Cinema Crazed

2008

Rated: G

Genre: Kids/Family Music Performance

Directed By: Paul Field

Running Time: 1:26

Review by: William Garcia

Review Date: 10/30/08

Special Features:

THE WIGGLES: SING A SONG OF WIGGLES!

Following soon after the release of “Pop Goes the Wiggles” comes SING A SONG OF WIGGLES, this second collection of traditional songs and nursery rhymes. Each song follows The Wiggles and their group of friends and dancers, including Dorothy the Dinosaur, Wags the Dog and Henry the Octopus as they take the roles of the characters in the songs and dance and sing for the delight of their fans.

Enthusiastic as always, The Wiggles are good wholesome fun that every member of the family can watch. For adults, the songs can be quite catchy in a maddening way and children will no doubt play the songs over and over again singing along and enjoying the costumed merriment. The disc encourages sing a long participation with intelligent yet simple lyrics and a fun, engaging atmosphere.

Extras on the disc include Wiggly Bloopers, which will probably only elicit laughs from the youngest members of the household, Dorothy the Dinosaur’s Sydney’s Adventure, Rub-a-Dub Dub with Soap in the Tub and a photo gallery.

This latest release from The Wiggles seems to rely on an overuse of CGI backgrounds. Gone apparently are the days of The Wiggles performing on sets and sound stages or outside. This lends a less impromptu feel to the proceedings, which was a major attraction of previous releases and much of the charm of The Wiggles. The program feels more staged and immaculately rehearsed missing the off the cuff amicability of previous discs. Years ago, when Sam Moran took over from Greg Page it was reported that he had a difficult time adjusting to the more impromptu aspects of live shows and the ad-libbed moments during video and television tapings.

I suspect that The Wiggles have adapted their style to a more traditional performance and the results are definitely noticeable.

Another short coming, if the charge can even be leveled at this group of individuals that are trying to educate and entertain children, of SING A SONG OF WIGGLES is the absence of original songs or songs of discovery which are such a part of The Wiggles’ usual repertoire.

In a way that is to be expected since nursery rhymes are the focal point of this release, but the past few DVD releases have all followed this pattern with non-original songs dominating the feature. This is no means a criticism of the talent or execution of the songs but on the marketing decision to release numerous similar structured DVDs in a row. Children seem to respond more positively to The Wiggles’ own musical creations, and it is a bit of a shame that the more recent releases seem to be leaning toward this type of scenario, with no adventures for The Wiggles cast and dancers.

It’s only fitting that a member of DVD’s core audience can give us one of the best reviews: Our 2 year old daughter, who loves watching The Wiggles couldn’t even care about this release. This is a child that dances along with the songs when they play on the TV and even has some of the hand motions down, the song and dance moves to “Hot Potato” for example. When SING A SONG OF WIGGLES was put on, she lost interest minutes into the program and was soon off to pulling pots and pans out of the kitchen cabinets.

Lacking the innovative interaction and entertainment that other releases have but still exhibiting the caring attention to children’s needs SING A SONG OF WIGGLES is a mixed bag. It will more than likely depend on the individual reaction of each child watching it to determine if it is a success, but to this parent who has been subjected to a steady diet of Wiggles programming, this release is a bit of a disappointment.

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