Customer Reviews

The Best of Dr. Seuss

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

 

 

Don't let the Cat in the Hat on the cover fool you: this grab-bag collection features a trio of relatively obscure animated Seuss tales, each of which deals in a more satirical, "adult" vein of humor than the good Dr. is commonly associated with.

I can remember watching the "Butter Battle Book" in a high school poli-sci class; Seuss's satirical Cold War fable is both amusing and chilling, and a good choice for older children and teens.

"Daisy-Head Mayzie" was produced for cable network TNT and is based on a story published after Seuss's death. As "Butter Battle" does with the arms race, "Mayzie" sends up our culture's obsession with celebrity.

"Horton Hatches The Egg" is actually a Looney Tune cartoon short, originally released in the 1940s and directed by Bob Clampett (not Chuck Jones as a previous reviewer asserts). This item might actually be of greatest interest to animation buffs (such as yours truly), featuring as it does Clampett's trademark rubbery animation and adult-oriented humor. It's also completely restored and uncut on the DVD version.

All in all, I'd recommend this collection for Clampett/Looney Tunes fans and adult Seuss fans. It's probably going to be a little too far over the heads of the kiddies.

The Seuss cartoons here are naturally going to provoke outrage from the mamby pamby lovers of Barney and the New Zoo Revue who want all the kids to grow up skipping through daisies holding hands and singing "We are the world", but some things to consider.

The Horton cartoon is from the Looney Tunes folks, albeit in a rough Seussian style. I saw it myself as a child and was not traumatized by the fish shooting itself (NOTE-The fish isn't actually shown doing this act, he goes offscreen with a gun and it is implied), having seen similar scenes in other cartoons at the time (relax folks, your kids are stronger than you think-Tom and Jerry didn't turn anyone into axe-murderers and no one today is complaining about the equally gross antics of Itchy and Scratchy). If anything, the bird's callousness toward Horton and her egg concerned me more than anyhting else as while watching this as a kid.

Daisy head maysie, to me, is essentially a Seuss rewrite of The underground classic "Boy With Green Hair," although her character seems a bit more self-assured.

Likewise, the Butter Battle book is straight out of Jonathan Swift's fable about the people going to war over how to break eggs, although its considered to be a cold war fable.

Yeah, Suess sometimes actually wrote for adults.

Daisy-Head Maizie and The Butter Battle Book are excellent animated shorts based on the seuss books. But Horton Hatches the Egg is the worst animated version of a seuss book I have ever seen. My family was watching it with my 4 yr old and we were all very surprised when in the middle of it a fish character pulls out a gun and shoots himself in the head. Not at all appropriate for kids!

My son loves the butter battle book so I got this despite the bad reviews thinking that it couldn't be that bad.....well it is. It's HORRIBLE!!! The first movie Daisy-Head Mayzie teaches bullying and is not for children at all! It teaches kids to hate what's different and sell out your friends and family to be famous. Of course it has a good moral in the end that family is more important but it's done in a very poor fashion. I'm glad I screened this movie before letting my son watch it. He will never watch Daisy-Head Mayzie! I can't believe other reviewer actually showed this to their children.

The Butter Battle movie, has weird voices and songs that are hard to understand at times. The animation seems to be a little bit choppy as well. I decided to let my son watch this movie because he likes the book so much but he hated the movie and had no interest in it. I don't blame him either.

Much like the Butter Battle clip the Horton movie has strange voices that are difficult to understand. The animation is better then that of other Dr. Seuss DVD's like Green Eggs and Ham but Green Eggs and Ham DVD is WAY WAY better! There is also a fish who shoot's himself in the head with a gun on screen for no real reason. Children can watch the fish shoot himself and that's why this is not a children's clip. I also hate how this movie teaches that it's okay to abandon your baby (aka the egg). My niece asked if all mothers left their babies while they were growing.

I really, really wish I would have listened to other reviewers and not wasted my money on this movie. We are huge Dr. Seuss fans and we're ashamed for Dr. Seuss that this was even put out. DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY!!!!

I purchased this particular DVD to get "Horton Hatches the Egg," one of my all-time favorites. However, any Dr. Seuss is fun to watch, so I highly recommend this DVD if you have young children, or adults who are young at heart.

It's nice to have videos of Dr. Seuss to use when studying his writing in the classroom.

I have only watched the Butter Battle video because I use it for a Cold War lesson in my classroom. Pretty good

Compiling two specials made for TNT, and Chuck Jones' 1941 "Horton Hatches The Egg" (From his early Disney-like peroid) to boot, it's nothing more than a thrownaway! Get the DVD of "How The Grinch Stole Christmas" and "Horton Hears A Who" instead!

This video leaves much to be desired. Especially the scene in "Horton Hatches an Egg" when a fish came out of the water and shot himself in the head. Definitely not what I would expect from a Dr. Suess video.

This has great classics for the kids to watch especially during the school celebrations for Dr. Sues birthday