Enid Blyton's Enchanted Lands - The Magic Of The Faraway Tree (Animated) (DVD)

Author's product rating:   

Did you enjoy it?	Liked it
Story	Outstanding
Characters / Performances	Outstanding
Special Effects	Standard
How does it compare to similar films?	Good

Advantages:	Brings the magic back to adults and introduces the magic to young children
Disadvantages:	Quality is not as good as it should be

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

The Magic Faraway Tree

One set of books I loved when I was a child was those written by Enid Blyton, a well known ,yet perhaps old fashioned in her writing, author of many great childrens books – many of which are now being remade to suit a more modern audience of children. Included in Blyton’s writings were the well loved ‘Faraway Tree’ books, full of magic, fantasy and strange and wonderful creatures to capture the hearts and imagination of children all over.

My Enid Blyton books were passed down to me from my own mum and now having a daughter of my own, I couldn’t wait to pass down my books, yet my daughter being so young still, I thought perhaps the DVD would be better at the moment (although lets be honest – I brought it more so for my own memories and enjoyment!).

THE MAGIC FARAWAY TREE

In the center of the Enchanted Wood, a magical forest set within the heart of the English countryside, is the oldest, most tallest tree in the world – The Faraway Tree. This magical tree is home to many strange, wonderful and exciting characters such as Saucepan Man, who is practically deaf from all the saucepans clattering around his body, Moonface, a loveable little character whose face is the shape of a moon, Mr Whatshisname who for the life of him can not remember his own name, and many many more.
Most exciting of all, though, and something in which as a child I wished and dreamed would happen at the top of my own garden tree, is a new and wonderful land which changes every few days and can be accessed from the highest branch with more wonderful characters to meet and lovely lands full of imagination to explore.

CHAPTERS

I name this section chapters instead of episodes as they really do follow the chapters in the actual book of the same name with some small changes to make the story more modern. Of course, after reading any book, the film version never totally matches up as you already have your own idea of what things look like, though this DVD does do a great job for the child’s eye.
There are seven chapters to this DVD, all of which can be viewed as play all, or selected to be viewed one at a time in the DVD menu.

The Land Of Toys
Follow all the characters in their first adventure on this DVD where they find a land filled with toys at the top of the tree – all with their own personalities! Of course poor Saucepan Man thinks it is the land of take-what-you-want and soon gets arrested by the toy soldiers!
This episode is a great first one though unfortunately doesn’t really introduce the story or characters so if you haven’t read the book it may take a while to understand what’s going on. Of course to my daughter, that didn’t matter at all as it was animated and colourful with some lovely characters.

The Land Of Take-What-You-Want
The land Saucepan Man was waiting for and one we would all love – to go to a land where you can take anything you want – though they didn’t expect one of the tree folk to bring back an elephant!
Another lovely episode that brings back wonderful memories and a lovely little story line which runs straight on from the previous episode

The Land Of Dame Tickle
The land where naughty children get sent though unfortunately for the characters of the enchanted wood, they get caught.
Again, a lovely episode though my daughter was trailing off and leaving me to watch it alone by this point – though she is only just coming up to two years old so a little young to watch the whole DVD at once, which is why it is great to have a chapter selection to start and stop when need be.

The Land Of Ice And Snow
The characters go up to the land of ice and snow to rescue one of their friends as they are being kept there by the nasty snowmen though the three bears are on hand to help out.
A simple yet lovely episode with much fun and excitement – and this episode brought my daughters attention back to the television.

The Land Of Dreams
I used to really love this chapter in the book when the characters fall asleep in the land at the top of the three and some very strange and lovely dreams occur – though will they be able to escape the dreams in time to leave the land before it moves from the top of the tree?
A very imaginative and beautiful chapter in the book and DVD, again done really lovely with even more wonderful storylines and characters.

The Land Of Spells
A land full of wonderfully magical potions and spells for just about anything though as usual not everything goes to plan.
A very fun and exciting episode with more characters to meet and love.

The Land Of Marvels
The final episode on the DVD (which is a shame as there are so many more they could have added though I guess that’s what the books are for!). In the land of Marvels the characters go and see many magical marvels of the magical world, such as the ladder with no top that keeps going up and up…
Again a lovely episode though not a very well thought up end episode as it doesn’t bring closure to the DVD though children don’t seem to mind this.

CHARACTERS

There are a number of main characters to the story which all stay through every episode so the audience get to know them well. As it is a young children’s DVD there is no meaningless history, just what is happening there and then.

There are a few changes with the children from the books to DVD to make it more modern. The names have been changed to Joe, Beth and Fran with their cousin Rick (instead of Fanny and Dick as in the original books – you can see why these were changed!) though this doesn’t really change much even for us adults who used to love the original books. The children have still kept their personalities from the books and are sometimes a little annoying (though in this case annoying isn’t such a bad thing as it reminds you or the books) and their cousin Rick is as mischievous as his original character – often getting the children into trouble.

And lets not forget the folk of the faraway tree – each a character of fun and excitement and great imagination. I mentioned Saucepan Man and Moonface above, though there are also kind hearted Silky the fairy who joins the main characters on their adventures each having lovely comical lines and providing a well rounded group of characters which cover all different personalities which children will both enjoy and understand.

LANGUAGE AND CONTENT

If you have read the books you will know that Enid Blyton writes as from her time and order in society with many lines such as ‘Goodness Gracious’, ‘Gosh’ and ‘I say’ with all the stereotypical old fashioned ways of girls do the cooking and cleaning and boys do the hunting and are ‘above’ the girls. This DVD does touch upon some of these ways though on the whole has brought it into the more modern world. One thing which is kept, though these days it is hard to imagine, is the children going off into the wood totally alone and often at night! I cant see parents allowing that to happen these days though I know that it is relevant to the storyline – it just wouldn’t be the same with their mother tagging along!

The language itself is also very simple and easy to understand though there are some words and phrases Im sure that older children may never have come across though they are easy enough to explain to the child.

QUALITY

The DVD quality is average compared to DVD’s for children now. It is animated and colourful in its own way though so much more could have been done with it. It looks as though it was made back in the late 80’s early 90’s though its actually made in 2002 so I would have expected a much better quality. This may put some children off of watching it if they are used to all the modern animation.

There are also no bonus features on the disc and the disc menu only covers a play all option or chapter selection so not much to go on here Im afraid.

PRICE

This DVD can be picked up from around £2-£3 from Amazon and Ebay. A good price for this DVD in my opinion.

FINAL WORD

This DVD, even though its slightly poor quality, does still have the power to enchant different generations as the books still continue to do since it was made many years ago. The child is transported into a magical world full of wonderful characters and imaginative storylines.
My daughter really liked this so well worth the money, though I, like many others, will always still love and prefer the books.

ADDITIONAL INFO

• Format: Animated, PAL
• Language English
• Region: Region 2
• Number of discs: 1
• Classification: U
• Run Time: 72 minutes