Customer Reviews

Harold and the Purple Crayon... and More Harold Stories (Scholastic Video Collection) [VHS]

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

 

 

This dvd will be nice for any little Harold and the Purple Crayon fans in your home. There are three Harold cartoons: Harold and the Purple Crayon, A Picture for Harold's Room, and Harold's Fairy Tale. Each has a male narrator (not Sharon Stone) and runs an average of 7 minutes.

There are also three bonus animations, produced by the same company but not by Harold author Crockett Johnson. The longest is 9 minutes, The Mysterious Tadpole by Steven Kellogg, about a boy's unusual birthday gift from his Scottish uncle. Drummer Hoff, by Barbara and Ed Emberley, runs 4-1/2 minutes and is a poem about a military group firing off a cannon. Smile for Auntie, by Diane Paterson and running 5 minutes, is about an aunt trying desperately to make her baby nephew smile.

Each of the six cartoons can be run with English subtitles. This dvd is not fancy or loaded with extras, and the animation is primitive by adult standards, but small children will really enjoy these simple and amusing tales.

This is a wonderful video that will enchant your young child. My 34 month old grandson thinks Harold is a new friend. Because of it's simplicity, your child will follow the story line closely. This is a very relaxing video and is great for pre-nap or bedtime viewing. After watching this video, your child will never think of a purple crayon the same again. What wounderful imaginative things appear on that blank piece of paper the next time they draw.

My son has sensory integrative disorder and LOVES this video. He walks around the house pretending to be Harold, drawing with his crayon. He drew a treadmill and started walking on (his imaginary) treadmill! What an inspiration for representational play. I can't recommend it enough. I wish I could give it more stars.

The DVDs in this collection are not to be missed. Harold and the Purple Crayon, The Snowy Day and Corduroy are the headliners but the stories included are just as wonderful as those. Harold and the Purple Crayon is a bit disturbing because the films don't seem to be restored and taken care of. Great films nonetheless but no restoration was done. Harold deserved better treatment. The Snowy Day DVD uses mainly scanning of the pages in the book but it is done effectively and well. The pictures in this DVD seems better. All the stories are by Jack Ezra Keats and he is one of my favorite children's authors. Corduroy is my favorite of the DVDs. Corduroy is a live action film probably done in the 70s. It is very nicely done and very touching. The restoration on that film seems to done. It looks nice. The other stories are great too and done in the 90s. Here Comes The Cat! is fun and I had never heard of The Rainbabies before but will be on the look out for the book now. A very good set of DVDs for children and children's books.

Although the animation in the DVD was simple, I think it captured perfectly the simplicity of the illustrations in the books. I felt that the narration was great, too. The quality of the picture isn't as crisp as one would hope for with a DVD nowadays, but I don't feel that it took away from the experience. The simplicity gives it a timeless quality.

I love the Harold books, but the translation to DVD did nothing for the story. Part of my issue with this DVD is that the colors and animation seem 'old', like Scholastic just grabbed an old worn out VHS and burned it onto DVD. Also, the charm of the books is imagining how one line-drawing could morph into the next drawing. In the DVD, the drawings seem just as real as Harold and it is not as fun. I was so bored after watching five minutes that I turned it off, and never even showed it to my niece, for whom I bought it. Maybe little kids would like it, but it was definitely not for me. I was disappointed because I like almost all the other Scholastic DVD's I've seen.

My daughter has been watching Harold and the Purple Crayon on HBO and the narrator is a woman. The video is the original 1960's narrator with the color purple fading in and out. I was really hoping for the updated version that she watches on HBO.
Great books however disappointing video.

This DVD will fit in perfectly with any of your existing Harold videos. this particular one has 3 very cute stories that any 4 year old will love! Has anyone seen the Travelin Tyke video? [website]