All Rise...

Judge David Johnson's celery is talking to him. Is that strange?

The Charge

A lesson in handling hurt.

The Case

The Veggies just keep on coming! The indefatigable greens offer up another bi-annual feature for you and your sprouts, this one centered on coping with pain. Of course, we're not talking about grappling with cancer or devastating infidelity, but more along the lines of "no one talked to me in school and I feel like crap."

Then again, this tale features talking celery, so the content is obviously low-impact. Even after all these years, the minds at Big Idea are still in the sweet spot when it comes to God-friendly family entertainment.

Robin Good and his Not-So-Merry Men continues the traditional VeggieTales format: two separate stories, split by a "Silly Song" from Larry the Cucumber.

"Lenny and the Lost Birthday"—The shorter of the two adventures stars Junior Asparagus as young Lenny who endures a terrible day—no one remembers his birthday, he gets into trouble in class, and his friends ignore him. It's not malaria or anything, but I can see where sadness can be debilitating for a child.

"Bubble Rap"—Larry waxes poetic about the delights of popping packing material.

"Robin Good and his Not-So-Merry Men" Robin (Larry the Cucumber) is all about fundraising to benefit the poor. Unfortunately, his not-so-merry men are not-so-hip to the idea, thinking it might be better to employ some forceful wealth redistribution. Meanwhile, a diabolical prince has been hoarding hams—apparently a currency in this world—and Robin must set aside his hurt feelings to seek justice for his ham-loving people and rescue his misguided friends who have gotten themselves captured.

The VeggieTales universe is vast, but these regularly released features somehow seem to retain the magic from the early days of CGI and the delight of Bible-friendly entertainment that isn't embarrassingly schlocky. Robin Good and his Not-So-Merry Men delivers the wit, the style, and the morals that fans have come to expect.

Big Idea may be sticking to DVD for its releases, but I look forward to them taking the HD plunge. Regardless, the disc is fine, offering both full frame and 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen transfers, 5.1 Dolby Surround, a segment on leap year (for some reason), two sing-alongs, a featurette on Veggie-themed fundraising, a parent's downloadable discussion guide, and a director's commentary.

The Verdict

Not Guilty. Another win for anthropomorphic roughage!

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