My Little Pony Friendship is Magic: The Friendship Express

My Little Pony is one of Kiana’s favorite cartoons. We don’t have it broadcasting on our local stations so we have to watch it on DVD releases which suits us just fine. This way Kiana can watch her favorite episodes over and over again.

We recently had the opportunity to review My Little Pony Friendship is Magic: The Friendship Express DVD and in the past 2 days Kiana has watched the entire thing 4 times. She would have watched it more if I let her. This DVD runs for almost 2 hours and contains 4 great episodes each one sharing an important message of teamwork, caring, and of course friendship.

Friendship is Magic: In this episode, the benevolent Princess Celestia, ruler of Equestria, selects unicorn Twilight Sparkle for a very important assignment – to travel to Ponyville to learn about the most important magic of all: friendship. Twilight Sparkle is not happy with this journey since she has more important things on her mind including the speculated arrival of Nightmare Moon who vowed to instill everlasting night. Once in Ponyville, Twilight Sparkles reluctantly makes friends with five other ponies—Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity— and together they set off to obtain the Elements of Harmony and defeat Nightmare Moon. In the end, Twilight realizes that each of her new friends represents one of the Elements of Harmony, and that she herself is the final piece, Magic. Together they defeat Nightmare Moon and revert her back to her former self as Princess Luna, sister of Princess Celestia. The sisters are reunited and all is forgiven.

This two-part episode is the main feature of the DVD and introduces us to the main ponies in the series. This is a handy feature since I really had no idea who each one was. My favorite pony was Pinkie Pie because she reminded me so much of Kiana – always upbeat and talking non-stop. We also liked the main message of the story being that together you can accomplish the impossible. Each pony separate could not defeat Nightmare Moon but together they could save the world.

Over a Barrel: The ponies are headed by train to the town of Appleloosa where Applejack is donating one of her prized apple trees to be planted in the town’s orchard. During the journey a heard of buffalo hijack the train and the apple tree is lost along with Spike and 2 of the ponies. When the rest of the ponies reach the town they find out that the buffalo are upset by the orchard because it’s planted right on their traditional stampede ground. On the other hand, the town can’t survive without the apple trees.

In the end, the two groups come to an agreement where the town would make a stampede path through the orchard and feed the buffalo herd apple pies as they make their trek. In return, the buffalo will not object to the rest of the apple trees staying right where they are.

The message here is that working together can produce a solution that can be beneficial to all. A very important lesson for kids to learn.

Hearth’s Warming Eve: The ponies are getting together to put on a play – The Heart’s Warming Eve Pageant – which tells the history of ponykind and how Equestria was founded. Basically, the Earth Ponies grew food and used it as payment to Pegasi who controlled the weather. However, a large blizzard eventually destroys the crops and leaves a food shortage behind. The head of each pony tribe attend a meeting but a solution cannot be found. So each pony leader decides to go off on their own and claim new land. However, what they don’t realize is that they all end up claiming the same land. Another argument begins and another blizzard returns freezing each of the pony leaders.

Eventually, each of the pony leaders’ advisors decide that it was the leaders who brought the blizzard onto themselves. The advisors decided to sing songs and tell stories which eventually melts the ice – and defrosts the leaders. In the end, all the tribes learn that friendship can overcome grief.

The Last Roundup: Applejack is a pony with lots of prize winning ribbons. So when she sets off to compete in the Canterlot Rodeo, her friends set out to plan a wonderful homecoming party for her. To their surprise, Applejack does not return from the rodeo and instead sends a note saying that she won’t be coming back to Ponyville.

The friends then set off in search of Applejack to find out what happened. They find her working at a cherry farm and they jump in to help while trying to convince Applejack to return home. They bombard her with questions until she finally admits that she didn’t win in the rodeo and feels like a failure. She’s too embarrassed to return home after they all had such high hopes for her. Of course, the friends didn’t care if she won or not. They just want their friend to come home . . . which she does.

Pre-Order/Purchase your copy of My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic: The Friendship Express at Amazon.com for $9.99. Available on February 28th.

