DVD Review
by Kevin Carr
| MOVIE: **1/2 (out of 5 stars)
DVD EXPERIENCE: ***1/2 (out of 5 stars) Not Rated Studio: Disney Back to DVD Review Home |
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Let’s start things out by reminding everyone that I’m not exactly going to be the target audience for Disney’s “The Princess Collection.” Heck, even my kids aren’t in that category. I’ve got two boys, ages one and three. They’re more into Power Rangers and Scooby Doo than the Disney Princesses.
So, keep in mind you’ve got a chubby, bearded man in his thirties evaluating these videos for you. You want a real review from the target audience? Visit the Barbie section of your local toy store.
Disney’s “Princess Collection” consists of three separate DVDs: “Princess Stories: Volume One,” “Disney Sing Along Songs: Once Upon a Dream” and “Princess Party: Volume One.” Each one is geared clearly at the little girl market. (The DVD boxes contain more pink than even the “Legally Blonde” DVD collection.)
“Princess Stories” provides four stories of the Disney Princesses Ariel, Belle, Cinderella and Jasmine. The stories for Ariel and Jasmine come from the animated series of “The Little Mermaid” and “Aladdin” - not from the films or their sequels. They’re of similar quality of the episodes of “The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh” that are squeezed into Pooh releases now. They’re not great works of art, and if you have the Disney Channel or Toon Disney, you might have already seen them.
The other two stories for Belle and Cinderella come from the interactive storybooks in the Disney vault. This DVD is the weakest of the bunch and desperately cobbles together existing footage to make a new DVD. The only special features is the “If You Can Dream” music video, which is included on the other two Princess DVDs. There’s also a rather pretentious “How To Be A Princess” etiquette lesson and a nice craft idea for making a charm bracelet.
“Once Upon a Dream” is a sing-along DVD that features the musical sequences from various films like “Cinderella,” “The Little Mermaid,” “Aladdin,” “Sleeping Beauty,” “Snow White,” “Pocahontas,” “Beauty and the Beast,” “The Three Musketeers,” “Mulan” and the yet-to-be-released “Mulan II.” For kids who enjoy singing along with their Disney favorites, this can be fun. It also presents a nice retrospective of the Disney animated features.
This disc contains a dance-along section that shows some simple pop dance moves to some remixes of the classic songs. There’s also three multi-level learning games that give kids a chance to develop reading, counting and spelling skills.
“Princess Party” is by far the best disc in the whole set. This is less of a piece of viewing entertainment and more of a blueprint for a kids’ party. There’s a Party Planner that tells the parents how to prep for a party for all the girls in the neighborhood. But the disc isn’t just for the planning. It provides interactive games for the kids to play, including a scavenger hunt, a version of follow-the-leader and a slightly different take on Simon Says.
Included on the disc are recipes for treats, suggestions on how to make invitations and even background music for the girls to play while they do some activities.
This is the kind of DVD that’s worth getting to give your kids their very own Disney party without having to spend a fortune to take them to a theme park or even a McDonalds. And taken together, all three of these DVDs could go over well at a party.
Specifications: Dolby Digital Surround Sound. French language options. English language subtitles for the hearing impaired. “Magic Wand” play (“Princess Stories” only). “Disney Fast Play” option (“Once Upon a Dream” only).
