Customer Reviews

Our Friend, Martin

5 star:		(43)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

This is an excellent educational video. I agree with other reviewers that it is not appropriate for young viewers. However, as a fifth grade teacher, my students were fully capable of handling the presentation and the discussions that we had before and after.

This video truly encourages children to think about the choices they make. Not only does it make Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. someone a child can relate to, but it explores the idea that one person can make a difference. It urges children to stand up for the right thing even when it is difficult.

I just finished showing this film to my second graders. Not only did it hold their attention, but they learned quite a bit about Martin Luther King Jr. and America as it once was. The animated format combined with real life footage was extremely effective and captured my younger viewer's attention. Having characters that spoke the kid's "lingo" helped make this a film children of today can relate to. We used this video as a springboard to discuss Dr. King and his accomplishments. I highly recommend this video to any parent or teacher.

This kid-focused video seeks to teach viewers about the life of Dr. Martin Luther King. It's attention-grabbing format combines a cartoon story about 4 sixth graders who travel back in time to meet Dr. King at various points in his life, with genuine footage of his speeches and various marches. The characters' voices are provided by such famous celebrities as Whoopie Goldberg, James Earl Jones and Susan Saranden. The plot is fast pace, and hooks viewers in through it's clever time travel premise, while getting its message across. Certainly, the most gripping segment of the video occurs when the main characters try to prevent Dr. King from being assassinated, by bringing him forward in time. Viewers are suddenly thrown into a world untouched by King's dreams of racial equality, and the gross differences between our lives with and without King's accomplishments are starkly revealed. This is definitely an exceptional video.

I recently showed this video to my 4th grade class and they loved it! They had so many questions after showing it and they could not believe that people were once treated like that in our country. One of them when prompted by a journal starter that asked them if they could go backwards in time, what time would they want to go to said she would like to go back to that time to tell Dr. King to be carefull before his assasination. I hightly recommend it even for high school students.

I watched this movie every Martin Luther King Day in elementary. I started in 4th grade then ended up in 6th. Every year I was still engrossed in the message and the characters that were put forward. I, in highschool, am ordering this movie to show my little sister who hasn't seen it and hasn't appreciated MLK. It's a must for people OF ALL AGES to see the world through MLK's eyes and what it would be without him. It allows people to connect with MLK and to see what he really strove for. I love this movie, it will never grow old! I hope to show this to my kids one day.

Our child saw this video in school, the week before Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday -- and we were upset with the feedback we received when we asked him about it. We didn't know beforehand that it was being shown, but he mentioned that he was scared to go to sleep, the night after he saw it. The first thing he talked about was the gunshot, and the children being sprayed with water. He is in kindergarten, and too young to truly understand the nuances of this period in our history. Martin Luther King's message is so valuable, and we believe should be taught to all chidren. However, accompanying this message with the violent visual is too intense for 5-6 year olds. After watching the film again, this time stopping 3-4 times so he could ask questions, and we could discuss what was happening - we feel ok with him seeing it. We would still recommend that kids under the age of 8-9 do not watch it.

I bought this movie for an after school program of 4-6 graders, based on high recomendations from several people. The film starts out quite cheesy and the kids were a little dubious, especially the older ones, but within a very short time they were entranced. I chose to show it in two half hours over two days due to our schedule. I turned off the first half to much protest. By the end, it was all I could do not to cry watching some of the live footage scenes mixed with animation, and all the children were i tears with me.

I belive, and it has been very well proven with our kids, that they need to know about what went on in our history. Some feel it is too disturbing, but adults now were once children that age and actually experienced the atrocities of segregation.

I highly recomend this movie as part of a large discussion for this age group, discussions that include not only Martin Luther King Jr. but Rosa Parks, Malcolm X and other leaders of civil rights movement. You will be amazed at some of the enlightened comments that they will make. I was extremely moved by how far we as a society have come. We still have a long way to go but, we are so much more advanced and the next generation behind us is, to my relief, one of tremendous compassion.

This story Martin Luther King, Jr. and the civil rights movement is alive, fresh, informative as well as entertaining. It succeeds in telling his story truthfully without a lot of sugarcoat or dogma, as most King's storys are sometimes told. The mixture of actual live footage and animation is very effective. This video is a definate must have!

This is an excellent video, and my fifth graders love it. I show it to them every year around Dr. King's birthday, and it always initiates excellent conversation about civil rights. I highly recommend it.

As a first grade teacher it was hard to find a movie that the kids would enjoy and learn from. This movie was great for both of those needs. The kids love the movie and I also enjoyed watching it. It was a great pick for MLK day.