The Re Team

Michael Anderson, last seen in David Lynch's Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, has a decidedly different role in this environmental video for kids. As REduce, the diminutive actor teams up with REuse (Tim Miller) and REcycle (Julie Pasqual) to form the RE team, a comic-book trio dedicated to reducing waste. When a clubhouse is attacked by a nasty garbage monster, the RE team arrives and teaches the kids how to take care of trash, the environmentally-conscious way (after first attacking the monster with a few choice invectives like "take that, landfill breath!"). Using bouncy songs and MTV-influenced camera angles and editing, the video teaches the kids a handful of new games and activities like "Garbage Au Go Go" (in which viewers learn how to use recycle bins), "Bash the Trash" (which teaches the difference between REusables and Disposables), "Swap-a-Rama" (which exhorts kids to have a swap party and trade unwanted items), and "Real Trashy Art" (which encourages kids to become young dada-ists and turn trash into art objects), among others. In the words of Carrie Thorpe, a 3rd grader from Bend, OR: "I really like the part about bash trash! I enjoyed the movie. I liked your idea for a recycling film. Great job! The garbage monster was neat." A truly imaginative approach to handling trash, The RE Team is highly recommended for the K-5 group. (Available from: Hot Pepper Film & Video, 700 East 9th St., #19, New York, NY 10009-5325; (212) 979-5396.)