Barney - Let's Go To The Zoo (DVD)

Author's product rating:   

Did you enjoy it?	Liked it
Story	Good
Characters / Performances	Outstanding
Special Effects	Standard
How does it compare to similar films?	Not applicable

Advantages:	Big Dinosaur meets zoo animals  -  what can I say
Disadvantages:	having to watch it over and over again

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

I'm sure all of you will have heard of Barney at some stage but if you aren't sure what this big purple dinosaur is about I'll explain. He is brought to life by children's imaginations and is joined by them on their adventures along with 2 younger dinosaurs called Baby Bop and BJ. Barney has been around as long as I can remember and is a great teaching aid in a variety of areas including counting, abc's, and music as well as introducing morals and manners. He can be a bit overbearing for parents but my kids have always liked Barney and this is especially good for pre-school children.

In this video Barney goes outside into the real world which is a bit more unusual as previous videos have involved studio settings. He takes BJ and Baby Bop to the zoo and they all have plenty of fun on their day out. As well as being educational in the teaching of all the different types of animals, we are given a chance to see what the zoo keepers do to look after them and the importance of zoos.

Needless to say there are a lot of songs as they make there way round the zoo, including the counting Meerkat song and the opportunity to Rock like a Monkey. BJ keeps busy taking photographs of all the animals and Baby Bop tries to find an elephant to show her doll. There is another character called Scooter McNutty who is a lovable but mad squirrel who keeps everyone amused.

It is around 50 minutes long which I feel is a good length as younger children can get bored with longer videos although I can't say my kids have ever been fed up of Barney and usually there are shouts from my little boy to put it on again.

Of course you can't have a Barney video without the famous I Love You song at the end and if nothing else its a good chance of a cuddle and a kiss from your toddler. I think an ending song is a really important idea as some videos seem to suddenly end and the child is wondering what they have missed. Not so here as Barney turns back into a toy dinosaur.

This video is great fun and educationally entertaining for youngsters and it is amazing how soon they will be spouting facts they have learned.

There aren't really a lot of special features on this one but it is still very good value as you can pick it up for around £6 now. Keep up the good work Barney.