Care Bears – The Giving Festival Movie + Leap Frog Learning DVD + CD Set, Volume 2 (Lionsgate DVD)

 

Picture: C+     Sound: C+ (CD: B-)     Extras: C/C+     Main Programs: C/C+

 

 

Lionsgate continues to release titles in two of their children’s lines, including a new computer animated version of the 1980s toy hit: Care Bears.  The Giving Festival Movie is not bad, but the change in animation style alters the kind of charm the characters had/have and not being a fan to begin with, this only runs 68 minutes.  Though it comes across like a toy ad as often as anything, it is not bad and mostly harmless, but not very memorable.

 

Then we have a DVD/CD set from the Leap Frog series, which we have covered twice before as these links will show:

 

Leap Frog – Math Adventure To The Moon

http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/9677/Leap+Frog+%E2%80%93+Math+Adve

Letter Factory + Talking Words

http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/8523/Leap+Frog+%E2%80%93+Letter+Fact

 

 

This set has the CD and previously reviewed Math Adventure To The Moon, but adds two earlier releases: Word Caper for writing and reading skills, plus Math Circus to continue number and quantity skills, both from 2004.  They are just fine and the new-to-us installments are as effective as the others we covered before that are not here, so it is a good set for young children and adds a CD is a plus so you might want to get this instead of the previously released singles.

 

The anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image on Bears and 1.33 on Frog are about even in good color, definition with limits and softness.  Bears animation is not bad, but far from the best CG, though just fine for the program.  Frog has some aliasing errors, but they are not too bad.  The Dolby Digital 5.1 & 2.0 Stereo on Bears are dead even pretty much with a limited soundfield, while Frog is the same good Stereo-only Dolby Digital 2.0 as the previous volumes we looked at.  Extras on both include games, while Bears adds and two bonus episodes from the Adventures In Care-A-Lot series and Frog adds a booklet and CD with 13 songs.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo