Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Bear Entertains and Teaches Cognitive and Social Skills, August 17, 2006
I've heard Bear compared to "Big Bird in a bear suit", but I find this an inaccurate description. Big Bird has a childlike quality to him, while Bear is more like a big brother or a teacher. As he gently guides his Woodland Valley friends to discover the joy of reading or the value of carefully chosing your words, he likewise teaches children important cognitive and social skills.
Bear directly address the audience as he goes through his day in the Big Blue House. My 4 month old giggles with delight as he "talks to her", explaining the lessons of the day. His voice is calming and friendly, and his language doesn't "talk down to children."
On this DVD alone, I have seen lessons on sharing, expressing your feelings, chosing words that do not hurt other's feelings, reading, vocabulary, story structure, different types of stories and ways to tell stories, types of books, use of imagination, and even confidence and how to overcome shyness. These lessons are woven through three eposides through the interaction of the supporting characters and clever and entertaining songs.
The songs on this DVD get stuck in your mind. Although the opening sequence is your typical "welcome kids" song, the ending sequence is a hummable, touching song between Bear and his friend, the moon Luna ("The Goodbye Song"). Other songs include the jazzy blues driven "Say The Words", a reoccuring song between Bear and Ray the Sun "Good Morning", a song that teaches story structure "Once Upon A Time", and a duet that supports imagination and the joys of reading "I Was Just Reading A Book."
The supporting cast play an important role, the "students" to Bear's wise advice. While they learn, so does the veiwer. All the characters are amusing individuals - the hyperactive Treelo, the playloving mouse Tutter, the calmer young bear (and roommate?) Ojo, and the twins Pip and Pop. Shadow, a storytelling shadow, the sun and the moon are major helpers in assisting Bear. Bear wraps up his day, and in turn reinforces and summarizes the important lessons of the episode, with his nightly conversation with Luna.
As a parent who gets trapped watching each episode several times daily, it's also worth noting that the episodes are very entertaining. Irony, puns, and jokes that may go over a little one's head are sprinkled in each episode. For example, the "oldest creature in Woodland Valley", an absent-minded turtle is the "only postmaster" in the valley, while a hard-of-hearing bird is the valley's telephone operator. One book on Bear's table is entitled "Jane Bear" and a newspaper article declared that a snake wrestling tournament ended in a tie. These little touches make the video fun even for the adults who are forced to watch it over and over again at the urging of their little ones.
Most importantly, however, is that my child, a mere 4 month old, loves the entire Bear DVD collection. She is mesmerized by it. If she's going to be entralled by anything, I'd rather it be something that teaches valuable lessons. The fact that I enjoy the DVD is just an added benefit.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Bear in the Big Blue House on DVD, September 22, 2005
Recently, many of the old "Bear in the Big Blue House" video releases have been coming to DVD --- and I think that smells good!
There are three complete episodes of "Bear in the Big Blue House" on this DVD:
"What's the Story?"
A neat episode which Bear and his Big Blue House play host to the annual Woodland Valley Storytelling Competition. This episode contains a lot of interesting ideas about storytelling and has a lot to teach. This one has some fun humor in it too, involving some of the plots of the stories and in-jokes related to the characters.
"Words, Words, Words"
In this episode, Bear thinks about how important words are, and how sometimes, you just can't seem to find the right word for something. He also helps his friends in the Big Blue House to find their words to express their feelings. Harry the Duck (Harry: "Thank you, Mr. Bear." Bear: "You're welcome. And, oh, Harry, it's just Bear.") pays a visit in this episode.
"Read My Book"
Bear orders a new book for his Book of the Month club and ends up receiving a book about how to make slop! It turns out that he got Doc Hog's book, but now it's looking like he might not get the right book in time for the club. Our friends in the Big Blue House all suggest to Bear their favorite books for him to read at the club!
As far as special features go, the "Bear in the Big Blue House" DVDs are generally lacking, so it's a good thing that this is such a good show. The DVD has continuous play-through, "fast-play," which means that it can be used without having to access the menu. This is a standard feature found on most Disney DVDs and other children's releases these days. Naturally, there are promos/previews for other DVDs and movies. These are nice, but tend not to vary too much from DVD-to-DVD released around the same time period. Fortunately, these can be easily skipped and viewed later at your leisure, or not at all, if you don't want to. Other than that, the only other "special feature" is access to sing-along versions of all of the songs, which really isn't too bad.
Overall, I'd say this DVD is definitely worth it, simply due to the great quality of the show, even if there isn't much to speak of in terms of special features.
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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
words words words, October 2, 2005
My 3 yr old son has quite a few "Bear" dvds and loves them all. I was unsure of this one because he doesn't sit for long stories but it's not like that at all. He asks to see "words please."
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