The Charge

A smart little girl named Maggie in an imaginary land of friendship and adventure.

Opening Statement

See above.

Facts of the Case

So there's this little girl Maggie and she's smart and stuff. And sometimes she hangs around this imaginary land, which happens to be characterized by an abundance of friendship and adventure.

Nowhere Land is the go-to place for Maggie's exploits, and the Ferocious Beast and Hamilton are her cronies. On this disc, the trio traipses through six episodes of fun problem-solving in Nowhere Land.

Here's a quick look at the cast of characters:

Maggie: The titular heroine, Maggie is a cute little redhead with a load of patience and big heart. She is often the source of stability for the emotionally fragile Ferocious Beast, and the source of the resolution to whatever problem presents itself.

The Ferocious Beast: The titular ferocious beast, this guy has some serious issues. He's certainly good-natured enough for a so-called "ferocious" beast, but he's prone to envy and low self-esteem. This may arise from the fact that he is extraordinarily ugly and sports a noticeable lack of feet.

Hamilton: Preppy pig. What with the nerdy sweater and the high-water jeans, Hamilton is fortunate to be living in a land of friendship and happiness, or he'd be enduring routine beatings.

The Evidence

Maggie and the Ferocious Beast is a Nick Jr. show, and is geared toward your little, little ones. Basically, each episode confronts the main characters with a low-impact problem, where the solution is often something to do with sharing or forgiveness. Harmless, if utterly stultifying (for adults), stuff.

The six episodes (totaling 47 minutes) include:

• "Picnic Time"
Picnicking Maggie and company must deal with a throng of hungry, prowling ants who are intelligent enough to craft drums and horns, yet who still get trapped in a jar pursuing a piece of cheese.

• "Recipe for Trouble"
Everyone loves Hamilton's pumpkin dishes, but when the pig finds himself unable to escape the giant pumpkin he had been investigating, Maggie and the Beast must think of a way to rescue their friend.

• "The Lemonade Stand"
One hot day in Nowhere Land, Maggie, Hamilton and the Beast decide to put together a lemonade stand. A step-by-step guide to pint-size entrepreneurship, this episode focuses on the dangers of small business ownership if your locale is lacking sentient, lemonade-drinking beings.

• "The Big Carrot"
Stupid rabbit + giant carrot + Maggie + Ferocious Beast = friends and fun!

• "A Visit to Cake Town"
Boasting quite possible the greatest title for any kind of TV episode ever, this adventure finds our heroes trekking to a village of huge baked goods, where they eventually learn the trots-producing lesson of gluttony.

• "The Big Hat"
Hamilton finds a giant hat in the middle of a field, and amazingly drums up the resources to transform it into a fully-functional restaurant—until the hat's owner arrives.

There you go—six episodes of easygoing animation for children. The main theme for the show is problem-solving, which comes through in each episode. Granted there is not a lot of action going on here; basically it's a girl, a pig, and a quad-amputee monster talking.

The presentation looks nice enough in a full-frame transfer that does an admirable job of rendering some bright and snappy colors. Because the episodes are dialogue-heavy, featuring little-to-no music, the presence of a potent sound mix is not necessary. Hence, you get Dolby 2.0. Previews are it for bonuses.

Closing Statement

Your little ones could definitely do worse than Maggie and the Ferocious Beast. Your older ones would rather jam a salad fork into their skulls.

The Verdict

Guilty of being Cute and Educational.

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