A Very Playhouse Disney Holiday

Compiling segments from the Disney Channel's Playhouse Disney preschool programming block, this hour-long holiday compilation features episodes from Jojo's Circus, Higglytown Heroes, and Shanna's Show. Reviewed in VL-7/05, Jojo's Circus follows the escapades of adorable young clown Jojo, and the festive episode “A Circus Town Christmas” finds Jojo making snow clowns with her pet lion Goliath and helping her family decorate their tree (with the traditional hot dogs and banana peels, of course), until—whoops!—her dad accidentally breaks the family's heirloom treetop decoration. When Jojo goes shopping she must decide between getting a replacement or a warm basket for a needy bird. The “Twinkle's Wish” episode of Higglytown Heroes finds the roly-poly-bottomed townspeople reveling in Christmas preparations, and elf gift-wrapper Pix (voiced by Sean Astin) making Twinkle's wish to visit Santa (voiced by John Astin) at the North Pole come true (although after awhile she realizes that she'd much rather be home with her family). Sandwiched between the two episodes are two brief (around four minutes each) not-really-Christmas-themed Shanna's Show segments: “Shanna Mail Carrier” and “Shanna Ballerina,” which feature Shanna and three animal pals offering up singsong clues as to what she's pretending to be today. Rather light on the holiday cheer when measured against so many other jam-packed titles, this compilation is an optional purchase. Aud: P. (J. Williams-Wood)