Interactive DVD for children-A review
You got to love the blogosphere! Well, for me anyway. I was approached by this company to review this DVD, something about me writing about my children “caught” their marketing eye. So if you, Sony folks, want moi to review a Plasma TV or just any TV’s, give me a holler. It has nothing to do with our one ancient TV that we have that’s on its last legs, really. And I promise to be objective.
The kids were really excited when we received the new DVD.
I had to explain to Tyler, my five year-old that there is more involvement to this DVD than the others that we’ve watched in the past. It’s INTERACTIVE! There are 11 possible stories to choose from. It’s 80 minutes long and it’s based on the popular book series, Choose Your Own Adventure. This is the first time I’ve ever heard of this book series, so it’s all new to me too. My interest was piqued.
The movie we received is called “The Abominable Snowman”, involving three siblings in search of their uncle who goes missing in the Himalayan Mountains while looking for the Yeti, aka the Abominable Snowman. The ending is based on how you choose your next move in the movie. So to a five and three year-olds, the movie seems to go on forever. Which is a great thing, if you’re trying to finish the dishes, the laundry or any other chores that have to be done before they want your attention again. I know, you folks probably think that I use TV as a “babysitting” service, well not exactly. In our house, everyone knows that TV time begins on a Friday and ends on Sunday. The rest of the week, it stays on the “off” mode (until 8 PMish that is, that’s Mommy’s tube time), unless someone is sick and needs a bit of treat.
Ok, back to the movie. I asked Tyler what he liked about the movie, he said “I like to choose.” But he didn’t mention anything about the movie itself. I don’t think he was interested in the subject matter that much. If it’s “Transformer” or any of the other familiar kids’ shows that he likes, I think he would have wanted to watch it over and over again. But not in this case. I think the novelty dies out pretty fast.
There are also “Bonus Features” on the DVD, behind-the-scenes, a 28-minute Educational Documentary on how people live in Nepal, music video and a collectible travel journal.
Personally, I think allowing the audience to “choose your own adventures” is a great concept, maybe the subject matter can be a little bit more mainstream (that’s my son’s point-of-view anyway) and maybe something related to “Bionicles” or “Legos” or even “Star Wars”. Your children might think otherwise though, so check it out. Enjoy the show!
You got to love the blogosphere! Well, for me anyway. I was approached by this company to review this DVD, something about me writing about my children “caught” their marketing eye. So if you, Sony folks, want moi to review a Plasma TV or just any TV’s, give me a holler. It has nothing to do with our one ancient TV that we have that’s on its last legs, really. And I promise to be objective.
The kids were really excited when we received the new DVD.
I had to explain to Tyler, my five year-old that there is more involvement to this DVD than the others that we’ve watched in the past. It’s INTERACTIVE! There are 11 possible stories to choose from. It’s 80 minutes long and it’s based on the popular book series, Choose Your Own Adventure. This is the first time I’ve ever heard of this book series, so it’s all new to me too. My interest was piqued.
The movie we received is called “The Abominable Snowman”, involving three siblings in search of their uncle who goes missing in the Himalayan Mountains while looking for the Yeti, aka the Abominable Snowman. The ending is based on how you choose your next move in the movie. So to a five and three year-olds, the movie seems to go on forever. Which is a great thing, if you’re trying to finish the dishes, the laundry or any other chores that have to be done before they want your attention again. I know, you folks probably think that I use TV as a “babysitting” service, well not exactly. In our house, everyone knows that TV time begins on a Friday and ends on Sunday. The rest of the week, it stays on the “off” mode (until 8 PMish that is, that’s Mommy’s tube time), unless someone is sick and needs a bit of treat.
Ok, back to the movie. I asked Tyler what he liked about the movie, he said “I like to choose.” But he didn’t mention anything about the movie itself. I don’t think he was interested in the subject matter that much. If it’s “Transformer” or any of the other familiar kids’ shows that he likes, I think he would have wanted to watch it over and over again. But not in this case. I think the novelty dies out pretty fast.
There are also “Bonus Features” on the DVD, behind-the-scenes, a 28-minute Educational Documentary on how people live in Nepal, music video and a collectible travel journal.
Personally, I think allowing the audience to “choose your own adventures” is a great concept, maybe the subject matter can be a little bit more mainstream (that’s my son’s point-of-view anyway) and maybe something related to “Bionicles” or “Legos” or even “Star Wars”. Your children might think otherwise though, so check it out. Enjoy the show!
I loved the “choose your own adventure” series of books when I was a kid. (though I would read ahead and pick the better option)
I can see how it would lend itself to a DVD format. I think you’re right, though, about the characters needing to be familiar. If Dora was on that cover, my daughter would be all over it.
My kids would be ALL OVER a choice-making DVD. Only I’ve got four and with entirely different tastes so it would be hard to choose what kind… Jay Jay the airplane, Blues Clues, SpongeBob, and anything drama-laden for my nine-year-old. It’s kinda cool that your son got the opportunity to review something like that.
Hey, thanks for popping over for a visit at my place. I’d seen you around here and there, so it’s nice putting a blog with a name!
I did watch this DVD with the boys and while they DID ask to watch it several times - they haven’t since. I think if our oldest was more like 7 or 8 - he might have liked it more.
Personally, during the choice phases, I think it would have been better if the DVD stopped until a choice is made. I know you can pause it and all but my son rushed without thinking what was the better choice.
Okay, when you get the plasma deal, pass my name on to them. And if the Jaguar people come calling, please let them know where to find me.
(Thanks for visiting my blog!)
Unfortunately, our kids are still too little, but we’ll keep it in mind!
Thanks for the head’s up. My kids are probably too old, but it sounds like it would be a great gift for my younger nieces and nephews!
William H. Macy is one of the voices? Wife.imp might just demand we get a copy!!
Bye the bye–I am all for a weekend road test of Corvettes, Porches, etc…
The DVD sounds intriguing but like you say, the novelty would wear off. Now, for me as an adult & I get to chose whether a main character lives or dies, that might be worth a watch.
I never get anything like that to review. Maybe some weird books about baseball (which I know nothing about).
I want Porsche to contact me or some cruise line. Or Fiji.
I too read some of the books when I was young. I loved the concept, but found that the stories just weren’t that great, so my interest faded.
If the story was great, or the characters were more “popular”, I’d think about checking this out for my son. Thanks for the review.
I too read some of the books when I was young. I loved the concept, but found that the stories just weren’t that great, so my interest faded.
If the story was great, or the characters were more “popular”, I’d think about checking this out for my son. Thanks for the review.
Choose Your Own Adventure?? On DVD?? How cool! I loved those books. I would totally buy this to check it out.
We picked up about a dozen of these books at a used book store for a quarter a piece recently. We both loved them when we were young and I am sure Jack will love them too! Great idea for a video.