This post was written for Hasbro & Shout! Factory who provided the complimentary copy in exchange for my honest review.

Lady and the Tramp on Blu-Ray/DVD February 7th

A classic love story unfolds in the best Disney tradition as a lovely young pedigree cocker spaniel named Lady, who lives a pampered life, finds herself falling romantically for Tramp, an amorous street-smart pooch without prospects. Although they have fun together on several dates, including a sentimental spaghetti dinner by moonlight at Tony’s restaurant, their relationship is strained not only by Lady’s loyalty to her human family and their newborn baby, but by Tramp’s devil-may-care attitude that eventually gets Lady in trouble and tossed into the dog pound. However, good-hearted Tramp redeems himself by saving the baby from potential harm and thus wins Lady’s love and the affection of her human family.

Lady and the Tramp is probably one of the very first Disney movies that I saw as a kid. Who can forget that romantic spaghetti eating scene between the two love birds? Of course, my favorite scene was when the Siamese cats move into Lady’s home and cause all kinds of havoc in which Lady was blamed for. I loved their Chinese accents!

My kids really enjoyed watching Lady and the Tramp and actually sat still for pretty much the entire film. It even held Kaila’s attention and she loved when Lady was a puppy. She kept saying, “Awww” when Lady first arrived on Christmas morning. Kiana, on the other hand, was really interested in the Dog Pound scene. I had to explain to her about stray animals and pet adoptions and how important it is to help stray animals find good homes. They also liked the ending which proves that even dogs can live happily ever after.

There are also some cool bonus features included in this Blu-ray & DVD Combo:

Blu-ray Bonus:  

• Disney Second Screen: Inside Walt’s Story Meetings*
• Audio Commentary: Inside Walt’s Story Meetings
• Diane Disney Miller: Remembering Dad
• Three Never-Before-Seen Deleted Scenes
• Never Recorded Song: “I’m Free as the Breeze”

Classic DVD Bonus: 

• Lady’s Pedigree: The Making of Lady and the Tramp
• Finding Lady: The Art of the Storyboard
• Original 1943 Storyboard Version of the Film
• PuppyPedia: Going to the Dogs
• “The Siamese Cat Song,” Finding a Voice for the Cats
• “Bella Notte” Music Video

DVD Bonus:  

• Diane Disney Miller: Remembering Dad
• PuppyPedia: Going to the Dogs

Digital Bonus:

• Diane Disney Miller: Remembering Dad
• Three Never-Before-Seen Deleted Scenes
• PuppyPedia: Going to the Dogs

Our favorite bonus feature was PuppyPedia which stars Fred Willard as he takes to the dog park to interview various breeds of dogs and their owners. The girls enjoyed learning about the different classes of dogs (there are 7) and seeing them in action.

All in all, the girls loved watching Lady and the Tramp and we’ve actually watched it twice already today. I’m so glad that Disney is bringing back these classic tales so my daughters can share in the wonderful memories of when I was a child.

Pre-order/Purchase Lady and the Tramp (Diamond Edition Two-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo in Blu-ray Packaging) at Amazon.com for $24.99. Available on February 7th.

This post was written for Walt Disney Video who provided the complimentary copy in exchange for our honest review.

Wipeout 2 Nintendo DS

Guest Post –

My 4 ½ year old son, Ethan, has several life goals. One is to grow up and be an astronaut, another is to play football, and the third and most talked about goal is to become a contestant on the game show, Wipeout. So he was ecstatic when I received a new game, Wipeout 2, to review on my Nintendo DS.

Wipeout 2 offers all the same fun of the TV show- racing through crazy obstacles to beat other players and win the $50,000 prize. The game is narrated by John Anderson and John Henson, the hosts of the show on TV.

This is a fun game, but definitely not an easy game that you will complete quickly! When you first start playing, you are limited to playing as one of three characters. As you play more, other characters get unlocked and available for play. You are also limited at the beginning to just one level and you have to be the winner of the level to advance to the next level. Much easier said than done!

