Music Machine

Aimed at 2-10 year olds, this low-key Christian cartoon features the voice talents of Pat Boone and Stan Freberg in an undistinguished and unimaginative parable that owes more to Saturday morning cartoon formulas than it does to Christian theology. Two children, Stevie and Nancy, visit Agapeland ("agape" being the Greek term for "love") where they meet the Conductor (Boone) of the Music Machine. The machine, a Rube Goldberg contraption, plays music whenever something is fed into its maw. The evil Mr. Pimms (Freberg), along with his henchmen, wish to steal the Music Machine, and they make a series of predictable and predictably thwarted attempts to do same. Throw in a musical ode to being patient ("like God") and you have a perfectly bland good vs. evil story with a sugar-coated moral. Of course, neither side ever totally triumphs or that would be the end of the series. While well-produced Christian materials belong in library collections, this oversimplified cartoon simply doesn't measure up. Not recommended. (Available from: The Bridgestone Group, 2091 Las Palmas Ave., Carlsbad, CA 92009; 1-800-523-0988.)