Review: The Super Hero Squad Show is Coming to DVD

On July 13th, Cartoon Network's The Super Hero Squad Show is coming to DVD! This is wonderful news to me. The only time I can find this show airing is at 6:30am Saturday mornings. Nobody in my house is up that early when it's not a school day.

If you do not know who The Super Hero Squad is, they are a team of Marvel superheroes led by Captain America. The team includes Iron Man, Wolverine, Falcon, Thor, The Hulk, and Silver Surfer. To add to the fun, there are always guest appearances by other Marvel superheroes, such as Storm, Ms. Marvel, The Fantastic Four, Reptil, Hawkeye, and more. They all team up against the evil Dr. Doom and his many cohorts.

This DVD The Super Hero Squad Show: Quest for the Infinity Sword! is approximately two and a half hours long and contains the following episodes:

• "And Lo . . . A Pilot Shall Come!"
• "This Silver, This Surfer!"
• "Hulk Talk Smack!"
• "To Err Is Superhuman!"
• "Enter: Dormammu!"
• "A Brat Walks Among Us!"
• "Oh Brother!"

There is also a bonus feature containing an interview with Stan Lee, co-creator of many Marvel favorites, such as Spiderman.

When the DVD first started, I immediately heard my 3-1/2 year old son yell, "IRON MAN!!!" Can you guess who his favorite character is? I thought his twin sister would choose one of the female superheroes as her favorite, but she is apparently a huge Iron Man fan as well. My 6-1/2 year old son, however, named Reptil as his favorite character. All 3 children enjoyed this DVD so much. There is a comedic element that just made them laugh out loud at least once or twice during each episode. That combined with the superhero action made this DVD a big hit in my house.

This DVD retails for $14.93 and can be pre-ordered until the street date July 13th, 2010. You can find it at the Shout Factory Store, Amazon.com, and other retailers of children's DVDs.

Thank you to Shout Factory for sending us a sample DVD free of charge to base this review upon.

Giveaway & Review: Madeline's Great Adventures (DVD) [CLOSED]

My children have not yet been introduced to the well-known book series Madeline by Ludwig Bemelmans. After watching the DVD Madeline's Great Adventures, however, I know our next trip to the library will include checking out one or two storybooks from this series.

Madeline is the smallest one of twelve students at the Miss Clavel's Parisian school for girls. She and her next door neighbor Pepito, who happens to be the Spanish Ambassador's son, often find themselves in little predicaments that result from their free spirits making decisions that are not always the smartest.

This DVD contains six adventures and lasts approximately 132 minutes. It is perfect for watching in 2 or 3 sittings. The six episodes include:

• "Madeline and the Magic Carpet"
• "Madeline on Safari"
• "Madeline and the Lost Crown"
• "Madeline and the Gypsies"
• "Madeline and the Pirates"
• "Madeline and the Forty Thieves"

It is rare that a DVD can engage all three of my children, but this one managed to do just that. I could tell because they were all watching intently and there was no talking or fidgeting whatsoever. The animation reflected the illustration style from the storybooks and the narration, done by Christopher Plummer, rhymed just like in the books.

All the characters are truly charming and endearing. This includes the talking flying carpet, the little Prince of Monaco, and the carnival of gypsies. My children are definitely looking forward to the next DVD.

You can find Madeline's Great Adventures at ShoutFactoryStore.com and at many other retailers of children's DVDs starting June 29th, 2010.

Thank you to Shout Factory for sending us a sample DVD free of charge to base this review upon and for providing a second DVD for our contest prize.

What you can win:
One lucky reader will receive Madeline's Great Adventures on DVD.

Limitations:

This giveaway is open to U.S. entries only. You do not need to be a blogger to enter, but you must have a valid email address and be age 18 years or older. If you enter anonymously and do not include a valid email address in your comment entries, I will not be able to notify you should you win this random drawing.

How to Gain Entries:

Browse the selection of DVDs for Kids offered by the Shout Factory. Then leave a comment telling me the name of at least one DVD you would have loved to watch as a child. You MUST do this to be eligible to win this contest.

Extra Entries:

1) For 5 extra entries, leave a relevant comment on one of my non-giveaway posts. Then leave FIVE separate comments with the name of the post on which you commented. You will earn 5 extra entries for each different non-contest post you comment on.

2)

For 5 extra entries, enter one of my other contests. Leave FIVE separate comments here telling me which contest you entered. You will earn 5 extra entries for each contest you enter.

3) For 10 extra entries, blog about this contest linking back to this post AND ShoutFactory.com . Then come back here and leave TEN separate comments with the link to your blog post.

