Customer Reviews

VeggieTales - Esther, The Girl Who Became Queen [VHS]

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

After eagerly awaiting this new release in the superior VeggieTales series, my family was a bit disappointed. This episode lacks the silliness that makes the others so enjoyable. While my two daughters did enjoy watching the video over and over, I don't think it compares to the other VeggieTales.

As a mother of two girls, I appreciate Big Idea's use of a Biblical story with a heroine. None of the other videos have featured a lead female character. Esther is indeed a story with rebellion, revenge, and violence. Big Idea has toned all this down, of course. Still, it's difficult to find other Biblical tales with women in active, positive roles that don't involve even more violence, vengeance, and worse. Tamar? Rebecca making off with her father's household idols?

I agree with the other reviewer that Esther comes off as a bit whiny. She lacks the vivid characterization at the heart of the appeal of the sorely-missed Bob, Larry, Archibald, et al. In a nutshell: "Esther" is not up to the quality of "Rack, Shack, and Benny" or "Dave and the Giant Pickle." But it is a far better choice for your home collection than 90% of kids' videos around today.

I really hate to say this, but I thought Esther was a huge dissappointment. We *adore* VeggieTales and we own [and love] all of them. I was extremely excited about this one with "Esther" in particular, because it would have a female lead character. [I am the mom of a little girl, and that's my only real complaint about VeggieTales - hardly any female main characters. Laura the Carrot is the only recurring female really, and she gets very little air time compared to the guys. Since I'm trying to raise a devout Christian woman, I'd like some help with a couple of female role models!].

How sad I was when I bought this one though - the female lead, Esther, is a whiny, pouty, obnoxious little thing [and I can't even identify her as an actual vegetable - she looks more like a green stick to me]. The wonderful VeggieTale format has been altered with this one [no intro with Bob and Larry, no Silly Song, no closing comment from Querty], much to the detriment of this video, in my opinion. The whole tone of this story is very dark compared to the others, and there are two scenes that include a very scary Grim Reaper who comes out with a feather to take the 'bad guys' to the "Island of Perpetual Tickling". The Grim Reaper scared my two year old to tears, however, and now she screams "No, I'm scared of the Tickling Guy!" and cries if we try to watch Esther again. Not a big plus.

There are some good things about this one however - the animation in particular is spectacular. Also, Pa Grape makes a great showing as Esther's wise cousin Malachai, Mr. Lundt is a very entertaining villian, and Mr. Nezzer as the King is wonderful as well.

I wouldn't neccessarily reccommend Esther - and definitely I'd get all the other VeggieTales first, but this one is probably worth owning for a die hard Veggie Fan.

I looked at all of the reviews on this page, and one theme kept coming back: that this film is too serious to be a Veggie Tale. I'm sorry if I disagree with all of you, but I think that this is probably one of their finest pieces of animation to date, and my kids love it (they're 6 and 3). Contrary to what everyone seems to be claiming, not all of the Veggie Tales have silly songs segments, and it would be very difficult to make the story of Esther any lighter than this. That being said, this is one of the finest moments in computer animation history, as well as in the history of Veggie Tales. They've tried to do something very different here, and it is this style that will probably inform the announced Veggie Tales movie, since the half-hour format with the Bob and Larry intros would be impossible to sustain for a feature length film. I may be in the minority, but I really like this one.

I was very disappointed with this one - as well as my wife. There was virtually no humor. And where was Bob & Larry? Bob wasn't in the movie at all, and Larry only a very minor role as the king's scribe - he barely even says anything. There was only one "silly song" which wasn't even catchy (unlike The Bunny Song and Song of the Cebu and my very favorite, Larry Boy Theme Song). Where were the recurring characters like Laura Carrot and Junior Asparagus? All I can say good about this one was the animation was excellent, but besides that, this didn't feel like a standard Veggie Tales... and by all means, avoid Big Idea's new series, 3-2-1 Penguins. What happened Big Idea? I know I saw Phil Vischer's name in the credits...

Esther represents a slight departure for the VeggieTales crew. In focusing on the retelling of this story from the Bible, some of the traditional humorous elements from previous videos are gone. Instead, the video focuses completely on the story of the girl picked to be queen who discovers God has placed her there in order to save her people. But will she have the courage to follow through?

Big Idea did a good job of packing all the twists and turns of the story from the Bible into 35 minutes while still making it appropriate for kids. My favorite change was "The Land of Perpetual Tickling." I completely missed the references to "The Godfather," but Ive never seen those movies to begin with. Still, this explains the reference to "family" and not "the Jews" in the story line. While I missed the "Silly Songs with Larry" segment, it would have broken the flow and tone of the story, and I'm glad it was left out. Instead, we have the hilarious "Lost Puppies" song from the audition scene. And Esther gets several great songs. They might not be the bouncy, upbeat songs we're used to hearing, but they are beautiful songs of God's protection that fit the video well.

