Customer Reviews

Baby Santa's Music Box [VHS]

5 star:		(31)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

Like other parents of infants & toddlers I was very excited by the release of a Baby Einstein video with a holiday theme. Unfortunately this one just does not hold my baby's attention in the same was that others do. In fact, my preschooler (who enjoys watching the videos with my infant daughter) remarked that Baby Santa was 'boring.' Some of the main elements, which make the other Baby Einstein videos successful at engaging the attention and delighting infants, are not in this video.

The Baby Einstein 'formula' usually includes a dynamic classical soundtrack interspersed with other sounds. The music / soundtrack is enhanced by the visuals which include short clips of kids, toys and other moving objects, and puppets - later videos include some nature scenes. The visually stimulating toys and other real world objects are just not included in this Baby Santa to the extent they are in the others. The soundtrack which is a primary source of fascination for infants, especially in Baby Mozart, Baby Bach, and Baby Van Gogh is not up to par: Baby Santa's score is a thin rendition of some carols without orchestration - in short - it is quite boring. There is much more emphasis on puppets and the 'kids' which just does not hold the same level of attention.

If you are new to the Baby Einstein Company's videos and are looking primarily for a video which engages and enhances development, I would highly recommend Baby Van Gogh. Baby Van Gogh has high production quality and corrects some of the oversights in earlier Baby Einstein Company products (like ethnic balance among the kids, for example). It has enjoyed the greatest longevity and highest entertainment value of all of our baby videos - probably because has a really dynamic soundtrack and superb visuals.

If you are specifically looking for something with a festive mood to add to the collection of videos for little ones, I would recommend Hap Palmer's "Baby Songs Christmas." Baby Songs Christmas is mixes some traditional carols with new songs and really 'homey' clips of kids (mostly). After about 6-7 months, my infant daughter started to enjoy this series, and we were all delighted with the Christmas video.

They've done it again folks - 23 minutes of movie in an 81 minute production.

As a public service, let me tell you what else you're getting for your money:

Three collections of Christmas Music with no video, mostly just parts of the songs. (you already have most of them on CD anyway)

A general "How to watch baby Einstein with your kids guide"

A link to where you can buy all the stuff shown.

As for the video part itself, it is undoubtably very entertaining for the 1 month to 18 month group, but not stimulating enough for older children, unless they just like the music. (in which case you can put on a CD)

There are lots of brightly coloured ornaments, and a real cool train, and Santa dolls, and the cutest collection of kids ever cast in a Baby Einstein production. (It's a bit heavy on the Aigner-Clark kids, but hey - she's the boss after all, so no complaining)

Unfortunately, almost one third of the scant 23 minutes comprises a white glove shutting the lid of a green box (with the host reundeer puppet inside), to signify the end of a segment. There are a lot of very brief segments for real short attention spans, and while some slow music pieces run on for a bit longer, the more unusual segments like the Japanese mobile are cut in mid flow.

Every child loves to see animals, so, to keep the interest, they borrowed some unused clips from the Baby Doolittle videos, and threw in some animal footage.

The puppets are very untidy citizens in this one. They throw tinsel around, and the gingerbread man piece had even my son saying "Yuch - Messy!"

If you have kids less than 18 months old, I'd say "go for it" this Christmas to get them in the spirit, if your kids are older, put on some cd's and have a sing along.

We just added this video to our collection a couple of weeks ago, and my 12 month old daughter can't get enough of it. She loves it more than Baby Mozart. Her cousins, ages 7.5 months, 17 months, and 4 years, all love this one, too.
My daughter's favorite parts are the children and the puppets, my niece's favorite parts are the animals, and my nephew loves the whole thing.
It's nice for adults, also, because the music does not tend to get annoying after watching the video a few times in one week. My daughter highly recommends this video!

