 | ON: Content is age-appropriate for kids this age. |
 | PAUSE: Know your child; some content may not be right for some kids. |
 | OFF: Not age-appropriate for kids this age. |
 | NOT FOR KIDS: Not appropriate for kids any age. |
Zoboomafoo: Play Day at Animal Junction
- Review Date: March 27, 2005
- NR
- Genre: Family and Kids
- 1999
Common Sense Media says
An imaginative, educational wildlife romp.
Parents say
Kids say
What parents need to know
Parents need to know that this fun-packed PBS video educates about the natural world while nurturing a healthy respect for it. The entertaining format -- which includes games, jokes, and riddles -- makes learning about animals and their habits fun. The playful animals hold toddlers' attention, and help impart messages about proper animal etiquette. The wild pace and mix of live-action, puppetry, and animation are an effective means of entertaining while teaching grammar school kids about the natural world around them. Older kids may have outgrown the Kratt brothers, but many find the animal antics hard to resist.
What's the story?
Baby animals play in different ways, ways that prepare them for their lives as adults. This is the Kratt brothers' focus as Animal Junction is overrun with one type of exotic creature after another. Children learn a bit about the different animal species and what makes them unique, and their knowledge and creative skills are tested with such games as Find the Sheep and animated segments in which an undefined blob gradually takes on the characteristics of a specific animal, prompting kids to guess what it is. Viewers are treated to close-up views of serval kittens (long-legged African wildcats), an elephant whose back gets scratched with a giant novelty toothbrush, ducklings, several monkey species, and lion cubs batting around a soccer ball. Facts about them are dropped in casually here and there without overwhelming, the way kids learn best. There's also a trip to a petting zoo, where llamas show what good kissers they are and where a blindfolded Martin has to identify a sheep from two other animals by feel alone.
Is it any good?
The Kratt brothers, Chris and Martin, are something of an acquired taste. They tell corny jokes, they mug and grin at the camera, they fall down in the mud, and their simple, kindly faces make perfect targets for pie-throwing monkeys. And yet you have to hand it to them: They pack an awful lot of stuff into a 50-minute program. And this isn't just any stuff. ZOBOOMAFOO: PLAY DAY AT ANIMAL JUNCTION is educational, environmentally conscious, ecologically friendly stuff. And they make it fun.
The show is hyperactive, unstructured, a mishmash of live-action, claymation, puppetry, and cartoon, but those goofy Kratt brothers pull it off with the help of their chatty lemur pal, Zoboomafoo.
What families can talk about
Families can talk about the natural world, and take a nature walk in their neighborhood (to find suburban or urban wildlife), at a local zoo or in a field. How do they interact with the natural world? What's an appropriate way to treat other living animals?
- Show:
- All members
- Parents
- Teens & kids
AGE
Wonderful!
This show is perfect for younger children! It's educational and the content is very kid friendly.
Was this review useful?
|
|
| Studio: | PBS Home Videos |
| Directors: | Jacques Laberge, Pierre Roy |
| Cast: | Chris Kratt, Martin Kratt |
| Genre: | Family and Kids |
| Run time: | 50 minutes |
| Theatrical release date: | January 1, 1999 |
| DVD release date: | September 19, 2000 |
| MPAA rating: | NR |
Review It
Great alternatives handpicked by our editors
Already seen it? What do you think?
More from Common Sense Media
Top advice and articles
