Customer Reviews

Hurray for Huckle: The Very Best Busytown Friends Ever!

5 star:		(2)
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3 star:		(1)
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I was excited to see these new DVDs ("Hurray for Huckle: The Very Best Busytown Friends Ever!" and "Hurray for Huckle: Zooming Around Busytown".) On the plus side, they did keep our daughter's attention on an extended flight and road trip. There was nothing extremely objectionable in them.

Unfortunately, they are nowhere near the quality of the older (1990s) Richard Scarry videos in terms of dialogue or music. Our two year old has watched her Richard Scarry VHS tapes about a zillion times. I still see some new detail each time I watch with her. The characters have well done dialogues and peppy background music that sounds like it's played by orchestral ensembles. Between the stories, there are songs that teach about crossing the street, being careful with electricity, how elevators work, etc.

In these new Huckle DVDs, the characters' dialogue is really banal. The writers use lazy sitcom gags--in one of the stories, for example, they kill time with an extended "yes you did"/"no I didn't" back-and-forth. The stories all have a hyper, spastic feel that is accentuated by nonstop cheap, computer-contrived "rock/pop". Putting that in quotes because it's not good rock or pop.

There are a couple of other new Richard Scarry DVDs from Cookie Jar Classics ("Captain Willy and the Pirates" and "The Best Christmas Present Ever"), that seem to be done by the same people that produced the 1990 stories. They are entertaining and decently done. Also I see that the 1990 VHS tapes are now available on Amazon in DVD format, although they're quite expensive. We obtained our VHS tapes on eBay at very little cost.

I have a special place in my heart for Richard Scarry. I grew up reading his books and want to share the fun with my boys.
After seeing this DVD, we decided to give it a try, and we LOVE it. My two oldest boys (5) and (3) LOVE the DVD and it is definately a favorite in my house.
Each episode is about 10 mintues and involves Huckle and his friends solving a mystery. There are a few songs in the video which are actually cute, catchy, and VERY tolerable for an adult to hear/watch.
I highly recommend this DVD!

My three year old daughter loves this product. It is age appropriate, contains all the Busytown characters and holds her attention.