Sony // 2005 // 39 Minutes // Not Rated
Reviewed by Judge David Johnson // March 22nd, 2006
Singing and dancing with dragons is fun -- and dangerous!
I'll tell your right now -- this is going to be brief. Sing and Dance in Dragonland is a half-hour long disc, crammed with 20 sing-along songs. And that's it. There are no episodes or shorts or anything remotely plot-structured. Just lots and lots of songs with lyrics splayed out nice and big underneath as the characters from the Dragon Tales universe belt out the tunes.
Sound fascinating? I bet it does. Here's the playlist:
* "When You Make a New Friend"
* "The Hello
Song"
* "Hola"
* "Betcha Can"
*
"Pretend"
* "C'mon and Blow"
*
"Touch"
* "Wiggle"
* "Dragon Stomp"
* "And the World Goes Round and Round"
* "Zoo"
* "Flip Flop"
* "Stretch"
* "Shake Your
Dragon Tail"
* "Speak Up"
* "Hum"
*
"Clap"
* "Zak and Wheezie"
* "Silly
Song"
* "Making it Fun"
As you can probably infer by the song titles, we're not dealing with hypnotic power ballads here. These are all brief, goofy ditties, whose sole purpose it to get your kids dancing and singing and causing minimal property damage in your living room. "Silly Song" seeks to entertain, not wow with its deep, layered lyrics.
On the education front, the sing-along aspect is geared toward reading-readiness, with all of the words spelled out nice and bold, and highlighted when the particular lyric is sung.
So who would be down with this disc? Dragon Tales fans sure, as long as they understand there are no episodes on the disc. Little kids just getting the letter recognition bug will likely benefit as well. Basically, anyone that likes cartoons and harmless, doofy songs should feel satiated once the half hour as passed.
The technical merits are boilerplate: full screen, 2.0 stereo, nice and colorful. Chapter selection allowing song by song selection is a nice, convenient touch. Just some previews for extras.
Review content copyright © 2006 David Johnson; Site layout and review format copyright © 1998 - 2008 HipClick Designs LLC
Scales of Justice
Judgment: 85
Perp Profile
Studio: Sony
Video Formats:
* Full Frame
Audio Formats:
* Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo (English)
Subtitles:
* English
Running Time: 39 Minutes
Release Year: 2005
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
Distinguishing Marks
* Previews
Accomplices
* Official Site
http://pbskids.org/dragontales/index_sw.html