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Columbia TriStar Home Video presents

Maggie and the Ferocious Beast: Let's Go To The Beach! (2000)

"Great Googly Moogly!"- The Ferocious Beast (Stephen Ouimette)

Stars: Kristen Bone, Stephen Ouimette, Michael Caruana
Director: Jamie Whitney

MPAA Rating: Not RatedRun Time: 00h:46m:37s
Release Date: 2003-02-04
Genre: animation

Style
Grade
Substance
Grade
Image Transfer
Grade
Audio Transfer
Grade
Extras
Grade
B BBB- C+

 

DVD Review

Vacation's all I ever wanted, vacation, got to get away. Maggie, the Ferocious Beast, and Hamilton spend six cute little adventures seaside, yoked together on this disc that's sure to delight fans of the show, or any little people clamoring for a trip to the shore.

The Ferocious Beast's architectural talents are on display in the first episode, Walk the Walk. He's trying to copy the moves of his friend Sidestep the Crab, but the Beast not only trips over his own feet—he takes out Sidestep's house in a spill. But a little bit of creative seaside fun, along with help from Maggie and Hamilton the Pig, allow the Beast to present Sidestep with a sweet new shorefront condo. Location, location, location.

If you can't bring the beast to the beach, bring the beach to the beast. That's the notion in the second episode, Out of Water Beast, in which the Beast proves too darn large for Maggie and Hamilton's inflatable pool. But we're thinking outside the box here, and so the Beast turns himself into a living water slide, ensuring that a good time will be had by all.

SPF is at the center of Sun Spots, for the Beast blithely refuses and/or forgets to put on his suntan lotion. The sun is unforgiving this day, and the Beast turns a brutal shade of scarlet—it's a mistake he's unlikely to make again. Maggie's crackerjack follow-the-leader skills are on display in the fourth episode, Sloooow Motion, as she leads Hamilton and the Beast to previously unchartered coastline, where they meet the locals: very courteous turtles in cool little cowboy hats.

Maggie's porcine friend has a hot new set of wheels in Hamilton's Box Car, but he soon learns about the limits of technology, as the hills in Nowhere Land get the best of his new contraption—the Beast is nearby for a helpful tow. Finally, the trio take to the high seas in Sailing Away, and while their navigational skills leave something to be desired, the courage of the fearless crew sees to it that their ship is not lost.

All in all, a nice little sextet of sea-going stories.

Rating for Style: B
Rating for Substance: B

 

Image Transfer

 One
Aspect Ratio1.33:1 - Full Frame
Original Aspect Ratioyes
Anamorphicno


Image Transfer Review: Nice, saturated, true colors highlight the image transfer. The picture quality can be almost too glossy bright, but that seems to be the vogue in children's animation these days.

Image Transfer Grade: B
 

Audio Transfer

 LanguageRemote Access
DS 2.0English, Spanishyes


Audio Transfer Review: There's some hiss at the high end, and as with many children's DVDs, there's a lot more treble than bass—but the dialogue can be readily understood, and the music sounds all right, if a little synthesized and tinny.

Audio Transfer Grade: B- 

Disc Extras

Static menu
Scene Access with 6 cues and remote access
Subtitles/Captions in English with remote access
1 Original Trailer(s)
4 Other Trailer(s) featuring Bear in the Big Blue House, Kermit's Swamp Years, Jay Jay the Jet Plane, Kermit's Swamp Years
Weblink/DVD-ROM Material
Packaging: Amaray
Picture Disc
1 Disc
1-Sided disc(s)
Layers: single

Extras Review: Chapter stops are for each of the six episodes. The disc promises some DVD-ROM content—Beastmaker and Pitter Patter Puzzles—but alas, I have a Macintosh, and hence the Pitter Patter Puzzles will remain, for me at least, one of life's great mysteries.

Extras Grade: C+
 

Final Comments

If that family trip to the shore is farther away than the kids can bear, this disc will hold them over in style. Cute, sweet little stories.

Jon Danziger 2003-02-11