Melissa J’s Thoughts
I had no idea that Phil Vischer, creator of VeggieTales, went through an extremely difficult time in his life when Big Idea and Veggie Tales had to declare bankruptcy (the result of losing a legal battle, that was later overturned in their favor). As he explained in the preview DVD to his new series, What’s in the Bible? God used this to turn him back to his original vision.
Phil began VeggieTales to help children dive into the Bible, but as he stated, within a few short years he was up to 200 employees and was sitting around tables discussing whether or not to make VeggieTale’s sewing fabric. He lost his vision. Then he lost VeggieTales and found his vision renewed.
What’s in the Bible? with Buck Denver was begun. This is a DVD series in which the Bible will be explored with the help of puppets, starting at Genesis. In my preview version I was able to view the segment that explains what the Bible is all about, who wrote it, and how many books make it up. I was also able to view the Genesis show.
I was expecting a VeggieTales type production. What’s in the Bible? is not that. The animation is awkward at best. It didn’t seem to attract my daycare kids and it didn’t attract me.
I would say the same about the puppets that were used. Not exceptional in appearance and voices that sounded like forced puppet voices, aka, adults speaking in high pitched voices.
I feel bad saying this, because I love the vision behind What’s in the Bible? In places, it did make me laugh, so I really appreciated the humor but overall, it just didn’t catch me. Perhaps this is because it is an age of incredible digital media and puppets are a long lost medium to reach children. We aren’t used to the old-school way of doing things, which is what What’s in the Bible? looks like when viewing, even though the series is new.
Is it worth the purchase price of $14.99? I’m not convinced. Again, I feel bad saying that. I wish I could highly recommend it, simply because of the vision behind the product, but it didn’t work for my daycare kids or my daughter, so it’s not money I would spend now, or for future DVD’s in the series.
Mel’s Thoughts:
We had the opportunity to review a new series created by Phil Vischer, creator of the Veggie Tales series. This new series is called What’s In the Bible?. The vision behind this series is extraordinary, as Phil seeks to open up the Bible for children, helping them to learn what it is all about. I found myself agreeing with him when he spoke about how the Bible is one of the least read books on our shelves, how children today know more about American Idol or the next great show on Nickelodian, than they do the dramatic stories contained within the pages of the Bible.
This 13-DVD series takes children through how the Bible is made up, how it was written, and the different stories throughout. It’s made to teach the Bible to your kids. Throughout the video, there were puppets, including the host of the show, Buck Denver, and there are real kids at certain spots, giving their feedback on different questions posed, such as, “Who wrote the Bible?” We were able to watch 3 different shows, one of them on how the Bible is put together, one on the book of Genesis, and one on the book of Exodus.
If I told you my kids loved this video and were mesmerized, I’d be fibbing….we just were not impressed with the quality or the attractiveness of the movies. The puppets just seemed very cheaply made, and the voices of the actors behind the puppets were very fake. Even my oldest spoke up, “Why are they using stuffed animals for puppets?” It only caught my boys’ attention at certain points, but then they’d quickly go back to what they were doing. I was expecting to watch something zany and hilarious, especially from the creator of Veggie Tales, but it just wasn’t that good, in my opinion; there were times when it was funny, but it almost bordered on corny. The concepts behind the video were wonderful, and the teachings were sound, Biblical teachings, but the poor quality of the video overpowered the teaching, in my opinion.
You can purchase What’s in the Bible? for $14.99 from Tyndale.