When I heard this was being produced, I could hardly wait for it to come out! It certainly did not disappoint. Of the Baby Einstein series, our 9-month-old seems most interested in Baby Mozart, and after several days of watching Baby Santa's Music Box, she seems just as interested in this one. It holds her attention longer than Baby Einstein, Bach, or Shakespeare (we haven't yet tried Van Gogh). There's a good balance of color, movement, and live action, and the music is varied and fun. It's also just plain festive, and I'm sure we'll play it often as the Christmas season begins.

Unfortunately, Baby Santa's Music Box does not appeal to my nine month old son. He loves Baby Mozart, Baby Einstein and Baby Bach, and has even taken to Baby Shakespeare despite its claim to be for toddlers. With Baby Santa, the formula has changed slightly. It contains more children shots, and less of the repetitive action shots that keep babies entranced. The video may be appealing to adults because the children bits are very cute and the music nostalgic (traditional tunes and parts of the Nutcracker!), but these concepts are lost on the infant because he does not have the context in which to place them. Although I applaud the concept and the attempt, I would have to say I cannot recommend this video, at least for childen under one year. Perhaps an older child might see more merit in it. Beyond this, I would still recommend any of the other Baby Einstein Company videos.

My 5 month old daughter adores this video! It combines the puppets, the pictures of children playing, and scenes of animals in one fun video. The close-up shots of ornaments entertains my daughter far more than the toys on baby mozart and einstein. She is particularly fond of the reindeer puppet who pops up frequently. The music and images are not annoyingly "christmasy" as I'd feared. I only wish we could watch a different every once in awhile! We got the video because we didn't think it would get watched much. Save money and buy the dvd in the first place.

I am a huge fan of the Baby Einstein series. My nine month old son has been captivated by Baby Mozart and Baby Bach since he was about 3 months old and more recently, by Baby Van Gogh. I was really looking forward to the Baby Santa video, but was SO disappointed when it arrived! My son (who gets excited as soon as he sees the copyright notice!) watched for about 3 minutes and then crawled away. I, too, found it very boring. The problem seems to be the music. It is the very lively music that most keeps his attention, but this is completely lacking in this video. The music is slow and flat, and doesn't "go" with the pictures as is the case in the other videos. You get the sense from watching this video that it was done in a hurry, perhaps to get it out for the holiday season. While I recommend the other videos to every parent I know, I have to say this one is just a waste of money.

I was compelled to write after seeing all the negative reviews. I am buying this video for myself (I am 49 years old)and for my 6 year old daughter. We gave away the first one and want to replace it. The music is so beautiful, the footage at the end of the video-- of the mommy and baby animals is just so touching--my heart aches to see it again. Although my daughter is too old for baby einsten videos now(she had every one of them and loved them all)she is now very much into the beauty of mother and baby images of love and tenderness, especially of animals. We gave all our einstein videos away, but she and I miss this one. It is also very soothing as a wind down in the evening to induce sleep. If I can't sleep, this video relaxes me. And if you celebrate Christmas or just love the holidays--it is just a beautiful video. You can't judge a video by its length, as other reviewers complain about it being 23 min long. All of the einstein videos are short, but great. My daughter used to rewind her favorite parts of all these videos over and over again and laugh and giigle,etc. Her first video was Baby mozart at 3-6 months old. They are ALL fabulous.

I was very excited to see that there was a new "Baby Einstein" video out with a Christmas theme! After watching the video with my 7 month old and 4 year old daughters, I was disappointed. The video did not seem to keep their attention as much as Baby Mozart. I was expecting the video to be more "vibrant"! I've purchased Baby Van Gogh for my daughters for Christmas but haven't viewed it yet.........so far Baby Mozart is still the favorite!

My seven month old son loves the "Baby Mozart" video. I thought for sure "Baby Santa's Music Box" would entertain him. I was surprised to find that "Baby Santa's Music Box" barely held his attention while the "Baby Mozart" video holds his attention the entire 27+ minutes. I found the characters adorable, but they didn't pass the test for my son!