Rating: 
Summary: The Best Kind of Child entertainment
Review: "Rack, Shack & Benny" is our favorite, but all the Veggie Tales tapes are worth buying for your young children. They're Christian based, with entertaining, likeable "vegetable" characters such as Bob the Tomato and Larry the Cucumber. The tales are generally taken from bible stories--"Rack, Shack & Benny" is based on Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the Fiery Furnace, of course. The production quality is excellent, the dialogue and songs are easy for youngsters to follow, and the messages are clear and positive without being overbearing. We have a three year old boy, and we often enjoy watching Veggie tales videos with him. We honestly can't say that about "Barney" and "The Teletubbies"...a bit too mind-numbing.
Rating:
Summary: No lemons here!!! Fun and nutritious for the entire family!
Review: Did you ever have a serious craving for chocolate? So serious that you'd rather have a plate, a fork and a chocolate bunny than a tissue when your nose is runny? Then check out what happens when Nebby K. Nezzer, owner of Nezzer Chocolate Factory, goes to extremes over his love for chocolate bunnies. Rack, Shack, and Benny work at Nezzer's factory and end up facing a serious dilemma: should they do what everybody else is doing or stand up for what they believe in? This highly entertaining computer generated video teaches kids a valuable lesson on handling peer pressure through its use of creative storytelling and catchy tunes. I love the "Silly Songs with Larry" segment in which Larry performs the traditional Argentinean ballad "The Dance of the Cucumber" in its original Spanish, with Bob the Tomato translating. END
Rating: 
Summary: Crisp Bible Storytelling From Big Idea's VeggieTales
Review: Fans of "Toy Story," The Bible, or fresh salads (guess that covers everybody) will enjoy VeggieTales, half-hour videos telling faithful (ungarnished?), fun Bible story adaptations starring a tomato (Bob), cucumber (Larry), carrot (Laura) and asparagas (Junior) aimed to kids'(and adults')pressures and problems."Rack, Shack, and Benny," (aka Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego) is one of the series' best. It retells the story of the Fiery Furnace as a parable about peer pressure with catchy songs ("The Bunny Song" is a favorite despite its intentionally inappropriate message, "Dance of the Cucumber" is a hilarious "silly song" and tension breaker), cute one-liners ("What does being a junior executive mean?" "It means you have to wear a tie.") and kid-friendly suspense leading to God's climactic rescue where the three ("Now there's four, and one looks real shiny") are saved. The lesson is summed at the end with a pinch of good humor. Kudos (Bacos?) to Phil Vischer and his merry band at Big Idea for creating a series which, like its stars, are good and good for you. It's a series to relish, and HIGHLY recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Crisp Bible Storytelling From Big Idea's VeggieTales
Review: Fans of "Toy Story," The Bible, or fresh salads (guess that covers everybody) will enjoy VeggieTales, half-hour videos telling faithful (ungarnished?), fun Bible story adaptations starring a tomato (Bob), cucumber (Larry), carrot (Laura) and asparagas (Junior) aimed to kids'(and adults')pressures and problems. "Rack, Shack, and Benny," (aka Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego) is one of the series' best. It retells the story of the Fiery Furnace as a parable about peer pressure with catchy songs ("The Bunny Song" is a favorite despite its intentionally inappropriate message, "Dance of the Cucumber" is a hilarious "silly song" and tension breaker), cute one-liners ("What does being a junior executive mean?" "It means you have to wear a tie.") and kid-friendly suspense leading to God's climactic rescue where the three ("Now there's four, and one looks real shiny") are saved. The lesson is summed at the end with a pinch of good humor. Kudos (Bacos?) to Phil Vischer and his merry band at Big Idea for creating a series which, like its stars, are good and good for you. It's a series to relish, and HIGHLY recommended.
Rating: 
Summary: A good movie that is just slightly off
Review: I enjoyed this movie just as I enjoy most of the Veggie Tales movies. The music is entertaining and there is a good message. I just think that the message and the retelling of the story in this one is just not as good as some of the other ones. Your kids will be entertained though and as usual, this is a quality piece of work that Big Idea has put together. On the plus side, it contains my favorite silly song "The Dance of the Cucumber"! In addition, the DVD has some fun things you can do like change the voices on certain scences and a narrative from the founders.
Rating:
Summary: Good message, may be too much for really young children
Review: I really like all the Veggie Tales videos, and so do my children. However, since my children are very young (1 and 4) they found this one is their least favorite. They find parts of the video scary and prefer to watch all their other tapes instead. The music is great, and so is the message but it's probably better for older children.
Rating:
Summary: DON'T SING THE BUNNY SONG!
Review: It's difficult to say something about this or any VeggieTales title that hasn't been said already. It's a Christian-lite message that kids will be entertained and educated by. It's amusing to the whole family and it's probably the best thing to happen to our religion since Easter. So to write an entire review of this volume, being a comic retelling of Shadrach, Meshiach and Abendego and the Fiery Furnace, would be banal to say the least. But here goes. Rack, Shack, and Benny (as the protagonists are called for short) have been removed from the King's castle and now work all day in a chocolate bunny factory under the guiding eyes of Nebby K. Nezzer (I know it's a [silly] joke, but he's a pickle! Come on!). Nezzer decides that everyone in the factory should love The Bunny as much as he does. To this end, he builds a ninety-foot rabbit and makes everyone sing "The Bunny Song" (this caused some real-life controversy, discussed on the DVD in detail). But our boys know not to do things that aren't right and, well, there's a lot not right about that song. Their faith saves them from the furnace and everyone lives happily ever after, even Nezzer who learns he was wrong to make them sing the song. Throw in the traditional Argentinean ballad "The Dance of the Cucumber" in the "Silly Songs" segment (and yes, the translation is accurate) and you have one of the top five VeggieTales videos ever. Now, for the original part of my review. The other day I returned to my dorm after a long day of work. Classes, research, rehearsal, I was beat. I opened my mailbox and inside was a note that alerted me to the presence of a package at the front desk for me. It was the VeggieTales DVD I ordered. So I wasted no time popping it in and watching it. And it made my night so much better. There, that'll do.
