Animal Tales

The four segments on each of these videos use pieced-together older stock nature footage, and a variety of voice-over characters to create animal tales with moral lessons ("listen to your parents," "smile and make the day a little brighter," and so on). It's not a bad idea. Disney has made anthropomorphic nature programs for decades; Lassie, Mr. Ed, and Flipper have made their biscuits, oats, and cuttlefish from shows like this for years, and computer enhanced graphics have made Babe a household name (and the new standard). The problem with Animal Tales is the slapped together feel of it, the sense that footage wasn't taken at the same time, so visuals and audio don't quite add up to a comprehensive whole. The bridging sequences with questions and answers between the on-screen zoo-guide and the children worked nicely, but, overall, only the more audio-visually deprived (and un-babe-tized) 3-year-old would sit still for these unpolished relics. Not recommended. Aud: K, E, P. (N. Plympton)