3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Poor production values and Lobley's hyper narration make this far inferior to earlier Geronimo stories as told by Edward Herman, July 13, 2009
This review is from: Geronimo Stilton #11 & 12 - Audio (Audio CD)
My sons were riveted by the earlier Geronimo Stilton audio books 1-9. Herman's spot-on narration intertwined with the music and subtle sound effects added detail, mood and texture to create a near-perfectly produced audio book. My kids, ages 3, 6, & 9 were visibly disappointed with both cds.
Whereas Herman's narration captured each character impeccably, Bill Lobley's interpretation is strained, goofy and overacted. Think Rip Taylor ($1.98 Beauty Show) reading Hamlet. Not comparing Hamlet to Geronimo Stilton of course, just illustrating the mismatch between tone and content. Lobley strikes me as doing an overly-gesticulated puppet show for two-year olds, rather than a nuanced, clever performance for older grade school students.
Of course, there is no doubt a level of "Herman did it first" prejudice, but it's more than that. The production values are non-existent. Gone are the subtle accents of sound effects and mood-setting music. Simply put, it seems that after Herman, they really decided to do it on the cheap, but charge the same price. Which is too bad, because I would have paid a premium for Herman's voice and the production values that made the first nine books such a delightful listening experience. Those CD's never get old, we listen to them on all of our road trips and the kids listen to them a least once a month as they fall asleep.
But the stories themselves are still charming. And maybe there is a method to the madness--maybe the publisher and the author are old-fashioned and want us to go back to buying the paper version.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
in car children stories, November 16, 2008
This review is from: Geronimo Stilton #11 & 12 - Audio (Audio CD)
the entire Geronimo Stilton story series is a wonderful value! the stories are captivating, funny, and exhibit variety and excellent learning for basic values on treatment of others, travel, geography and fantasy for children from 3 to 10. for parents driving kids to school every day, to piano, swimming, soccer, holidays etc. the cd's provide in car quiet and great activity concentrators. the repeated listening over and over can be a challenge, but normal for every young family. I have bought these for two sets of grandchildren and get regular hugs from my sons and grand daughters! as a grand father I am allowed to mimic the story teller and immerse myself into the stories with my grandchildren -what more could one ask for? great value and hours of entertainment and car quiet!
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Terrific audio books, October 20, 2011
This review is from: Geronimo Stilton #11 & 12 - Audio (Audio CD)
This audio book set of Geronimo Stilton books 11 and 12 is absolutely great. We love Bill Lobley's narration, which caught and held my daughter's attention, and mine, since she was 4 years old. We still listen to them 4 years later with many shared laughs. Ed Herrmann was a less animated narrator and did not capture our interest nearly as much. We have really enjoyed the subsequent GS audio books narrated by Lobley. This had led to reading the books themselves, and I couldn't be happier. We've also gone on to use the Scholastic website for Geronimo Stilton. Thank you, Geronimo!
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