This movie was visually the most stunning and complex they had tried to date, and this transfers well to the new DVD release. As always, the DVD contains a behind the scenes featurette and some Easter eggs that give a better idea of what went into the production of this episode. There are some fun things for kids to do (even I enjoyed the maze). But the highlight is the audio commentary with Phil and Mike. This seems to be one of the better ones. They talk a lot about the leaps forward they tried with this episode and what they learned from it. Plus we get to hear why using vegetables is a blessing and a saddlement.

Always searching for ways to expand the series, Big Idea hit the mark with this excellent video. It's a little different then the others, but if you'll give it a fair chance, you'll see it just might be their best yet.

Yep, hang on to your hats, Veggie Tale fans, because the producers of this video series refuse to get stuck in a rut. It's not your ordinary Veggie Tales videos. Can we all stop complaining about that now and talk about the great stuff? The slightly "darker" way the story starts -- cool! Who says kids only like laughs? That is why Disney always succeeds in their videos -- they understand kids want a dose of reality, and life isn't always laughs (can you imagine if "Bambi" was put out today!!).

I commend the V.T. guys for this video. Esther looks "cool", she comes across as a very normal, scared and maybe a little whiny teenager -- let's not forget she was probably just 13 or 14 at the time. And the biggest plus for me is that **finally** Veggie Tales highlighted a female hero. Like an earlier reviewer, my biggest gripe with Veggie Tales is the lack of strong female characters. Buy this video for your kids and enjoy. I also strongly recommend the 3-2-1 Penquins video by the same producers.

We bought this for our two year old son, since he loves Veggie Tales. This one though, has become his favorite. And it has become a favorite in the house, as my husband, my son and I recite lines daily from the video. Big Idea kept the story of Esther very true to the Bible story, yet made the less than desirable parts of the real story less "crude". For example, instead of banishing Queen Vashti from Persia for not parading in front of King Xerxes noblemen naked wearing only a crown, Veggie Tales has her banished for not making her husband a sandwich in the middle of the night. The gallows in the real story become "Death" with a feather coming to banish people to the "Island of Perpetual Tickling" in this Veggie Tales parody. Very well done, definitely Big Idea's best try at animation. And even if the story doesn't have all the original characters and silliness, it is a story worth hearing, and is very entertaining.

This DVD is quite a bit different from the other Veggie Tales' DVDs. First, this is no counter top beginning or ending and no silly song with Larry. Instead, the entire time is spent on the story of Esther. That is a good thing since I don't believe that any of this could be cut and still tell the same story. What sets this movie apart from other veggie tales is the animation. They have definitely taken their animation to a new level in this movie with fantastic details in many of the scenes.

For humor their is a great song about Lost Puppies and then the references to the Godfather throughout the movie. Other musical numbers were equally good.

This is definitely one of their better movies.

I understand the concerns of parents of small children, but I'd still recommend it for older children and, of course, for adult fans :)

I have to disagree somewhat with the reviewer who said Esther missed the point. If a church is worth its title, Christians do learn early on that the Jews are physical descendants of Abraham -- a concept easily described to younger viewers as a very extended family. While we don't celebrate Purim, we do study the book of Esther and we know the important points -- namely, the threat of genocide and God's hand in the preservation of His people. Of course, the story changes a few details so kids don't have to hear about death; but the fate the family does face isn't a good one to a child, either.

It's a good translation of Esther into something children can more easily grasp. Of course, just in case a child might miss the point, that's when parents and children can discuss the tape afterwards and the parent can fill in the blanks about who the family really is and anything else the child might ask. It's a good open door for a Christian parent to teach children more about the Jewish roots of Christianity... and a challenge for all Christians to learn more about it themselves.

. . .and altogether wonderful Veggie Tale.

I have to confess, this is my very favorite of all the Veggie Tales videos I've ever seen. It was not the huge success that some of the others have been, and I can understand why. No "Silly Songs", no opening segment with Larry and Bob, etc. (Though I loved the opening sequence showing the children of Veggie Tales employees). Instead, this particular Veggie Tale tells a straigtforward Bible story, one especially loved by Christians and Jews alike, namely, the story of Esther -- the Queen who saved her people.

Like other Veggie Tales, the humor is on two levels. Kids will enjoy the songs and animation; adults will appreciate the "godfatheresque" storytelling, accents, emphasis on "family" and the like.

The producers of Veggie Tales took a risk with this one -- and to my mind, succeeded in their purpose. Let's hope they tackle more full-length Bible stories in the same fashion, while still producing the traditional Veggie Tale adventures we've come to know and love.

A strong 5 stars.