Customer Reviews

Richard Scarry's Making Progress [VHS]

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For those familiar with the charm and (to toddlers and preschoolers) accessibility of the other Scarry tapes (my kids are mesmerized by Best Nursery Rhymes, Busy People, and Silly Songs and Stories, and my three-year-old can sing the songs), THIS product is NOTHING like them.

Apparently the result of some misguided collaboration by Showtime and Nickelodeon, this tape features glitzy songs, a loud, relatively frenetic soundtrack, and story themes out of reach to a smart 3.5-year-old (e.g., someone's uncle wants to tear down the old castle on his property and build a shopping mall on the site, and the kids start a petition against the project, finally convincing him that the site of such nice memories should be preserved). It is also completely disjointed, with no overall storyline / continuity, and some very short, totally stupid pieces (including one promoting the Olympics).

I prefer a silent Lowly Worm to one who sings and bounces.

The most telling vote on this tape came from my 3.5-year-old - when Daddy asked, in the middle of his first viewing of this tape, if he wanted to change to the nursery rhymes tape, he said, "yes." (This NEVER happens in our house - Evan will watch anything all the way through - well, ALMOST anything...)