Customer Reviews

Beginner's Bible: The Story of Easter [VHS]

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

My parents gave this to my daughter as a gift, and I have to say I was skeptical at first. But after a dozens showings my three year old and I still enjoy this video. In cartoon form it tells the Easter story from Palm Sunday to the assumption in a gentle way, emphasizing Christ's love for us. My daughter likes to join in with Kathy Lee Gifford during the theme song. She often quotes the end of the movie, "Always remember, I'll love you forever." How can I help but love this movie?!

This video was by far my favorite of the the 'Beginner Bible Series'. After I finished watching it with my four year old grandson, he was able to remember that Jesus was dead and then 'got alive' again. I was a little concerned about how they would handle the crucifixion, but it was a very small part of the video, and only showed the three crosses in a distance.

There were many parts where Jesus was talking to his disciples, and those were great..it made it much more personal hearing the words of the Bible coming out of His mouth. It held my grandson's interest AND my own. Highly recommend this especially as we approach this coming Easter.

OK, so I already posted a review on this video, but after watching it several more times with my son (who keeps insisting we watch the story about Jesus), I realized I made a hasty post and here I am trying to make up for it. This movie really does a great job about telling the story of the resurrection to my almost-3-year-old. My first concern was that it did not accurately explain how to "get to heaven." And since that is such a major part of our faith, I thought that was a major disapointment in the video.

HOWEVER, after watching it repeatedly, I have to say that it's not really that far off, and I can make any clarifications myself when my son and I discuss things. It's so hard for me to find good Bible story videos appropriate for this age group, I'm glad to have one that my son really enjoys and that covers the subject as close as this one does. But I will still be careful to have the discussions with my son, and not just let the video do the teaching.

The actual video is fine for the kids at our Sunday School. The problem I had was the condition of the cover. This was a used video and I thought I was purchasing an unused video. Maybe this was my fault when ordering-not sure.

This version is cute, but it leaves out too much of the true story. We are not giving our children the true story of Jesus when it is made pretty and painless. It doesn't have to be gory to portray the suffering He did for all of us. They didn't show Him carrying His cross, or even on the cross at all. The image of three crosses in the distance is not enough, in my opinion, to tell the story. Do enough parents even know why there are three crosses? Can they answer the questions their children may have?
Certainly, we want to avoid scaring our little ones, yet this version insults their intelligence.Children see more violence on commercials than this. More details would have been good.
Now, I can see focusing on the good in a video celebrating His life, but this is specifically about Easter. Easter Sunday was beautiful. Good Friday was not pretty, and shouldn't be glossed over. He suffered for us, and nowhere here was this demonstrated. Where is the sacrifice?
Mistakes are everywhere. His disciples were HIDING, in fear for their very lives. Noone danced in the streets, in plain sight. The guards did not watch the stone roll away.(Though the angel waving made my kids laugh.) Jesus was not happy that His disciples fell asleep while He prayed in the garden.
I realize that not everyone is interested in these details. However, Christians today are facing opposiion from all sides. As a Catholic, I see this everyday in the press. We need to know the truth, and spread His word, without changing it for fear of offense.

This video could have shown more detail, and truly spread the Gospel, without being gory or scary. I'm sorry that the producers chose this route instead.

We have several videos in this series, and my nearly-3-year-old son absolutely loves watching them. They hold his interest well, they're just the right length, and they tell the Bible stories in a way that he can understand. They've really helped him learn the stories, and he even likes to act out the stories on his own and retell them. (We also have the videos about David and Goliath, Jonah, Daniel, Moses, Noah.)

Overall, I've found these videos to be pretty accurate, mainly just adjusting things to make them suitable for the very young. BUT There is a major flaw in this one about Easter--The disciples ask Jesus about how to get to heaven, and Jesus's reply is about doing good and loving others, not about trusting in Him and His sacrifice and that He is the only way to God. The Christian faith is all about being saved by God's grace, not by our own good works. Of course we are supposed to do good and love others, but that's not how we get to heaven. I know there is a way to explain this to a 3-year-old without just glossing over it that way.

I would have highly recommended this video except that one thing that sounds so little is really a big problem for us as Bible-believing Christians. Get any of the others in this series, but watch out for this one.

My kids are huge video lovers! They can be picky though when it comes to cartoons that 'teach' something of value...but both of them enjoyed this video and seemed "uplifted" after watching! Another good pick: Veggie Tales!! Wholesome, Christian FUN!!

This is a wonderful story, it's great, it has everything good about it, but, it is something about it that it's just something about it that just doesn't seem right. It makes it get not as good as a 5-star-movie.