SpongeBob SquarePants: Truth or Square
Nickelodeon
Release Date: November 10, 2009
Cautions: If you don’t know all about SpongeBob by now, I am afraid there is nothing else we can tell you!

Kiwi Magazine Review:
SpongeBob SquarePants has a moral dilemma in this DVD and has to figure out a way to correct his mistakes and rectify the situation. SpongeBob SquarePants manages to right all that’s wrong just in time.

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Here Comes Science CD/DVD - They Might Be Giants
Disney Sound - September 22, 2009
Cautions: None
Ages: 5-12

Kiwi Magazine Review:
My daughter learned her alphabet and at least 20 country names thanks to They Might Be Giants, so, as a parent, I am completely comfortable with my elementary-school child learning a few things about science with this adorkable band. I adored them in the 80s before they launched into kid music, and now I embrace them as a parent. The music is not that patsy twangy stuff; it’s genuine rock with talented artists creating the rhythm. Seriously, if you pulled up to my car at a light and I was rocking out to TMBG, you would never realize it was kid music until you heard the word paleontologist. Warning: after my kid fell in love with the C is for Conifers song, we had to plant about a dozen trees. So, prepare for some excavations and experimentation.  If you buy one TMBG CDs, you are going to go back for all of the others.

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Mad Monster Party (1968)
Starring: Boris Karloff, Allen Swift, Gale Garnett, Phyllis Diller, Ethel Ennis
Lions Gate: September 8, 2009
Cautions: Slightly scary

Kiwi Magazine Review:
Although animation and special effects today are out of this world, I believe some of the best story lines and characters were developed decades ago. Perhaps it’s just melancholy, but the Heat Mizer and Land of Misfit Toys have a special place in my heart. In this genre is this wonderful re-release of Mad Monster Party featuring Boris Karloff. It’s a must see just for the style of animation and characters.

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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 25TH Anniversary Season 7
Four Collectible DVDs Each Feature Different Episodes
The Leonardo Slice (Part 1)
The Michelangelo Slice (Part 2)
The Donatello Slice (Part 3)
The Raphael Slice (Part 4)
Lionsgate, 2009
Cautions: Some scary parts, fighting
Ages: 8-12

From BBC Video comes Planet Earth - The Complete Series (DVD)

With an unprecedented production budget of $25 million, and from the makers of Blue Planet: Seas of Life, comes the epic story of life on Earth. Five years in production, over 2,000 days in the field, using 40 cameramen filming across 200 locations, shot entirely in high definition, this is the ultimate portrait of our planet. A stunning television experience that captures rare action, impossible locations and intimate moments with our planet’s best-loved, wildest and most elusive creatures. From the highest mountains to the deepest rivers, this blockbuster series takes you on an unforgettable journey through the daily struggle for survival in Earth’s most extreme habitats. Planet Earth takes you to places you have never seen before, to experience sights and sounds you may never experience anywhere else.

Planet Earth DVD Game

You live here…but how much do you really know about the Planet Earth? Watch spectacular footage from the epic documentary, answer the questions, and complete the puzzles to save our Planet Earth. Travel to never before seen places, witness amazing sights, and meet the world’s most elusive creatures…all while trying to save Planet Earth. Challenge your family and friends with a unique cooperative game play aspect. Educational and fun for the entire family. The Planet Earth DVD Board game is made with 90% post-consumer recyclable material. Specialty Only version comes in embossed tin with a bonus card game included!

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Praying with Lior DVD
Produced and directed by Ilana Trachtman
First Run Features, March 24, 2009
Audience - 10-100
Cautions: Lior’s mom dies from breast cancer, many very sad moments

Kiwi Magazine Review:
Lior has a big challenge ahead; his Bar Mitzvah is impending and he has to prepare for it which includes reading from the Torah and delivering a five-minute speech in front of 300 people. An awesome task for any 13 year old, Lior also has the added challenge of Down syndrome and coping with the loss of his mother to breast cancer. Lior is so eloquent that there isn’t a dry eye in the synagogue (or, presumably, in the eyes of those who watch this DVD). Regardless of your religious views, this DVD will definitely help put all things in perspective. By the end of the film, I was one big, soggy mess of gratitude and I have only Lior to thank for that. 

