Disney Princess Sing Along Songs - Once Upon A Dream

Rating:
Summary: Pretty Good but Choice of Songs Could Have Been Better
Review: I actually liked the way the Princess Sing a Long Songs were presented. The narration was little too much but I liked how they presented each song. My biggest problem with this was that some of the song choices left something to be desired. The Hercules segment, in my opinion, was not really a Princess song and I also felt that way about some of the more obscure songs like the one from Mulan 2. Unless Disney is saving some of the better Princess songs for future editions, why not make the first one spectacular with the really good Princess songs? Overall, good for little girls but in my opinion some of the song choices could have been better.

Rating:
Summary: Good for Sing Along
Review: I bought this DVD because my daughter loves to sing, and she loves Disney songs. I did not pay much attention to the narrator, because to tell you the truth I had absolutely no interest in what the narrator had to say. My daughter and I just listened to the songs and she sang while she was able to see the nice original footage from the films. We didn't expect it to be more than that, and so we were not dissapointed. If you have a child who likes to sing Disney movie songs, I recommend this. If your child likes the movies but is not particularly fond of singing the songs, skip this selection. As a sing-along video, it's pretty good. My daughter really likes it.

Rating:
Summary: Worth it!
Review: I bought this DVD for my 2 yr old daughter and she loves the songs in it. She tries to sing along with it and she watches it everyday. The songs are just amazing and the dances at the end are done wonderfully.

Rating:
Summary: Charming for Little Princesses (annoying for Moms)
Review: I bought this for my 3 year old who wasn't a Princess fan but now is thanks to this DVD. For the younger Princess fans, I think this Sing Along a gem. Older fans however might find it a little cheesy in it's presentation. I find the narrator totally grating and unnecesary, however that is ME, my 3 year old doesn't notice at all. The problem I have really though is with the content, it starts off strong, but loses steam halfway through.
Put it Together (Cinderella 2) doesn't fit the classic formula.
Megara's song (from Hercules)is awful and her character is really obscure compared to the rest. The song bores my daughter.
Like Other Girls (a gawdawful tuneless mess that makes me NOT want to see Mulan 2) and Sweet Wings of Love (Three Musketeers, a summer 2004 release) hit you over the head as a marketing ploy (although if the person this is for is a fan of those,it's rather a bonus)
The new princess song, If You Can Dream thrills with sweetly catchy music and lovely harmony. It's really nice to know they got as many original voices as possible, and a welcome treat. However the lyrics utilize as many cliches from previous princess songs as much as they can, robbing the song of some of it's charm. Plus there is no new animation to go with the new song (probably a good thing).
The reworking of Beauty and the Beast and Once Upon a Dream for the Dance Alongs are criminal! It's offensive that they keep updating classic gorgeous songs in this way. The kids are just everyday kids, and that is part of their appeal (hey, it works for the Wiggles)
Overall, you get what you pay for on this. If you child is a fan of this genre, she (or he) will be very happy and your DVD or Video will earn it's purchase price. As an adult, you might feel it's a bit of a cop out, heavy on the cheese to cover some poorly chosen content. But for the happiness it brought my princess, it was worth every penny!


Rating:
Summary: Sing Along Fun
Review: I bought this for my daughter and she absolutely loves it. She watches it on average about 3 times a day. Most of the songs are ballads from classic movies and are excellent. My personal favorites is "Colors Of The Wind" from 'Pocahontas' and "Reflection" from 'Mulan' The ones I liked least were the songs from 'Mulan II' (though it does fit the description of a 'princess song' because it's sung by 3 princesses) but I found it to be really annoying, and 'Put It Together' from Cinderella 2 which is overly long and repetitive. It also doesn't help that they repeat it twice (with movie clips then with the kids dancing).

As for the extras, they're okay. My daughter didn't care for the games, and they're definitely not for people over the age of 4 or 5. As for the karokake section (where they show the same clips without the singing) well...unless you're kids like singing or you have the voice of Celine Dion, they/you are not going to enjoy it. I tried to show my daughter how to sing along, and the reaction I got was...'Mama!...No Singing!'. And since she can't read, it was pretty much useless for her to do it by herself. Maybe older kids would enjoy this. I can't see any sane adults doing this, though.

