Disney // 2007 // 55 Minutes // Not Rated
Reviewed by Judge David Johnson // August 21st, 2007
@#$% you, Dora.
Handy Manny (voiced by Wilmer Valderrama) is an animated Spanish handyman who runs around Sheetrock Hills landing any odd repair or construction job he can find to scratch out his simple existence. Aiding his manual labor-intensive exploits is a bunch of talking tools. Screwdrivers, a saw, a pipe wrench, pliers, a hammer, even some measuring tape, they all have distinct personalities as they go about taking their orders from Manny in whatever job is lined up for the day.
Five episodes on this disc, each running ten minutes.
* "Squeeze's Day Off"
Squeeze the Pliers is anxious to get
working despite the fact there isn't much going on in the repair shop. Her tool
buddies indulge their pal and eventually everyone realizes the value of
recreation and fellowship.
* "Amigo Grande"
The tools are stupefied when Manny says he
needs something bigger and stronger than any of them for a flagpole job at the
local school. Turns out "Amigo Grande" is a heavy-duty piece of
machinery needed to erect the pole and the tools soon put aside their jealousy
to complete the job and come home winners.
* "A Stick Fix"
Turner and Phillipe, the two screwdrivers,
get into an argument over which type of screw to use on a job, flathead or
Phillips. Manny opts instead for industrial-strength glue, but after a mishap
with the adhesive, the two screwdrivers are stuck together. Now they are forced
to reconcile! Hooray!
* "Pat the Screwdriver"
Pat the hammer takes a bonk on the
head and suffers from temporary amnesia. He is convinced he's a screwdriver,
despite what his pals tell him. When Manny is faced with a job that needs a
hammer, will Pat come to his sense in time and discover his destiny? Yes.
* "Supremoguy"
Turner becomes "Supremoguy," some
kind of tool superhero, and is so excited that he works extremely hard and
accomplishes much -- to the intense dissatisfaction of his tool counterparts.
Not content with one of his tools working hard and excelling, Manny lectures
Turner about the necessity of teamwork and promptly deflates Turner's work
ethic, dropping him back to mediocrity once again. Go, Team Manny!
Handy Manny is a nice little creation, a soft-spoken character who teaches valuable lessons about friendship and cooperation and the other typical moral lessons found in these toddler-geared cartoons. The talking tool gimmick is a nice add-on and promises lots of toy sales, despite the weirdness of seeing a pipe wrench with huge eyeballs. I'd recommend the show for kiddos, specifically little boys just getting interested in hammering nails and jamming screwdrivers up their nose. Caveat: is there a worse role model for boys than Wilmer Vilderrama?
The full-frame transfer is clean and displays the attractive animation well. This is colorful animation, with a unique look and will almost certainly appeal to most children. The only extra is a simplistic set-top game where kids -- or adults if you're bored -- have to match the tools with their respective jobs.
Review content copyright © 2007 David Johnson; Site layout and review format copyright © 1998 - 2008 HipClick Designs LLC
Scales of Justice
Judgment: 85
Perp Profile
Studio: Disney
Video Formats:
* Full Frame
Audio Formats:
* Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround (English)
* Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround (Spanish)
Subtitles:
* None
Running Time: 55 Minutes
Release Year: 2007
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
Distinguishing Marks
* Set-Top Game
Accomplices
* IMDb
http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0451460/combined
* Official Site
http://atv.disney.go.com/playhouse/handymanny/index.html