Product Details

• Actors: Shawn Ashmore, Brooke Nevin, Boris Cabrera, Eugene Lipinski, Nadia-Leigh Nascimento
• Directors: Don McCutcheon, Graeme Lynch, Robert K. Sprogis, Stacey Stewart Curtis, Timothy Bond
• Writers: K.A. Applegate
• Format: Color, NTSC
• Language: English
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Sony Pictures
• VHS Release Date: February 16, 1999
• Run Time: 79 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (77 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00000G3I3
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #7,148 in Video (See Bestsellers in Video)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

For those not familiar with the popular Nickelodeon TV series and the phenomenally successful Scholastic book series by K.A. Applegate, Animorphs centers on the adventures of five teens who can morph into animals and bugs. They battle the Yeerks, a frightful mercenary alien race (slimy, sluglike, gray-green, and the size of a rat) who want to control humans by entering their ears and taking over human minds. Don't dismiss Animorphs as a sci-fi Saved by the Bell. The acting is surprisingly topnotch and the stories are fun and thrilling. Animorphs: The Invasion Series, Part 1--The Invasion Begins introduces friends and morphers Jake (Shawn Ashmore), Rachel (Brooke Nevin), Marco (Boris Cabrera), Cassie (Nadia Nascimento), and Tobias (Christopher Ralph). Three episodes from the TV series, "My Name Is Jake," parts 1 and 2, and "The Underground," reveal how the Animorphs learn to use their gift and uncover the Yeerk plan. Part of the nasty alien plot is to acquire as many human controllers (those possessed by Yeerks) as possible. And despite the darkness of story, there's a sense of humor, too: one of the human controllers is the high school principal. For ages 6 and up. --N.F. Mendoza

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Review of Part 1, January 15, 2004

By A Customer

I watched this video 2 days ago and it fascinated me and my 8-year old son...the acting is good and these kids are more or less similar to the characters in the book but totally different. With books turned into a TV series, you cannot really expect a "literal" copy of the book to be turned into a TV series but it's still entertaining to watch. I just wish they have this series in reruns or something....and continue to fascinate young generations like my son.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Animorphs breaks out on video!, October 29, 1999

By A Customer

In part one of the four-part movie series, the video is exactly the same as book #1- The Invasion.In the first episode,"My name is Jake Part 1", the Animorphs recieve their Andalite powers. In " My name is Jake Part 2", the five teens get their first morphs- But Tobias is missing! The team re-enters the construction site in morph with a plan. It gets them a robotic alien disk. In the third and final episode, " The Underground", the Animorphs go down into the Yeerk pool and at the end, Tobias is missing AGAIN! Then they leave you hanging wondering if he's alive, but if you read the series, you know the truth.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Great books translated into somewhat mediocre TV show, February 28, 2002

By	"bclayton12" (NC) - See all my reviews

Having been a fan of the books by K. A. Applegate, I was most eager to see this. Nevertheless, I was let down somewhat, on how they put twentysomething actors and make them play high-school characters and at how thin the plot and the script really are.

I wasn't terribly disappointed, you have to give the show credit for what it has; a creepy atmosphere, fitting soundtrack, good special effects and somewhat effective acting by all six. I watched nearly all of the episodes, with the exception of the first TV "movie" (in actuality, a movie composed of three episodes edited to seem like a movie).

But the script uneffectively blends about two to three books into one storyline and make up completely different ones also. The flaws of this show is the running time of the shows, which is about thirty minutes or an hour at least, the actors don't bring all of their respective fictional personas out like in the books and the quickness of the "morphing."

After reading the last Animorphs book (which I hated), I feel like watching the shows that I have on videotape again, which are Parts I and II. They seem (and some of them are), better than the last...[book].

The show brings about 65% of the series out from the pages, which is pretty good, but really the first book should have been made into a movie, instead of a series. The series is fine, but I'd rather settle with a more accurate movie than a comparable TV series.