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Jonah - A VeggieTales Movie

Jonah - A VeggieTales Movie

List Price: $14.98
Your Price: $11.24
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Not as good as the other videos
Review: My 4 and 7 year old liked the movie... or was it getting to eat candy and popcorn in the dark... not sure. My spouse and I did not enjoy the movie. Too heavy handed and preachy, even for VeggieTales. They usually do a good job of presenting morales, but in this movie they hit us over the head with them, over and over and over... Something like Billy Graham hosts Blues Clues?
The sound track was good.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Better Than Expected, But the Shorts Are Better
Review: I expected little from Jonah. Instead, I was impressed.

The religious element I expected. I mean it is about Jonah, a key story in the Old Testament. Jonah was marketed as a religious story for little kids, and I think Big Idea accomplished exactly that.

But I expected an awful movie made by wannabes. Not so. It was a solid movie with room for improvement. I'd see it again.

The Veggie Tales shorts I've seen over the last five or six years are funnier, and the songs are better ("I Love My Lips," "The Bunny Song"). That's tough competition though, as the Veggie shorts are some of the best in children's videos, and their songs are classics in waiting.

Negative
The voices didn't match "Toy Story". The characters weren't as good as "Beauty and the Beast". It was not as funny as "Aladdin". The songs not as cool as "Jungle Book".

Positive
The backgrounds were intense. The subtle jokes slipped in are best I've seen (pay attention Python fans). The plot was well developed, and carries well throughout the movie. Very funny closing credits. And, the pirates were funny. Also, I think more than other popular children's movies, there is plenty for parents to discuss with their kids afterwards.

The movie has done far better than anyone expected, and they did it with limited marketing, no famous names to sell the toon on Leno. No famous musicians to get the songs on pop radio.

I saw this flick on the Sunday afternoon after Thansgiving Day, long after its release. The room was packed with little kids who laughed. They loved the movie, and they are the market, not me.

Choosing the recommendation level is difficult. For me, it is three stars, but for the second grader behind me singing "We are the pirates who don't do anything" as he left, he might give it five stars.

I'm looking forward to the next Veggie movie, and am intrigued to check out their "3-2-1 Penguins" series.

Anthony Trendl

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Jonah - Pure Joy!
Review: Calling all good folks of ANY age! VeggieTales are not just for young children. Whether you are 9 or 99, drop everything and spend an uplifting, toe-tapping hour and a half drinking in this delightful animated musical story of the biblical Jonah.

If you haven't yet seen or heard VeggieTales videos on the small screen, or hummed away to their accompanying CD's, let this outstanding film be your introduction. In previously released videos, the VeggieTales ensemble of animated vegetables (yes, that's right!) retain their personalities while acting in little "moralty plays" about the everyday problems that we all face, often with biblical parallels. The music in these videos is beyond outstanding with extremely clever, often touching words and complex, ingenious and lush orchestration. "Jonah" amplifies these qualities.

"Jonah" is the only movie in my memory to which I could give my highest recommendation to ANYONE, of any age. Please go, enjoy and see what true quality is on the big screen.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Only for those with a high tolerance for proselytization.
Review: Whether you'll like this movie or not depends on who you (and your kids) are.

If you're already of fan of VeggieTales stories, and you have a high tolerance for Christian proselytizing (even the bland kind that turns complex and often disturbing Biblical stories into happy-face Sunday School mush) and your children are easily amused by mediocre animation (i.e. either very young or rather dim), you'll be happy. Everyone else is likely to find this tale boring, baffling, and just plain disturbing.

Boring because in 85 minutes there are few memorable songs or even scenes that anyone over the age of 6 would enjoy. The strangely amputated vegetables (if you're going to give an asparagus a pair of eyes, why deny it a pair of arms and legs so that its forced to hop along on vegetal stumps) lack a full range of expression necessary for truly engaging animated characters.

Baffling because - other than one lonely little carrot in the sidebar story - there is not a single female character in the entire picture. Of course, it's a Christian tradition to omit or erase female existence, but apparently the male animators, in their all-male imagination, have no qualms about offering little girls a universe in which their gender is utterly invisible.

If that's not disturbing enough, the cheery vegetables and their wacky adventures cloak a sinister message that compassion toward others can only be obtained through the worship of a supernatural deity. How many parents want their children to believe that they are incapable of kindness toward others unless they're supplicating some god?
Not that this god is even rendered faithfully. The Christian movie-makers rightly concluded that the true story of Job -- wherein God, engaged in a pissing contest with Satan, green-lights the murder of Job's children - would send an audience of 6-year-olds and their parents screaming for the exits, thus we get this whitewashed God-as-loving-father advertisement in its place. So much for accuracy from 'the-Bible-says-it-so-I-believe-it' crowd.

In other words, if you have no qualms about sitting your kids in an all-male revue where cartoon character sing Christian ditties denying that decency and civility are possible without god-worship, you'll have a great time.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Another Great VeggieTales Movie
Review: Big Idea does not disappoint newcomers or long-time fans of the VeggieTales series with its fisrt full-length movie. Humor is blended tastefully with a serious moral point about compassion and mercy (market price). VeggieTales fans will enjoy several tie-backs to previous videos and the revival of... well, I can't say who. But even people who have never heard of VeggieTales before will appreciate the excellent computer animation and well-developed plot. Oh, and don't leave as soon as the credits begin...

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: We Had Fun!!
Review: My children (both boys: ages 3 and 5) absolutly loved this film. We own a lot of Veggie Tales Videos and my husband and I find enjoyment in watching these films with our children. Very entertainging for all ages! Thank You!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: What fun!
Review: Wow! What a fun time I had taking my 3 kids to see this movie. It is not often that we even get that treat - as most movies these days are not suitable for all of the children. But this one was and we enjoyed it - twice. One of mine has even seen it 3 times now - and we will probably go again before it leaves theaters, just because it is such a clean, fun movie adventure for us! There are 5 of us, so we give it - 5 thumbs up, 25 stars, and 50 boxes of popcorn (or whatever that other rating system is!!!) :-)

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: This is the BEST movie in the world and very educational
Review: this movie teaches kids or older adults about god and it is very educational i find it very good and very funny. i think that there are a lot of other people that would agree with me.

thanxs! :)

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Jonah is a blast!
Review: I went to see this movie with 2 of my friends (all of us are college students). Big Idea did a great job of incorporating things like fish-slappers, cheetos, rock stars, car trips, etc, into the biblical story of Jonah and the big fish. Characters such as Khalil the Persian rug-selling worm/caterpillar and the notorious Pirates that don't do anything amuse children and adults alike, while not detracting from the Bible-centered plotline. Oh, and stay through the credits so you can hear "Belly of the Whale" by the Newsboys and "The Song that Comes After the Credits" by the Veggietales.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Whale to Go!!
Review: My daughter and I are Huge Veggie Tale fans. We love the whole bunch!! We have been waiting for this movie - it was worth the wait! My daughter is 2 and she sat through the entire movie - She loved it!! We have seen it twice now and she is asking to go back again! Big Idea has done parents a service by placing moral movies back into the theatre. I as a parent struggle to influence my daughter with Christian values - and the majority of what is out there does a good job of tearing these values down. Hats off to Big Idea, Bob, and Larry!! Whale to go guys - we love you and the movie. Keep them coming!


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