Rainbow Brite - Volume 1 (Animated) (DVD)

Author's product rating:   

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

Advantages:	friendly and non violent children's entertainment
Disadvantages:	annoying voice over introductions to each and every episode

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

I can remember being a teenager and baby-sitting children in 1985. This was one of the shows I had to endure, but not the worst. Actually, the introduction was annoying, and still is, with the deep voiced infomercial sounding announcer, but the shows themselves are not so bad. the shows share messages about caring, friendship, and responsibility. The gimmick was that a little girl named Wisp is brought to a world to help fulfil her destiny to end the Universe's dark times by bringing it full of colour and happiness.

First, she has to bring colour to the dark and dreary world she is brought to, and in trying to do so, meets the magical horse Starlight, meets the Color Sprites, and the Color Kids. She also rescues a baby, who turns out to the guardian of colour, the mysterious sphere of light, and by saving that baby, she is transformed into Rainbow Brite and defeats the darkness. She has foes in Murky and Lurky, who try to defeat her and turn the worlds dreary. Along her adventures she comes to earth one day and encounters a human child named Brian and his dog, and he helps Rainbow Brite keep our own world safe from the darkness.

This particular disk features the first five of the 13 episodes that made up the original serial series. They are:
Beginning of Rainbow Land pt1
Beginning of Rainbow Land pt 2
Perils in the Pits
Mighty Monstromurk Menace pt 1
Mighty Monstromurk Menace pt 2

By saying serial series, I mean that in true serial fashion, each episode is part of the larger story. That story being what i explained earlier. So basically, it is as if they took a movie, and cut it into chapters, with the annoying voceover theme before each chapter.

The episodes are all present unedited and in correct order of airing, and it is a region 2 dvd so no special players should be needed. The five episodes run for a full 108 minutes, so make for a nice bit of peace while the kids watch it. It is only in English, and has no subtitles, so is not suitable for the hearing impaired or those who do not understand English. The colours and sound are as they were in 1985, which is to say they are acceptable, but it should be remembered that this was a shortly ran vehicle for merchandise that was then sold in stores. This means that the pictures and sound are not fabulous in a Dolby digital kind of way, but true to how TV looked and sounded back in 1985. This has not dampened my children's enthusiasm for the DVD one bit, however. Indeed, I had to keep the rented DVD so long, I gave in and got her one for Christmas, and then of course she wanted a Starlight and Rainbow Brite dolls, which meant hunts through eBay to find some. My son also enjoys this despite the main protagonist being a girl. He especially loves Starlight (male horse), and the fact that the Color Kids and Sprites and her best human friend are all boys, so this is really quite an equal opportunity show without being in your face about it.

All in all, it is a good budget title sure to please children 6 and under, though it would be nice if they digitally remastered it and slapped another quid on the price to cover for it.