Aside from cheering for Lior and his family as the Bar Mitzvah date approaches, there are some other amazing moments in the film. One of Lior’s classmates (Aaron) says something incredibly insightful and profound for a boy of 13. Roughly interpreted here, he says that everyone on earth has a test and Lior’s test is bigger than many others because God knows he can handle it. Aaron then goes on to say that God is also testing those in Lior’s community and seeing how people treat him.

Have at least one box of tissues on the ready for this emotional, uplifting film.

Producer’s Synopsis:
An engrossing, wrenching and tender documentary film, PRAYING WITH LIOR introduces Lior Liebling, also called “the little rebbe.” Lior has Down syndrome, and has spent his entire life praying with utter abandon. Is he a “spiritual genius” as many around him say? Or simply the vessel that contains everyone’s unfulfilled wishes and expectations?

Lior - whose name means “my light” - lost his mother at age six, and her words and spirit hover over the film. While everyone agrees Lior is closer to God, he’s also a burden, a best friend, an inspiration, and an embarrassment, depending on which family member is speaking. As Lior approaches Bar Mitzvah, the Jewish coming-of-age ceremony different characters provides a window into life spent “praying with Lior.” The movie poses difficult questions such as what is “disability” and who really talks to God? Told with intimacy and humor, PRAYING WITH LIOR is a family story, a triumph story, a grief story, a divinely-inspired story.

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Scholastic DVD Collection: The Man Who Walked Between the Towers and more Inspiring tales DVD
Weston Woods, 2008
Cautions: None
Ages 5-10

Kiwi Magazine Review:
It’s not without some trepidation that we watched The Man Who Walked Between the Towers because the famous twins no longer stand. But, the story is really about the big dreams of a street performer and the space between the towers. To quote the story, “If he saw three balls, he had to juggle and if he saw two towers, he had to walk. That’s how he was.” Philippe Petit pretended to be a construction worker to access the towers which were still being built. The story of how he actually strung the wire across the towers was actually as interesting as the walk itself.  Philippe walked, danced and ran on the wire for nearly an hour before turning himself in to the police, stopping once to even lay down and rest!

Product Description:
“On August 7, 1974, a 24-year-old French high-wire artist named Philippe Petit committed one of the most astonishing stunts of the late 20th century: he strung a thin cable between the two towers of the World Trade Center and not only walked across, from one building to another, but did a nerve-wracking series of knee-bends and acrobatic movements on the cable, some 1,350 feet above the ground, before turning himself in.” (All Movie Guide). Man on Wire, James Marsh’s documentary recounting the incredible chain of events some 34 years after they occurred was just awarded the Academy Award for Best Documentary Film.

For a kid-friendly version of the astonishing feat, families should turn to THE MAN WHO WALKED BETWEEN THE TOWERS …AND MORE INSPIRING TALES. Based on the lyrical Caldecott Award-winning book by Mordecai Gerstein and narrated by Oscar®-nominee Jake Gyllenhaal, THE MAN WHO WALKED BETWEEN THE TOWERS showcases Petit’s feat utilizing Gerstein’s wonderful illustrations brought to rich, animated life.

http://www.newkideo.com/

Chowder, Vol. 2 (2009) DVD
Cartoon Network 2009
Ages 6-13
Cautions: All clear

Kiwi Magazine Review:
Batter up!  With all of the cooking shows and more than one cooking network, the pickings were ripe for Cartoon Network’s show about a boy named Chowder who aspires to be the world’s greatest chef. Naturally, things don’t go exactly as planned, with the menacing menu of kitchen chaos ensuing. Boys, in particular, adore Chowder but let’s hope they don’t get any ideas!

Producer’s Synopsis:
Chowder is the story of an energetic young boy who wishes to become the greatest chef in the world. Under the watchful eye of the eccentric and much older Mung Daal, Chowder assists with the usual kitchen duties at the renowned Mung Daal Catering Company. But his love of food and his extremely short attention span often results in him causing unintended havoc.