I appreciated that the Nintendo DS version of the game offers the ability to skip some of the obstacles. It adds time to your clock, but for me was occasionally worth it. I was a little annoyed by the fact that the game’s default is to do an instant replay of every single time you wipeout. This can easily be skipped with just the push of a button, but since I wipeout more often than not, it got a little old to constantly have to be pushing the button. The commentary from the hosts also got a little repetitive, but that’s easily fixed by turning down the volume or turning off the voiceover on the options menu.

Overall, I think this is a fun, challenging game that has kept me occupied for many hours now, and I know it will continue to do so in the future. I have a very long plane trip coming up later this month, and I will definitely be taking my Nintendo DS and Wipeout 2 along with me! Wipeout 2 is rated E10 for mild cartoon violence and comic mischief. It’s available now, as a game for Nintendo DS, Nintendo 3DS, Wii, Xbox360, and Playstation 3.

Purchase your copy of Wipeout 2 at Amazon.com for $27.46.

Disclosure: I received this product to review for myself. All opinions expressed here are mine and mine alone.

Carrie is a mom to two small kids (ages 4 and 2), who spends her days trying to keep her kids out of trouble, enjoying life in Seattle, and blogging at Growing My Kids Reviews.

Veggie Tales: If I Sang a Silly Song DVD

This has got to be one of our favorite Veggie Tales DVDs. It’s seriously laugh out loud funny and the kids just had to watch it over and over again. Veggie Tales: If I Sang a Silly Song, takes you through 20 years by showcasing their top 20 fan favorite songs.

It’s all set in a telethon-style stage where Larry the Cucumber hosts “The Silly Songs Telethon” while members of the Veggie Tales gang take phone calls from the public on what they think would make a great silly song theme. Throughout the show they count down the Top 10 silly songs from the last 10 years then the Top 10 silly songs from the first 10 years. That’s 20 hilarious songs in all!

The great thing is that even though we’re huge fans of Veggie Tales there were songs that we haven’t seen performed before. Our favorites were:

Goodnight Junior – It’s time for Junior to go to bed but he just can’t help but ask for one more thing and then one more thing and then one more thing. Sound familiar? It happens in our home all the time. In Junior’s case he wants all of his stuffed friends to join him in bed . . . one-by-one. I have to give his Mom credit for humoring him for so long. I think I would have stopped after the second request!

Sippy Cup – Larry is at a restaurant ordering his meal. However, the waiter recognizes him from a big drink spill he had previously and informs Larry that he must use a sippy cup. Larry goes on and on about how he’s learn to be more careful and deserves a second chance. After a judge agrees, the waiter brings Larry a drink of – wait for it – purple grape juice filled to the rim of a stemmed glass. Does Larry prevail or is another accident about to happen? You’ll have to watch to find out.

We loved Sippy Cup because we have had some serious stain issues with purple grape juice. So much so that I refuse to buy it anymore. So when the kids saw what Larry was having to drink they laughed hysterically. I guess it’s an inside joke but I couldn’t stop laughing as well.

Here are the other songs that are in their Top 20 silly song list: I Love My Lips, The Pirates Who Don’t Do Anything, Belly Button, His Cheeseburger, Endangered Love, The Water Buffalo Song, The Song of the Cebu, Dance of the Cucumber, Yodeling Veterinarian of the Alps, Monkey, The Hairbrush Song, Biscuit of Zazzamarandabo, The SUV Song, Lance the Turtle, Gated Community, Where Have All The Staplers Gone?, Pants, and Pizza Angel.

In the end they reveal the silly song theme that the public have voted on which is then performed by Larry the Cucumber. Of course, in real life the brand new song is the winner of a contest that Veggie Tales held where people submitted their original work. Thousands entered but only one was chosen – Bubble Wrap. How cool to have your song on a Veggie Tales DVD for all kids – and adults – to enjoy!

Purchase your copy after February 7th at Amazon.com for $11.99.

This post was written for Big Idea who provided the complimentary copy in exchange for our honest review.

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