Baby Galileo (2003)
Review by HTQ4
Film:
DVD:

Created by Julie Aigner-Clark

Features:

• Repeat Play
  
• Discovery Cards
  
• Puppet Shows
  
• Toy Chest
  
• DVD-ROM Coloring Book
  

Released by: Disney DVD
Rating: NR (suitable for children ages 9 months and up)
Region: 1
Anamorphic: N/A; appears in its original 1.33:1 format

My Advice: If you got kids, own them all

This collection of "Digital Board Books" has to be one of the best child development tools to come around in a long time. Covering everything from language (not just English), art, poetry, music, shapes, and animals, this line of DVDs has it all for parents who want to take an active role in the educational development of their child from a very early age. Filled with shapes, sounds, puppets, and even the smiling faces of other children, each DVD keeps a child's attention longer than conventional children's entertainment. They are recommended for children between the ages of one and three, and I play them for my sixteen month old all the time. Sometimes they are the only things that seem to make her happy! She dances along with them and laughs hysterically at all the puppet shows.

I'm not sure how much of a hand Ms. Aigner-Clark has in the development and production of these videos anymore, but there has been a definite change in the way they look and feel. It is not a secret that she sold her company out to Disney a couple of years ago, and I can honestly say I can see the difference in the quality of the videos. Here's the paradox: while the quality of the video production is better, the quality of the material covered has suffered a little bit. First of all, the puppets are not the same type of hand puppets that were used before. They are more along the lines of professional puppets. Honestly, this seems to take away some of the heart that was in the original series. It's hard to explain, but there it is nonetheless. Other than that, you still get pretty much the same type of material as the original series.

The bonus feature list is pretty much the same as the other discs as well. The most important of which--and I cannot stress this enough, friends and neighbors--is the repeat play feature. In case you don't know, this allows you to put the disc in and let it play the show over and over again infinitely. For parents, this is invaluable, as it takes care of the problem with VHS tapes--you remember: rewinding and having to hit play every thirty minutes to an hour or so? From the bonus features menu, you also have the option to skip to all of the puppet shows in the main feature without watching everything else. This is designed to allow you to play along with the handpuppet toys that are available from the Baby Einstein website. One good thing about this series is that they do promote you interacting with your children while watching the videos.

The Discovery Cards are a pretty neat feature which, again, encourage interaction with your children. Turning on this feature takes you through a series of flash cards which go through three stages: a picture with no caption, a picture with a caption, then a picture with the caption and a child speaking the caption. This allows you to work with your children to try to get them to identify the images before the words show up on the screen. There is also a DVD catalogue of the various toys that are used in the video which, of course, you can buy from the website. The last major feature is a DVD-ROM bit that allows you to print out some coloring pages for your little one. This is a great idea, because you can re-print these images again and again without you having to shell out more bucks for another coloring book.

If you've got kids, this is a DVD that should be on your shelf. Just make sure you take the time to sit and watch it with your little ones.