Rating:
Summary: In with the old out with the new.
Review: Rack Shack and Benny brings many fine moments to the Veggie Tale franchise. It boasts the first appearance of Mr. Lundt, Mr. Nezzer, Laura the Carrot and George,the security guard narrator who also narrates the Toy that Saved Christmas. With Dave and the Giant Pickle, which came out the same year, Rack Shack and Benny departed from the previous and current Veggie format of two stories regarding the episodes theme by telling a longer story interspersed with a silly song at intermission. And what a silly song at that: An Argentinean cucumber folk ballad sung in Spanish by Larry, translated in to English by Bob; often at the interpreters expense.
The story itself adapted from the book of Daniel takes Shadrach (Bob) Meeshach (Junior Asparagus) and Abednego (Larry) from captivity to cavity prone by making them workers at a chocolate factory. It capably tells the story of standing up to persecution for doing what you know is right. The boys are commanded to bow down to a chocolate bunny and sing the bunny song. They know that many of the words in the song are wrong and refuse to bow or sing. As a result they are sentenced to be thrown in the incinerator with the rest of the "bad" bunnies. I hate to leave you hanging on the plot line but you'll have to watch the video or read the bible to see how it comes out.
The only problem I have with my copy of Rack Shack and Benny is that Big Idea broke one of my favorite credos. That credo being is "if it ain't broke, don't fix it."
You see there are two versions of Rack Shack & Benny: the original and a re-release, with the only difference being lines of dialogue in the Bunny song. You would not think that switching lines in a song would make much of a difference but in this case it's like watching a video without actually putting in the VCR, it alters the entire presentation.
One of the lines I am referring to sung by Nebby K. Nezzer is:
I won't go to church and I won't go to school that stuff is for sissies but Bunnies are cool. In the re-release they change the first part of the line to: "I won't eat beans and I won't eat tofu". Another change is I don't love my Mom or my Dad just the bunny to something much more benign.
The problem with the line changes is that it undermines and all but obliterates the entire conflict of the plot. It makes Rack Shack and Benny seem to be willing to give their life over gastronomical differences.
Now I understand that the line change may well be in order not to have children singing such bad lines. But the point is that the kids in the story would not sing it. I thought the matter was resolved in the first sing a-long video when a reformed Nebby performs a new improved version of the song advising not to make the bunny an idol.
In all, I would still highly recommend Rack Shack and Benny to veggiephiles everywhere. And if at all possible try to get your hands on the original version and if you can, please send one to me!
Rating:
Summary: Yet another Veggie hit for the guys at "Big Ideas"!!!!!!
Review: RACK, Shack, and Benny are characters played by the imfamous Bob the Tomato, Larry the Cucumber, & Jr. Asparagus. They are workers in a chocolate bunny factory who are faced with the delima of worshiping a giant chocolate bunny. Mr. Nezzer (the owner of the company) says they have to bow down and sing the bunny song or be thrown in the furnace with the rest of the "Bad Bunnies." Jr. Asparagus reminds his buddies what their parents taught them (in a great song) - that they should "Stand up for what they believe in because God is the one to back them up - HE'll see them through." Based on the Bible story of Shadrach, Meshach & Abednego, Daniel 3:1-30, this is a great movie for kids and parents. Mr Nezzer might be a little scary for the tiny folks but I have to say that my 9 month old loves the music and the characters. (I also make sure that I watch whatever she watches.) It teaches them that God can rescue them from anything, and they should take a stand for Him even if it means some potentialy serious consequences. On a side note, I also love the refernce Jr makes to his parents teaching him what was right & wrong to begin with. If he hadn't been taught what was right, he wouldn't have known that bowing down to the bunny was something that he shouldn't be doing. Nothing like a great lesson for kids AND adults! I think that the crew at "Big Ideas" has successfully mastered a converting a classic Bible story to a hip beat without losing any of the many lessons to be learned from it. Make sure you check out their other videos as well (Josh & the Big Wall is also a favorite)
Rating:
Summary: Early Animation, Still Better on DVD
Review: This being one of the earlier VeggieTales, one should not expect eye popping animation. In fact, even the creators admit that many of the scenes were done in primative fashion and in some places it is very obvious, even without the commentary.
The real fun with this show is the music. The "Bunny Song" is a very infectious tune (lyrics modified for Veggie Karaoke)and the Silly Song is one of the classics.
The DVD extras, although not quite as good as "Josh and the Big Wall" are still fun - and the voice flip-flop is fun for kids and adults.
Although not the best VeggieTales out there, it still inspires me to keep looking for that elusive all red/face only Bob the Tomato necktie!
Most poigniant moment: Jr. Asparagus' mother singing to him in the crib. Funniest moment: "I think the dwarfs have your mother confused with someone else!"
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