry Pie and Blueberry Muffin are also nowhere to be found.This film, per the closing credits, was dedicated with love to Pam Carter, who served as a voice director for the series.

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If you believe in your dreams, anything is possible. Strawberry Shortcake has a dream of fresh new field of berry bushes - enough for everyone. But, when the greedy Peculiar Purple Pieman rolls into Strawberrry Land, he decides to steal Strawberry's dream - and everyone else's dreams, too!In order to stop the Purple Pieman and his evil plan, Strawberry and her friends must travel to the Land of Dreams. Along the way, these special friends learn the value of working together to make dreams come true.

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The Backyardigans: Singing Sensation Review

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(More customer reviews)"The Backyardigans: Singing Sensation!" may appeal to some fans who like the show's music, but in the way of Nickelodeon DVD releases, it is nothing special. All this is, really, is a collection of approximately 20 songs from the series put together on a DVD with lyrics displayed on-screen (there is no way to turn these lyrics off.) There are some good songs on this collection, such as "A Pirate Says ARRRR," "Not An Egg Anymore" and "Go, Go, Go." However, given the vast amount of material this series has produced, there is a very good chance that your or kid's favorite song or songs might not be included on this DVD (personally, I think that songs such as the "Flying Rock Song," "Nobody's Bigger Than a Giant" and "W-IOWA" all would have been worthy of inclusion.) The songs are roughly divided into themes - such as sea songs and outer space songs.Here is a list of the songs included-- "A Pirate Says ARRR," "Save the Day," "Sinbad the Sailor," "Ya Gotta Have Pirattitude," "Viking Song," "A Message, A Message," "On Top of the World," "We're Knights, That's Right!," "Not An Egg Anymore," "Everything is Filthy in Filthingham," "Ready for Anything," "Bad Bots," "Can't Stop the Cops," "Intergalactic Garbage Trek," "Front Page News," "Going to Mars," "Riding the Range," "Go, Go, Go," "The Yeti Stomp," "International Super Sky," and "The Lady in Pink."Nice try, Nickelodeon, but this feels like a cheaply produced effort designed to try to lure "Backyardigans" fans. I rate it three to three-and-a-half stars for the quality of the source material only.Closed-Captioning / Subtitles: None (There is no captioning or subtitles for the parts where the characters speak, only the on-screen lyrics.)
Special Features: None, other than promos for other Nickelodeon (formerly branded Nick Jr.) shows and, curiously, for PBSKids's "Super WHY!"
Length: Approximately 36 Minutes
Cost: Too much (but I checked it from the library, so no worries.)

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BACKYARDIGANS:SINGING SENSATION - DVD Movie

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Franklin - Eight Favorite Turtle Tales Review

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(More customer reviews)This first-ever DVD release of "Franklin" television stories includes a nice range of stories from the first through third seasons of the show. Included is the very first story, "Franklin Plays the Game," as well as other great stories like "Franklin's Camp Out" (in which Franklin learns about doing things for himself) and "Franklin's Birthday Party" (in which he and his Dad come up with a creative solution to entertain his extravagant birthday plans.)
There's nothing to complain about as far as the story selection goes, but the DVD also promises exciting special features. However, when I went to take a look at them, it turns out that these so-called special features are actually an exact duplicate of what was included on the "Back to School With Franklin" DVD, right down to the song from it. They're nice and all, but I've seen them before.
Also, each time you pop the DVD in, a promo track for other DVDs and such starts up. It does let you fast-forward it, but it won't let you skip it, which tends to grate a bit. On the positive side, the problem with the captions that existed on the "Back to School With Franklin" DVD has been fixed. On that DVD, the captions had a problem in which they tended to extend off the edge of the screen, and they were also riddled with punctuation errors. On this DVD, captions for longer lines are split into two rows, so that they don't extend off the screen. (Note that rather than the traditional caption format, these captions look more like subtitles, with larger text and no black background.)

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Join Franklin and his buddies as they go on an exciting camping trip, learn to ride a bike, discover The Tooth Fairy and go to school for the very first time!Each fantastic episode is a wonderful journey packed full of delightfully fun discoveries and valuable life lessons.Franklin’s Birthday PartyFranklin throws a great party in his own neighborhood.Franklin Goes to SchoolThe first day of school has Franklin excited and nervous.Franklin Rides a BikeIt’s an adventure when Franklin takes the training wheels off his bicycle.Franklin’s BlanketIt’s Franklin’s first night away from home and his blanket is missing!Franklin’s Camp OutFranklin tackles new challenges without the help of mom and dad.Franklin and The Tooth FairyToothless, Franklin conspires to get a present from The Tooth Fairy.Hurry Up FranklinOn the way to a birthday party, Franklin gets sidetracked.Franklin Plays the GameA soccer game shows Franklin how to be a team player.

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