4)

For 1 extra entry each, if you are a Friend of mine on Facebook and/or if you have "liked" the 3 Garnets & 2 Sapphires Facebook page, then leave a separate comment here telling me so with the link to your Facebook profile.

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6)

Follow me on Twitter. Then leave a separate comment with the link to your Twitter profile.

7)

Tweet about this giveaway linking back to this post. Then come back here and leave the link to your tweet in a separate comment. You may do this once per day until the end of the contest.

8)

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(All entries will be verified prior to awarding this prize.)


Random Drawing:

This contest will be closed on Monday, July 5th, 2010 at 11:59pm EST. A random number drawing will be held shortly after. The winner will be announced here and will be contact via email or through their blog. If the winner does not respond within 48 hours, a new number will be drawn.

Good luck in the drawing!

Review: Alvin and The Chipettes in "Cinderella, Cinderella" (DVD)

Computer generated animation is great, but I still appreciate the hand drawn cartoons from my childhood. This recently released DVD Alvin and the Chipettes in Cinderella Cinderella brings me back to those days.

This particular DVD contains 3 fun 22-minute episodes starring Alvin and The Chipmunks and The Chipettes. The first is "Cinderella, Cinderella", which tells the tale of Brittany dreaming that she is Cinderella and Alvin is the Prince. The second is "Alvie's Angels", which is a spoof on the 70's show Charlie's Angels. "The Brunch Club" has a loose connection to the movie The Breakfast Club.

One great thing about these episodes is the music. Songs sung by these lovable characters include Aretha Franklin's "Respect" and Survivor's "Eye of the Tiger". There was also references to Indiana Jones in "Alvie's Angels", which was fun. One thing I did not care for in that episode was the overly-accurate depiction of Alvie's (Charlie's) affinity towards beautiful women. This episode actually showed cartoon women in bikini's, one of which was bending over so her backside was facing Alvie and the audience. So it is up to you if you think this is appropriate for your children. It did stand out to me, but I do not think it would keep me from allowing my children to view this DVD again in the future.

This DVD retails for $16.99 and can be found on Amazon.com and at select retailers of children's DVDs.

Thank you to Click-Communications for sending us a sample DVD free of charge to base this review upon.

Review: Sonic the Hedgehog & Super Mario Bros. DVDs

Having grown up with the original Sonic the Hedgehog and Super Mario Bros. Nintendo games plus having watched the Mario Bros. cartoon show during my youth, I was looking forward to a sense of nostalgia while watching these two DVDs with my son. The two titles were . . .

Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog: Robots Attack!

Grounder the Genius

Sno Problem

Full Tilt Tails

Coachnik

(Estimated Running Time 88 minutes)

The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!: Off the Map

Bad Rap

Too Hot to Handle

Mighty McMario and the Pot of Gold

Elvin Lives

Crocodile Mario

(Estimated Running Time 75 minutes)

What my son and I thought about this Sonic the Hedgehog DVD:

1) My son said that this cartoon was "cool." His favorite characters were Sonic and his sidekick Tails. He said he did not like the bad guys.

2) I thought maybe this cartoon would be targeted at children slightly older than my 5yr old son, but he could follow the stories easily and I do not think any of the storylines were inappropriate overall.

2) I can see how this cartoon can appeal to children because it is full of physical comedy and wisecracks.

3) I did not care for the use of name calling with words such as "dumb", "nimrod", "dumbots", and "idiots." I asked my son how he felt about this name calling and he told me it was okay as long as it was directed at the bad guys. I was not too thrilled about this aspect of the cartoon. My son is going to learn plenty of rude words in school, so he does not need me to be teaching him new names to call the other children at home.




What my son and I thought about the Super Mario Bros. DVD:

1) This DVD truly made me feel nostalgic because I immediately recognized the signature Super Mario Bros. background music from the original video game.

2) This cartoon is definitely more wholesome than Sonic cartoon. Even though there was some name calling, I would not be as upset if my son called his younger siblings a "Midget Minded Minion" or a "Lame Brain Linguini-Lover."

3) My son liked the rap/hip hop style music. His favorite episode on this DVD was "Bad Rap", in which the brothers visited Rapland where everyone had to speak in rhymes.

4) Even though my son tends to prefer the "good guys" in most cartoons, he actually said that his favorite character was King Koopa. He thought it was cool that King Koopa dressed up in a variety of different disguises.


Overall, I would say that the Super Mario Bros. are welcome to be on our television screens anytime, but I cannot say the same for Sonic the Hedgehog. The latter just promotes a disrespectful attitude that I am trying to prevent my son from adopting.

To view the full selection of children's DVDs offered by NCircle Entertainment, simply visit www.NCircleEntertainment.com .


Thank you to NCircle Entertainment for providing us with review products free of charge.