philos34002

Were the actors asleep during the entire filming? F/X were apparently done by someone's 3 year old on an ancient PC running Windows 3. There was a splash of blood at one point that I was sure was someone's ketchup packet accidentally spilled on the film and they just left it in because it was the only semi-realistic effect throughout the entire atrocity. Editing and continuity were afterthoughts, if even present at all. If you insist on watching this drivel, do it for the scenery. That was the only part they couldn't screw up. Do yourself a favor, don't watch this. Look, I'm sorry for the harsh words, and you can blame it on being American, and a steady diet of over-the-top summer blasters, but this seriously needed a major input of caffeine for everyone involved.

I think all of those who have watched since PBS was begun have been affected by it at one time or another. Remember "Electric Company"? (I wonder if Morgan Freeman does?) Thank you PBS for continuing a fine tradition of intelligent, entertaining, and accurate shows for children. As a homeschooler, I have found PBS to be my favorite source of educational entertainment and all for free. My 6 year old is ASKING to learn more than just the basic math concepts. He's long past numbers and adding and now begging for lessons in addition, subtraction, fractions, and multiplication - even pre-algebra! OK enough bragging. Truly, his enjoyment of this show in particular shows how valuable PBS is as a tool to encourage children to want to learn and to love doing so.

No, it's not Oscar material, but who cares! It's fun, positive, non-violent (mostly) and for a small budget movie with little support, quite well done. My kids (4 & 6) loved it and it was one of the few kids movies I enjoyed as well. BIG PLUS - it's not animated!!! Too few good kids movies are made as it is, let's support this one and maybe, just maybe, a few less cartoonists will be employed this year and a few MORE writers will be. For those who gave it poor reviews, you are certainly entitled to your opinion, but personally, I think you're judging it by too high a standard. Just as suspension of disbelief is a requirement for most movies now, shouldn't there be a suspension of snobbery as well, in particular for films aimed at children?