Film: 
DVD: 
Written by Karl Geurs, based on the characters created by A.A. Milne
Directed by Gary Katona and Ed Wexler
Starring the Voices of Jim Cummings, Jimmy Bennett, Peter Cullen, John Fiedler, Ken Sansom, David Ogden Stiers, Andre Stojka, and Tom Wheatley
Features:
- Disney’s ABC & 123 Song (1 per disc)
- Easy as ABC Letter Activity
- Catching Butterflies (Number Activity)
Released by: Disney Home Entertainment
Rating: NR (suitable for all audiences; designed for children ages 2-5)
Region: 1
Anamorphic: N/A; appears in its original 1.33:1 format.
My Advice: Own it if you have young children.
[ad#longpost]Winnie the Pooh and Christopher Robin are looking through a book of rhymes that Christopher has written and it piques Winnie’s curiosity about words that rhyme and, for that matter, his curiosity about words and letters. Unfortunately, some of the pages have gotten lost in the Hundred Acre Wood; scattered by the wind. So, it’s up to Pooh and his friends to find the pages and put them back in Christopher’s book.
On another occasion, Christopher invited his friends in the Hundred Acre Wood to a party. The only catch was they had to bring ten things to share. This spawns the question, “How many is ten?” So, it’s up to Pooh and all his friends to get to the bottom of this mystery and make it to Christopher’s party on time with the right amount of stuff.
Well, these are a really nice example of blending education and entertainment. These shows are exciting for kids to watch and, if parents get a little involved, can be very educational for the rugrats about letters and numbers. The words that rhyme are highlighted and the numbers are highlighted every time the appropriate number of items is on screen. It’s nicely done.
The bonus features are okay, too. There are songs about the ABCs and 123s that follow closely behind the main feature if you let FastPlay start the DVD. Disney tauts this Fast Play feature as allowing the DVD to start without having to touch your remote control. The idea behind this is that your kids can put the disc into the player and it will just start. It plays the feature and a select few of the bonus features immediately following. I disagree with the name “FastPlay”. It should have been called “EasyPlay” because you still have to sit through a couple of previews for other Disney stuff before the main feature starts. This bugs the crap out of me, but my kids are young enough to think they are still part of the main program anyway. Anyway, there are also interactive educational games on the discs that allow you kids to really get their hands and minds working together about this letter and number stuff.
Anyway, if you’ve got kids who are learning their ABCs or you just want to give them a bit of a head start when it comes to school, you could do a lot worse than these DVDs. I recommend these in conjunction with They Might Be Giants: Here Come the ABCs.
