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Common Sense Note

Popular music stars attack Disney movie standards with enthusiasm and imagination. You can have family fun comparing these versions with the original renditions.

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Common Sense Review

Reviewed By: Kathi Kamen Goldmark

Once again, the folks at Disney have assembled a collection of pop music artists to lend their voices to favorite classics from the corporate archives, and it's a whole lot of all-ages fun. The most successful tunes are the ones that go boldly against expectation: Bowling for Soup's punked-up version of "The Bare Necessities," for example, or the RapMania! Mix version of "It's a Small World After All" by Fan_3. There's more big fun to be had with "Hawaiian Roller Coaster Ride" by the Jumps, a marvelously feisty "Cruella De Vil" by LaLaine, "Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah" by Aly and A.J., "Strangers Like Me" by Everlife, and the energetic "Part of Your World" by Shye Sweetnam.

Less exciting are the straight-ahead covers. "A Whole New World," for example, starts out prettily enough with a strong Nick Lachey vocal -- until Jessica Simpson's weak, nasal warble floats in -- time to skip to the next track! The other ballads are better performed, but aren't different enough from the original versions to be all that interesting. Christy Carlson Romano does a fine job on "Colors of the Wind, as does "Kimberley Locke on "A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes." Jesse McCartney ends the compilation with a sincere and (yawn) well-performed "When You Wish Upon A Star." It's lovely, but do we really need another version of this one?

Disney's trademark all-pro production standards and hand-picked songwriters don't hurt, of course, and your family can have a lot of fun comparing these songs to the original versions -- or maybe coming up with some fabulous new arrangements of your own.

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