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My Friends Tigger & Pooh on DVD: Super Sleuth Christmas Movie • Friendly Tails • Hundred Acre Wood Haunt • Coming Soon: Tigger & Pooh and a Musical Too
My Friends Tigger & Pooh: Hundred Acre Wood Haunt DVD Review
Presently, the exclusive domain for new Pooh animation is "My Friends Tigger & Pooh", a Playhouse Disney original series that aims as young as any prior Pooh program. Conceived and produced in the vein of "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse", Shaking up the evergreen empire is the fact that the anthropomorphic animals of Hundred Acre Wood now have 6-year-old girl Darby and her dog Buster as their real-world contacts. In addition, though we still get relaxed stories involving childish fears and simple misunderstandings, these are shaped by a focal design that involves the three Super Sleuths (Pooh, Tigger, and Darby) systematically solving mysteries with "help from you."
The show seeks to reward little ones interested enough to assist the Sleuths with a bit of education far more subtle and practical than Little Einsteins' in-your-face culture crash course. And fear not, many of the other regular characters remain present as well. Piglet, Eeyore, Rabbit, Roo, and 2005 invention Lumpy the lavender Heffalump all get their turns to be the center of attention of an occasional half-episode story.
Even as Disney slowed its production of new DVD releases to a crawl over the past months, episode compilations of Playhouse Disney TV series continued to be a source of interest (and apparently, revenue) for the studio. The title Hundred Acre Wood Haunt, early September release date, and cover art of the flashlight-wielding Super Sleuths in a pumpkin patch above a "S-POOH-ky Fun!" declaration all point to this being a Halloween-themed DVD. As "My Friends" has yet to air an episode involving the kid-favorite October holiday, you'd probably expect to get some never-before-seen special perhaps running as long as the Christmas "Movie" did. But in fact, you just get three standard episodes that aired in August and October of last year.
In the disc's defense, pumpkins, fantasy, fright, and mystery all do feature somewhat in the three episodes. But while those may be elements familiar to Halloween, they're not enough to qualify this as a seasonal compilation. The only time the H-word is mentioned is in the bonus episode of "Handy Manny", which does explicitly deal with the holiday.
Each episode runs 24 minutes and 4 seconds long.
1. "Super-Sized Darby / Piglet's Lightning Frightening" (Originally aired August 18, 2007)
2. "Eeyore's Trip to the Moon / The Incredible Shrinking Roo" (Originally aired October 6, 2007)
3. "Eeyore's Home Sweet Home / Rabbit's Prized Pumpkin" (Originally aired October 20, 2007)
VIDEO and AUDIO
Picture quality is digital perfection, presumably the result of a direct computer-to-computer transfer. The series' neon colors and modest yet pleasant CG animation reaches the viewer with nary an imperfection in the 1.33:1 fullscreen format. Despite the package's claim of a Dolby Surround presentation, the audio here is plain two-channel stereo. Though not making use of the full sound field is a shortcoming, the track still gets the job done and minor lip-synching issues seem more attributable to the show than the DVD.
BONUS FEATURES, MENUS and PACKAGING
The first of two bonus features is the requisite set-top game. "Super Sleuth Fall Harvest Festival" is actually three games in one. The second and less commonplace supplement is a bonus episode of "Handy Manny" (24:05). In the "Halloween" segment, Manny teaches his talking tools about the holiday as well its Spanish equivalent Día De Los Muertos while they help neighborhood costumer Victor with his sewing machine. In "Squeeze's Magic Show", the gang is called to Magic Marty's Shop, where they've got to fix Marty's prized magic chest. This likable episode also offers a Spanish language track.
Launching this FastPlay platter are the Disney company promo; previews for Sleeping Beauty: Platinum Edition, "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse": Mickey's Storybook Surprises, My Friends Tigger & Pooh: Tigger & Pooh and a Musical Too, "Little Einsteins": The Christmas Wish; and a Disney Movie Rewards spot. The Sneak Peeks holds additional promos for Tinker Bell, The Secret of the Magic Gourd, and "Handy Manny."
The menus play close to last spring's Friendly Tails compilation but with a leafy autumn motif.
Inside the black keepcase (that's unusually dark for a Pooh title), we find a booklet of ads and a Disney Movie Rewards insert. No contents listing has been provided, but the rear case artwork adequately conveys this information.
CLOSING THOUGHTS
"My Friends Tigger & Pooh" has its values, but I doubt that "enduring entertainment" is among them. As such, it seems better suited for occasional Disney Channel viewings than DVD player staple. That said, if you do consider this show worth preserving in its glory, this compilation is okay. The asking price per episode is higher than it needs to be, the random collecting tactic pleases no one completely, and the Halloween marketing is needlessly deceptive. If you can overlook all those aspects and proceed to justify spending a few dollars on each of the three regularly-broadcast episodes, the bonus "Handy Manny", and basic set top games, then by all means pick this up. But know you could do a lot better.
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Reviewed August 29, 2008.
New to DVD: The Nightmare Before Christmas • The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning • Mickey Mouse Clubhouse: Mickey's Storybook Surprises
My Friends Tigger & Pooh: Friendly Tails • My Friends Tigger & Pooh: Super Sleuth Christmas Movie
Little Einsteins: Flight of the Instrument Fairies • Handy Manny: Manny's Pet Roundup • A Very Playhouse Disney Holiday
Pooh's Heffalump Halloween • Mickey Mouse Clubhouse: Mickey's Treat • Sing Along Songs: Happy Haunting - Party at Disneyland
The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh: Friendship Edition • Growing Up with Winnie the Pooh: It's Playtime with Pooh
Sing Along Songs: Sing a Song with Pooh Bear and Piglet Too • Disney Learning Adventures: Winnie the Pooh - Shapes & Sizes