Customer Reviews

Holly Hobbie & Friends Christmas Wishes

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

"Holly Hobbie and Friends: Christmas Wishes" is that rare direct-to-video DVD special that's a true diamond-in-the-rough. Following up on the recent "Surprise Party" special, this DVD finds Hobbie and her friends and family celebrating Christmas. They learn about some of the usual stuff --- the gift of giving and all that, but there's also some hilarious and offbeat humor in this special.

What's unusual and special about these Holly Hobbie releases is that the setting is clearly the modern world, yet in many cases, the characters tend to eschew modern technology in favor of things more traditional. The characters ride on a train with a friendly neighborhood train conductor and everyone in the series is generally very neighborly.

In this special, when Holly visits her friends and family for Christmas, she learns of the unfortunate situation of a recently widowed woman and her twin boys. Holly tries to help her out. At first, it doesn't really work, but her joy is infectious. The mother is feeling sort of down because this is going to be her first Christmas without her husband. But Holly and her friends really help her to see that although her kids are upset about their fathers' death too, they're still excited about Christmas.

If you're looking for a holiday special that will teach your kids about all the different winter holidays, then look elsewhere. "Christmas Wishes" is pure Christmas all the way and it's refreshing to see a special these days in which the characters take part in a Christmas pageant, do lap-sitting with Santa and sing traditional Christmas carols such as "O Holy Night." Can't recall the last time I saw a special like this that made it onto Nick Jr. (it aired on Nick on November 13, 2006) in which the characters sang about "Christ, our savior."

"Christmas Wishes" puts all other recent children's holiday specials to shame, with the exception of "Caillou's Holiday Movie." This production absolutely glows with joy, top-notch production values, writing, music and animation. The music and vocal performances in particular are absolutely awe-inspiring. There's a performance by Grammy award winning country singer LeAnn Rimes at the end that's so strong, it gave me chills of amazed delight.

If you or your kids like Holly Hobbie or you're looking for a truly amazing Christmas special, don't just pass this by. This is absolutely worth your time.

This DVD is close-captioned. It also includes two neat bonus features --- an Interactive Dress-Up game and a photo gallery.

OH it is so hard to find good movies and shows for young girls that doesn't have teenage drama, fighting, violence and other scary stuff in it that kids nowadays are seeming to become numb to at younger and younger ages.

We've recently pulled some of our 4 1/2 year old daughter's movies from the DVD drawer after she started to exhibit some negative behavior that could be attributed to some of the movies she's watched - even ones we bought her or thought they were okay b/c WE watched them as kids! We found that there's POISONING in one of the Barbie movies, the lead character of Labyrinth is a spoiled self-centered brat who wants to get rid of her baby brother, Lucy is always pulling that football just before Charlie Brown kicks it and she's constantly calling him 'blockhead', Lilo and Stitch are no kind of role models with all the horrible things THEY do and Rudolph from that stop-animation 'classic' we loved as kids? Is publicly shunned for being different and not just by others, but by his FATHER as well! Of course, WE ADULTS understand that these are just 'movies' and these characters go through a transformation (well, maybe not Lucy), but for the younger kids, the transformation escapes them and they start imitating what they see, regardless if the attitude is the right one or not, even if we SAY, 'This is just a movie - in real life we don't ____'.

[...]

But I digress . . . I watched this Holly Hobbie show on TV with my daughter and was GLUED to it - I was SO impressed with how well it captivated our attention without all the drama and pre-teen snottiness found in so many other shows (ahem, Angelica anyone???). Holly is a kind, thoughtful and generous girl - she's confident, unselfish and honest - (without being overly goody-two-shoes) all the positive traits I hope to continue to see and grow in my own daughter as she matures.

I ran right out and found the DVD at Walmart (but it is a little cheaper here on Amazon :-) and didn't wait till Christmas to give it to her (just for a day when she didn't have a time-out for anything, haha) . . . and today, here on Amazon, I'm ordering the other Holly Hobbie DVD that is available! I hope they come out with other DVD and merchandise soon and it becomes a new trend, b/c what else is there after Dora except for Barbie and those d*** Disney Princesses?

The storyline touches on subjects such as - Christmas traditions (like caroling, decorating homes and Christmas productions - their production revolves around Christ, not Santa), Santa impersonators (preserves the magic of Santa while offering the suggestion that some Santas you see around are impersonators, or 'helpers'), spreading Christmas joy (a family that has lost the father figure through death in the past year is showed Christmas kindness - one of the main focuses of the story).

Kids are going to imitate the attitudes of the characters they see in their TV programs, even if they identify that character as being the 'bad' character, so here is a video that demonstrates all the GOOD and KIND attitudes we WANT our kids to exhibit. I highly reccommend this show for all girls/children - preschool through pre-teen.

Let me preface by saying that I'm not a little girl, and don't have any children, but this was on tv and I recorded it and found it quite cute. I'm a sucker for christmas specials of all stripes and I found Holly hobbie to be quite intelligently written. The characters are attractively drawn, and while Holly is a tad too perfect, the message in quite a good one: Holly is a kind child who cares about others, is involved in her community and enjoys having a good time.

I particularly like the fact that adults weren't made out to be 'villains' and that the character Holly acts responsibly, tries to make up for her mistakes, and does good deeds. Also, it was nice to see the children as well as adults wearing clothing which was up-to-date, rather than generic cartoon clothes. This added to the show's appeal.

This is a cute film, I'd recommend to people of all ages. Holly is a fun character, with many endearing qualities.

This is a really nice story where the characters do thougthful things for one another, helping out a family who lost their father since the previous Christmas (so if your recipients had this happen recently you might want to preview the movie or skip it until more time has passed).

There is a religious element to the movie, which you don't see in movies these days. They sing some Christian Christmas songs and Leanne Rhimes voice is beautiful (as is the other female singer... I can't remember her name... but she's just as wonderful as Leanne).

My girls are 4 and 6 and they love this movie as well as the previously released DVD. We're looking forward to the preview for the next Holly Hobbie DVD coming out in Feb. 2007. I love the Holly Hobbie movies because the characters are positive role models for children and reinforce the importance of being thoughtful and kind to one another.

My three year old daughter absolutely loves Holly Hobbie and Friends. This DVD has such a sweet message about helping a family out that has lost a Father and Husband. This is truly a Holiday must have!

My 6 yr old daughter loves this movie. It teaches a great lesson on what the holidays are really about and shows how even if your little you can make a difference. I love the songs in the movie! Great holiday gift for your little princess.

I'm so glad Holly Hobbie is back! My 5 year old loves her and we watch this movie over and over. Holly and her friends are updated and cool but still sweet, caring and funny. Perfect for younger girls and a great distraction from Hannah Montana. I will definately buy more videos. We love the books and I know my daughter will love the design doll for Christmas. I definately recommend her - I think girls age 8-11 would still like her too (Holly is 10 years old).

My girls love this movie! They are three and two, and this is all they want to watch since it came in the mail two weeks ago. The story is cute, and well written. I love that they describe the Christmas season as celebration of the birth of Jesus which it is.(They put that in the pagent parts), but still included some silly santa stuff. My husband and I have watched it with them, and we laugh at the same times they do. They also show the discription of a loss of a loved one, and how people deal with that kind of event emotionally. I appreciated that they described this all very clearly and beautifully in a way that my little girls can understand. Good family movie.

They are huge Holly Hobbie fans. I haven't sat down to watch this movie with them but they watched it a lot at Christmas time and even several times since then.

This movie was so touching. It was a great story and my 6 year old daughter loved this movie!!