All Rise...

Don't tell anyone, but Judge David Johnson didn't bruise his shoulder in a bar fight. He was practicing a Demi Pointe and lost his balance.

The Charge

Toyz in da hood.

The Case

The toy performers from the acclaimed children's series The Toy Castle are back for another round of dancing and prancing and caked-on make-up to entertain your rugrat and encourage wild, uncoordinated bounding around in the living room. Based in Canada, The Toy Castle stars the members of the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, lathers them up in costumes and eye-liner and sends them flying across the stage, acting out a variety of easy-to-digest stories.

This collection, Twinkle Twinkle generally deals with the themes of nighttime, bedtime stories and, well, pretty much everything else. Rag Doll, who sports some bad-ass creepy Freddy Krueger-like gangly arms, rises to the forefront in many of these stories. She is joined by Strongman, Sailor, Soldier, Ballerina, China Doll, Goblin, Clown, Frederick and Freda the frog couple, and the Mouse Family. Episodes on this disc:

• "Twinkle Twinkle"
• "Tooth Fairy"
• "Man in the Moon"
• "Horse Dreams"
• "Again Please"
• "A Soldier's Story"
• "Sleep Dancing"
• "Sky Show"
• "Night Lights"
• "Solo Sleep Out"
• "Starry Night"
• "Moon Lady"

This stuff's not half bad. While I would rather dig for earthworms in the hot sun with a teaspoon than watch child-themed ballet, I readily admit that the Royal Winnipeg crew knows how to entertain. Everything is lively and bright, almost to the point of inducing sensory overload, and there's music and watered-down storytelling to engage the anklebiters. Rag Doll is prominent in these stories and tended to be annoying—and a bit freakish—but that shouldn't detract from the kids' enjoyment. For something completely different or if your kids may have a simmering fancy toward the art of ballet, Twinkle Twinkle should perform just fine.

As with the other discs, characters run through a handful of "Learn to Dance" introductory ballet moves. Games and activities await through DVD-ROM.

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