Scholastic Video Collection: Bear Snores On (NR)

SCHOLASTIC VIDEO COLLECTION: BEAR SNORES ON features five stories that cover the gamut of summer to winter, animal to human, city to country. "Bear Snores On" is a sweet and funny story about animals making the best of a bad storm in a sleepy bear's cave. "Waiting for Wings" is a song about the wondrous life cycle of the butterfly. In "Come On, Rain!" a young city girl on a hot, hot day waits for a refreshing rainstorm. There's a lovely sequence in which the girl and her friends dance with their mothers in the rain. "Snow Cat" is strange tale of a young woman who lives in absolute isolation in the far north and the cat made of snow who briefly becomes her companion. "Time of Wonder" is classic Robert McCloskey -- summer in Maine, with lobster pots, porpoises, a hurricane, and the wonderful sense of being a child in the country in the summer with nothing to do but explore.

This is a fine collection, with a great variety of styles of storytelling and animation, making it interesting for kids and their parents as well. The "Waiting for Wings" song isn't exceptional, and many parents will wonder why the dancers in "Come On, Rain!" don't have shoes on -- after all, it takes place in the city. "Snow Cat" begins and ends with a cheery grandmother and granddaughter, but the story in between is somewhat spooky and very dark (the animation is colored lines on a black background), and some kids might get upset when the cat melts.

Studio: Scholastic
Cast: Karma Wilson
Genre: Family and Kids
Run time: 62 minutes
DVD release: September 27, 2005
MPAA Rating: NR