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Gustafer Yellowgold’s Mellow Fever DVD/CD Set
Apple-Eye Productions, March 2009
Ages: 4-12
Cautions: None. Prepare to fall in love.

Kiwi Magazine Review:
Gustafer Yellowgold defines explanation, although he embraces acceptance. He’s daffodil yellow, has an ice-cream-cone-shaped head and cornflower blue eyes. He sort of floats, lounges, gazes and ponders his way through the DVD to a soundtrack that is combination emo, alternative, orchestral and mellow rock. Unlike other ‘animation’ (Sorry, Gustafer. That term applied to you is so pedestrian and so unfair), Gustafer only communicates with movement. The story goes that Gustafer lives with an eel in Minnesota which sounds a little dull, but, he can pop corn with his mitten-shaped hand and do an arabesque on the top of a conifer.

Gustafer comes to us from the sun, but travels without any baggage.

Producer’s Description:
Highly anticipated third in the series - this DVD/CD set includes 11 new songs, and the Bonus Featurette “Looking For… Gustafer Yellowgold”

In Gustafer Yellowgold’s Mellow Fever, Gustafer has come to Earth in his Sunpod and landed in Minnesota where he is living out his dream of a cooler existence, making new and interesting friends along the way. Audiences experience Slim the eel’s old watery neighborhood within the rolling and climbing acoustic guitars of “Underwater Stars.” Forrest Applecrumbie laments the loss of some excellent bellbottoms in the thump-and-jump of “Panther Stamps Pants.” The gang watches as Gustafer learns to put his warm mitts to good use in the acoustic Charleston of “Melter Swelter.” Looking back into Gustafer’s former Sun-years, “Butter Pond Lake” offers a glimpse of the Yellowgold family’s favorite vacation spot. The fanfaring french horns of “Sugar Boat,” with guest artists John Stirratt and Pat Sansone of Wilco, introduce Gustafer’s biggest fan, Wincey the ferret. Viewers/listeners tour the world with Sisson the blue worm during her Harry Nilsson-esque romp, “Quite Easily Lost,” featuring guest artist Lisa Loeb.

Gustafer Yellowgold DVD/CD sets are one-of-a-kind blends of music and moving image that creator Morgan Taylor describes as “Musical Moving Books.” Each song is accompanied by a series of hand-drawn, minimally animated illustrations set to melodic and catchy tunes ranging from mellow acoustic to crackling-pop, creating a truly different multimedia experience that entrances young, old, and everyone in between.

Buy it:  http://www.gustafer-store.net/guyemefedvse.html

Join Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup as they take a break from their crime-fighting, action-packed schedules to celebrate their 10-year anniversary! Cartoon Network will mark this special occasion with the release of the one-of-a-kind 6-DVD box set — The Complete Powerpuff Girls Anniversary Collector’s Set. Certain to thrill both old and new fans of the classic series, the box set is fueled by all 78 action-packed episodes of the Emmy®-winning series and extra features.

The Powerpuff Girls, which debuted on Cartoon Network in 1998, is set in Townsville where a fatherly genetic engineer, Professor Utonium, set his sights on scientifically engineering the world’s most “perfect” little girls.  While preparing his concoction of sugar, spice and everything nice, Professor Utonium accidentally adds a mysterious fourth ingredient, Chemical X.  This fateful addition leads to the creation of three sugar-coated superheroes, otherwise known as The Powerpuff Girls, whose mission in life alternates between going to school, fighting crime and winning at hopscotch.

Kiwi Magazine Review:

They’re back in action on their 10th birthday and they’re as fierce and fashionable as ever.  Don’t let those big eyes fool you, they are ready to take on the world, or the local mall, depending on where the evil forces are lurking.  Get your puff on and watch the day-long Powerpuff-athon on January 19 from 6 a.m. - 8 p.m. (ET, PT) which leads right into an all-new puff-tastic a half-hour animated special to air on Monday, Jan. 19, at 8 p.m. (ET, PT).  We recommend snacks and comfy clothes for that one!

http://www.cartoonnetwork.com/tv_shows/ppg/

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Congratulations to CT for winning!