Customer Reviews

Greatest Heroes and Legends of the Bible: Jonah and the Whale

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I had a hard time with this video because of the amount of "creative license". When using a video to teach a Bible story, I like it to be as accurate as possible. I would have a hard time using this video for this purpose, as children who don't know the Bible wouldn't know what was from the Bible and what was someone else's idea of what might have happened. It might be useful for older children where you could talk about the differences between the video and what is actually in the Bible, or perhaps you could use clips during a lesson about Jonah, but I would not recommend showing it as is to children without making it clear that a lot of what is in the video is from someone's imagination, and not from the Bible itself.

This video was the first one I watched in the series. I have all 13 and I have only watched this one and the Garden of Eden. Jonah and the Whale seemed to be very well thought out. It did add a storyline that was not mentioned in the bible, but it didn't step out of its bounds and did not contradict scripture. It looked like they really searched this out historically to make it better. I really enjoyed it and can't wait to watch the rest of the series.

One thing you will notice about this video is that (unlike most children's bible videos) it is not corny and doesn't make the characters out to be silly goofballs. I feel this is very important. Your children need to be able to relate to these characters as real life examples to follow. This video did an excellent job at it.

The dvd's were of excellent clarity. The children could not put them down. Charlton Heston still captivates young and old audiances throughout the world. It is a good investment for your family. It fars outwiegh the stench society is now offering on the television for kids to view.

Thank you

This DVD production of the story of Jonah has accomplished exactly what I had hoped for my 3yr old son: an interest in learning about the Lord and His involvement in the lives of those who trust Him, recognizing there can be consequences for our sin (aka disobedience for my son), and seeing the Lord will forgive us once we recognize our wrongdoing and repent. My son often recites (in surprising detail) various scenes from the tale. One of my fellow brothers in Christ calls my son "The Little Preacher" because my son enjoys capturing the attention of those around him so he can retell the story of Jonah. I understand some reviewing this telling of the story may prefer stricter adherence to various nuances and literary exactness from Scripture - I can appreciate that as I am a literal believer of Scripture. There is never a perfect retelling of any Biblical story that will appeal to everyone's preference. As already mentioned, this achieved what I had hoped for my son: an interest in learning about the Lord and His involvement in the lives of those who trust Him, recognizing there can be consequences for our sin (aka disobedience for my son), and seeing the Lord will forgive us once we recognize our wrongdoing and repent.

This is as close to the truth in children's form you will ever find. It is not washed down and kids proofed, it is real and by the bible to the exact.

Greatest Heroes in an interesting series of animated programs, all include an introduction by Charlton Heston on the story we are about to see. The animation is good quality, full hand drawn 2D cel animation without shortcuts. In the middle of each episode in this series, they usually have a cutaway of another story from the bible, done in computer animation to contrast the two stories. The story of Jonah is a good pick to animate, due to the large fish or whale that swallows him, as that is what kids remember of the story and it is a good way to get them to view it.
This is not my favorite depiction of Jonah, as I prefer the "Testament: Bible in Animation" version of Jonah. Having said that we did enjoy this, especially the kids. All versions stray from the source material and are not accurate, as they balance what will make a story flow for the viewer, especially kids. In this "Greatest Heroes" version, Jonah is very young, perhaps to relate to kids more. What we do get here that many versions do not explain well enough, is why Jonah despised Ninevah so much... They were attacking his people all the time. Overall it is geared toward the younger crowd, great moral lessons here, and if you have issues about the changes from scripture, always discuss the differences afterwords to your kids as we did. No extras on the DVD, sound and picture quality were good, no problems with playing the disc or the menu. I recommend buying this DVD.

It's a very well put together story about Johnah and the Whale. The only thing that disappointed me is the "Big Fish" didn't look like a whale. Other than that I liked the story.

I like simple movies for the little ones, too much digital animation can take away from the story. You can't find these christian movies in any stores, especially for the low price.

I have not viewed this movie and probably won't because of its title. ...God provided a huge FISH not a whale to swallow Jonah (Jonah 1:17, 2:1) in order to save his life... thus having mercy upon him... Unfortunately, it has often been misunderstood to be a whale. I know it is a children's movie, yet that is not a reason to stray from God's Word. ...The VeggieTales movie about Jonah is more accurate and is awesome! Even the ending of the veggietales movie is accurate to the Word, in that Jonah never really understood that God has mercy upon anyone who repents, turns away from sin, and truly seeks His will. The story of Jonah is often taught as a story of obedience, which it is. Yet it is also a story of God's MERCY. The veggietales movie teaches that in a captivating (and entertaining) way. My toddlers give JONAH A VEGGIE TALES MOVIE two thumbs up!

Many books contain many truths. The Bible is shared by many different kinds of people, including me.

It's dismaying to see insistence on solitary truths and literalism. But hey, that's just me.

Fundamentalism is ugly and divisive whether it comes from the Middle East or from Cincinnatti.

See the movie and decide for yourself, gang.