Customer Reviews

Lost in the Woods: The Movie

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This movie has just been released (December 2005) and is based on the children's book by the same name by Carl R Sams II and his wife, Jean Stoick. Lost in the Woods, the book, was the winner of the 2005 Best Children's Picture Book Awards - Independent Publishers & USA Book News and the 2005 Director's Choice Award - Early Childhood NEWS. As I stated in my review of the book on January 3, three generations of my family members watched the movie after receiving it as a Christmas gift (already had the book), and all enjoyed it thoroughly. If you have any child left in you as an adult, you will smile and laugh along with the children.

The storyline has to do with the arrival of spring and new life in a woodland and its surrounding meadow. Leaves on the trees suddenly burst forth in refreshing greens, flowers bloom, and animal babies arrive, each wondering when will be their time to roam or fly freely about the world into which they were born. Several of the young wonder about a newborn fawn that appears to have been left alone by its mother, not understanding, of course, that there's a very good reason for this. The fawn believes Mother will return, as she certainly does. The story is told by Shirley the box turtle to Fernando Hernadofandavez, a most comical young raccoon who is looking for his brother, Hernando. He's a stitch!

The movie, as much and maybe more than the book because of the voices and the sounds, is a true learning experience for young children. They learn about animal young and their respective environments, the sounds they make, and how they learn what they were born to do and when the right time comes for them to do it. (We got a kick out of the tadpole who wanted to become a standup comic, but had yet to grow the legs he needed to stand on (chuckle).)Also on the DVD is a sound identification game to be played after viewing the movie and a segment on the making of the film.

There are many enchanting moments in this film written, produced, and directed by the very talented team of Robert and Laura Sams, brother and sister and cousins of photographer Carl Sams. What a family!

Carolyn Rowe Hill

We stumbled upon this film one day on PBS and "Tivo-ed" it in case our 16 month old (at the time) son liked it. I could not be happier that we did! My son absolutely LOVES this film! He either stands tranfixed or chatters to the animals on the screen or turns to us smiling or laughing to confirm how great it is! We are working on learning all the types of animals featured and he is trying to say them all. He also dances/bounces/sways to the songs. The photography is unbelievably gorgeous, the script is very funny and deals with important, positive themes of growing up. My husband and I genuinely enjoy watching it with him and singing along to the catchy tunes. I've often caught myself singing them outside of the home, or at work. My favorite character is Fernando, the racoon who is searching for his lost brother. The actor who provides his voice is hilarious, with great timing and inflection. The Sams family (the creators of the film) are tremendously talented and even though I already have it Tivo-ed, I will still buy the DVD so we can own it forever and take it to Grandmas, etc. Best film we've found for him so far.

This "movie" is about 40 minutes long. As the previous reviewer stated, it is fun for the whole family. My 2 daughters (ages 2 and 4) absolutely love it - AND it holds their attention (I give it 6 stars for that alone)! My husband and I also enjoy it. It is one of those shows that has easy childish humor as well as the subtle adult humor. Worth the price and one of those shows I won't mind watching another hundred times with my girls.

You will love this movie and the book no matter how old you are. From babies who are captivated by all the animals to adults who appreciate all of the hidden humor! Makes a great gift for those who have everything.

Easily accessible and sweet movie, that parents can enjoy, too. Both my six year old and my two year old are entranced by the furry critters and gentle story.

Based on the 9 reviews I read on this site, I was really excited to purchase this DVD for our 3-year old son. It arrived yesterday and we watched it as a family for the first time last night. Several scenes into the movie the DVD got stuck and we had to forward to the next scene (poor quality DVD) and I will need to return it for aI am rating the film itself and not the technical difficulties experienced with the copy that I purchased).

Though the visuals are very sweet and excited our son several times, the dialogue it VERY tedious and in the spirit of so many films for children assumes that all kids need to be talked down to, and that animals need to made into characatures to be appreciated by kids. The racoon in the story (who unfortunately is a contant talker) is so irritating, even my 3-yr old asked if we could turn the sound off! Why can't the beauty of the animals and their explorations just speak for themselves? Gentle narration from time to time would have been OK, but why oh why the rediculous accents and insipid dialogue? Such a shame, because the visuals really are cute. If we watch this film again (and I doubt we ever will), it will be with the sound OFF.

Our 3-year old prefers to see animals in the wild through the beauty and tranquility of the BBC's Blue Planet DVD series, and so do we.

My four year old grandson enjoys watching this DVD over and over. The live animal characters are funny and fascinating. He likes the last half the best as it correlates to the book of the same name.

My little boy started watching this on long car rides when he was only 2 years old. It is very sweet and brings lots of smiles. I highly recommend it if you want your child fascinated with nature and its critters, it teaches how to work together and empathy.

My niece is only 9 months old and she absolutely loves this movie, in order for her to take a nap we have to put this movie on to play. The colors are so vivid and it is easy to understand. Truly recommended as a great movie for children.

It's refreshing to watch real animals behaving naturally, but with human voiceovers used to create a story. Keeps my kids' attention. The animals are adorable. Several of the voices are, however, annoying to listen to, at least for adults. (The turtle has a bizarre slurred accent, for one, and the swan has a cringe-worthy fake Southern accent.) Even so, I wish the movie was longer because it's such a nice change from cartoons.