Here's Looking at You, Kid

For some reason, movies like Babe and Dr. Dolittle 2 just make my anthropomorphic skin crawl, making it easier for a video featuring talking camels to fit through the eye of a needle, than get a three star rating from me. But Here's Looking at You Kid makes the grade simply because it puts its money in an often overlooked area: good writing. Hosted by Joe the Dog (voice of Ed Asner), the program is essentially little more than a series of shots taken at a zoo and a farm featuring various animals mugging for the camera, but the writers have penned exceptionally wacky dialogue for accompaniment--kind of a Mystery Science Theater Goes to the Zoo (minus the silhouetted robots of course). Sporting no animated lips, just animated dialogue, this is sure to be appreciated by kids (of all ages) and is highly recommended. Aud: P. (R. Ray)