Customer Reviews

The Sugar Creek Gang: The Great Canoe Fish

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

 

 

Bill Collins, Poetry, Circus, Dragonfly, Big Jim, Little Jim and the rest of the Sugar Creek characters are at it again!

In this follow-up to Swamp Robber, The Sugar Creek Gang's first movie, the gang takes off on a canoe trip to search for a legendary fish that Old Man Paddler tells them about. I particularly enjoyed this film because it took me on an entirely new adventure with the gang. While it uses the characters and story elements that are found throughout the original book series, the actual story was written specifically for this movie and is a complete surprise!

I know several kids who watch these movies over and over, so the replay value is very high. Also, just like the first film, this DVD has a lot of special features. The director's commentary is very interesting and the behind the scenes videos and outtakes are great. There is also a photo gallery with a few hundred pictures (I'm still working my way through that one)!

Now that I've seen The Great Canoe Fish, I'm looking forward to the next films in this series even more. Good clean family entertainment doesn't come along very often, but so far The Sugar Creek Gang series is batting 1,000%!

I bought the stories on CD, but thought my children would enjoy having a visual to go along with the auditory. It was an awful decision. First, they took all references to God out of the story. This was a beautiful story about a boy and his friends and their individual growth toward a loving Savior. It's now just a story about a gang of boys....oh, and Circus became a girl. I guess they thought it'd sell to girls too if they added a chic. Very confusing to my boys who have heard the story and know that Circus is a BOY. Very disappointing that God can't even be in a story whose original purpose was to share God. This series was written by a Pastor, so it's not like I'm trying to make this about religion....THEY took religion out of a religious story!!!

This is the second installment in the Sugar Creek Gang movie series. This time around Barry Bowman makes good on the promise he made to the gang in Swamp Robber.

Everyone is back, including Bill, Poetry, Circus, Dragonfly, Big Jim, and Little Jim. For this adventure we float down Sugar Creek with them as they search for a legendary fish that is supposed to be the size of a canoe. It's fun to see previously unexplored parts of Sugar Creek where it actually widens out into a large river (and eventually turns into a fifty foot waterfall, but I don't want to give too much away)!

This movie develops the bullies a little more and fleshes out the gang. We also meet Shorty Long for the first time. I watched The Great Canoe Fish with a group of kids who have since insisted on repeated viewings, so it definitely has the kid appeal... but there's more to it than that, because even adults should enjoy watching this nostalgic series. The movie is not rated, but I recommend it for ages five and up. If your family enjoyed the first Sugar Creek Gang movie then they are sure to love this one!

FANTASTIC FUN!

As a fan of the original book series I was so happy to see these movies made. Even more exciting is the fact that THE GREAT CANOE FISH portrays a story that I have never heard before, because it is entirely new (not included in the 36 volume book series). It is great fun to see the gang head off to explore new places, and the production team did a great job staying true to the characters while putting them in brand-new situations.

BRAVO!

The extra stuff included on the DVD is great as well. This entire series seems to be packed with bonus materials that are interesting and lots of fun. It's neat to see the real-life actors who play Bill, Poetry, Circus, Dragonfly, Big Jim, Little Jim, Tom Till, Bob Till, and Shorty Long! Excellent casting choices throughout!

I recommend you pick up this episode along with the first installment in the series, Swamp Robber. After watching THE GREAT CANOE FISH you'll want to check out REVIVAL VILLAINS (all-new), SECRET HIDEOUT (from the book), and TEACHER TROUBLE (also from the book)!

I got this DVD for my birthday and I have seen it 3 times already! I really like the whole gang and Circus is still my favorite. There are going to be more Sugar Creek Gang movies and I can't wait for them to come out!!!

The Great Canoe Fish is a very poor adoptation of Paul Hutchen's literary classics. First, the film failed to have ANY CENTRAL PURPOSE. There was no genuine moral theme! Second, the WARDROBE was quite marginal. You have clothing from different time periods shown in the film. In fact, I would have no idea (based on this film) whether the story was to have occured in the early 1900s or early 2000s.

Third, the EDITING and CINOMATOGRAPHY were also most disagreeable. One instance I particularly remember was when the 'gang' (and I use that word loosely) engaged in a friendly waterfight. The members of the gang (fully dressed) get their clothing all filthy. However, an hour or two later, their clothing is without dirt or wrinkles. Personally, I find these types of inconsistences intolerable.

Finally, if you want to purchase this film for your young children (age 5 to 10) to view, the film certainly is quite 'G' rated. However, for anyone older than ten, the film will likely be a confusing bore.

We picked this movie up because it looked interesting, had received 4 Dove awards, the review on the cover promised "Excitement" and we thought that it would be good for my 5 year old nephew and my 4 year old niece. WOW were we in for a disappointment!

First of all, the movie moved so slowly that it could not hold the children's attention.

Secondly, the acting was horrible...not a believable character in the entire movie. I understand that this was a low budget production and that the majority of the actors were children, however even the adults in this movie were awful!

Third, I have seen BBC movies made in the 1980s that were better than this, and anyone who has seen a 1980s era BBC movie, knows how horrible those were.

Fourth, the costuming and props were all over the place. Some people were made up to look like the story was taking part in the 1940s or 1950s, and some people were not. Some props were made to look like items from that time period and other props were obviously modern. Case in point, cane fishing poles were period appropriate while the canoe paddles were not. (Canoe paddles in the 1940s were NOT made out of aluminum with plastic handles...they were wooden or all metal.)

The ONLY good thing about this movie is that there is no sex, offensive language, etc. But that's not saying much, I could get the same from Nick Jr, only Nick Jr is WAY more interesting.

We watched this movie once, and afterwards had a discussion regarding whether we should throw the DVD away or donate it to the local thrift store. We wouldn't want to give it as a gift to anyone as we don't like giving the gift of boredom.

My suggestion, read the books. And if you've already read the books, whatever you've imagined in your mind was FAR FAR better than this movie, so don't ruin your perception of the book by wasting your time watching.j

Actually, I am completely dumbfounded by all of the praise laden reviews for this DVD series. The thought that whomever wrote those reviews must work for the company that created them, is the ONLY working explanation that I can come up with.

Quite possibly the WORST children's movie I have ever seen!

I gave this to my 8 year old grandson, who is a fisherman at heart. He loves the movie, has watched it several times in the week that he has had it.
Can't wait to see it myself.