The only section I didn't like was the dancing kids. It was just horrible! Basically they grabbed some kids off the street, put them in front of cheesy background and told them to dance to a bunch of not-so-great songs. The least they could have done was get some kids that actually knew how to dance and dress them up a little bit. Put them in the costumes they sell at Disney World and the Disney Stores, instead of them wearing T shirts and jeans. I found it to be very unprincesslike! As for my daughter, she is not so critical of the dancing section though she doesn't dance to it either (and she dances every song she hears on the radio and TV).

I didn't particularly care of the song sung by all the princesses. The lyrics are trite and some of singers (Cinderella and Snow White, for example) don't sound like the original singers (who I imagine must be very old or dead).

The narrator and intros are a little irritiating, but I guess they're better than nothing. My daughter doesn't mind them.

All in all, I would recommend this highly for a young child, but I would not get this for an adult, even if they were into Disney videos.

The thing that pushes it to a 4 star rating is Fast Play. It's great because I don't have stand there waiting for the intro screen to pop up, so I can press 'play movie'. Also the DVD repeats until you decide to stop it. Just wonderful if you have a little kid. They should have it on every DVD for children.

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful songs on a not-so-wonderful DVD
Review: I ordered this DVD for the footage, and only the footage. The songs and scenes presented on this DVD are beautiful and timeless. However, the DVD itself is far from a masterpiece.

I found the narrator's voice rather annoying at times, the computer generated cloud animation between songs was rather trite. I liked the old style Singalong DVDs where they had an animated host like Jiminy Cricket walking around and discussing the songs.

I also didn't like where they chose to start and end the songs. The ending of "A Dream is a Wish" quite clearly cuts off Cinderella as she sings the last note of the song, and I would have liked if "A Whole New World" started when Aladdin took Jasmine's hand and helped her onto the carpet, instead of starting it just as he begins singing.

I found the "Dancealongs" to be absolutely horrible. The remixed pop versions of the Disney songs sound terrible, and the children they show really aren't very good dancers. The karaoke is nice, though, since I always like to sing along.

The mini-games are quite clearly geared toward children between the ages of 3 and 8. I would have liked at least one bonus feature that could have been enjoyable for any age group.

I also didn't like how they put songs from Mulan II and Three Musketeers on the DVD, quite clearly as a marketing scheme to try to sell those movies. I don't consider those Princess songs, since the corresponding movies were not in the theater and were only created as a cheap way of making more money.

Finally, the additional song, "If You Can Dream" has gorgeous instrumentals, and most of the singing is lovely, except the impersonators they got for Cinderella and Aurora. They sound NOTHING like the character's they're trying to impersonate! The special effects are lovely, but I was disappointed that they only used already-existing scenes from the Princess movies. I was hoping to see some original animation.

So to conclude, if you are expecting it to be a well-made DVD, you will be disappointed, but if you just want to be able to watch the songs from your favorite Princess movies like I did, I suppose it is worth it as long as you don't expect anything more from it.

Rating:
Summary: dancing fun
Review: My 18 month old daughter loved it. She was dancing up a storm and was even trying to sing the songs.

Rating:
Summary: Big hit!
Review: This DVD is a big hit with my 4 year old. She watches it over and over and walks around the house singing the songs. Unlike some of the movies, there are no parts that scare the younger kids, so you don't need to be careful about who else is watching.

Rating:
Summary: Love this DVD!
Review: This was a great purchase. My four and two year olds sing and dance along with the DVD almost every day (much to my husband's dismay). I find myself singing along as I walk by. So glad that all the popular songs were chosen for my own little princesses. The song at the end with all the princesses singing along in a new song is a great big hit. We love it and would reccommend this to all.

Rating:
Summary: Big Hit!
Review: This was one of my 3-year olds FAVORITE gifts for Christmas this year. She absolutely loves each and every song and I was glad to see so many of the "classics" were included. Even my 8-year old son (though he'd never admit it) enjoys singing along, especially with the Mulan 2 song, which I think is hysterical! I even found myself humming the new Cinderella tune at work the other day! Overall, it's great for the young princess in your home who won't care a bit about the "cheesy" narrator.