Customer Reviews

Amazing Animals: Animal Mothers [VHS]

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4 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

Personally, I think this is a great episode of Amazing Animals. It also introduces Henry's mother for the first time. This is one of many great episodes of Amazing Animals that should be released onto DVD in season sets. Does anyone agree with me?

Our children need something informative and entertaining to watch instead of shows of today.

For a nature video, this production was just horrible, in my opinion. Henry is supposed to be irrepressible and incorrigible, but he's actually annoying and stupid. The structure revolves around interactions between Henry and the narrator, who have some sort of simplistic storyline. In this case, it's an impending visit from Henry's mother, who is sure to criticize the messiness of Henry's home. These scenes take place on a white background, which is also peopled by a seemingly random assortment of live-action animals, which wander in and out of the scene without comment. They are interspersed with two types of digressions; first, there is a series of animated shorts featuring cartoon animals which never speak. The second involves more traditional nature documentary footage, which is explained by Henry and the narrator. The character of Henry is spoiled and selfish. He spends approximately 28 of the video's 30 minutes talking smack about mothers in general and his own mother in particular, coming around in the end to appreciate the value and hard work of motherhood. This isn't teaching any kids anything positive, as far as I'm concerned. The documentary footage is exceedingly brief, rarely focusing on one animal for more than ten seconds, and often flipping through a montage of animals without even naming them, let alone explaining anything about them. The cartoon interludes are somewhat interesting in that the animal characters never speak; they have the feel of a wordless comic strip. But the point of them is questionable, and the educational value is nil. Visually, the video is somewhat interesting, but the mtv-theory of throw lots at the kids to keep their attention has taken over anything of value that this series might offer.