Best Videos
1. The Secret of NIMH
Kids whose knowledge of animation is limited to
Saturday-morning TV will have their eyes opened by this spectacular,
newly remastered production, about a diffident mouse who must test
her will. Though Secret might frighten some young kids, the music, by
Paul Williams and Jerry Goldsmith, and the narration, by John
Carradine, Dom DeLuise, and others, are memorable. — Jeff Unger
2. Paul Bunyan
Narrator Jonathan Winters sounds so
convincing as one of Paul Bunyan's logging buddies that you'll think
he was there when Paul took that swing with his ax and felled 23
trees. Rick Meyerowitz's clever illustrations include a plug of
tobacco shaped like an electrical plug and a teddy bear and bull
moose in Teddy Roosevelt's Oval Office. — Jeff Unger
3. Owl Moon and Other Stories
Because these four charming stories
are timeless, this videotape should have a long shelf life. The
subjects are ones that children almost always find intriguing:
things like animals, legends, the ocean, and stormy weather. The
artwork (both animation and illustration) is evocative, and the
narration is straight-forward and understated. — JU
Worst Video
Briar Rose, Rapunzel, Old Sultan
This looks like the ''before'' lesson
in a taped series on how to tell stories. Someone should have
informed the producers that if kids wanted to watch a man (Jack
Harper) standing stock still, holding a book, and reading from
it — which is all that happens here — they could always seek out good old
dad. — JU
