No British Accent I thought that the characters would have a British accent, since the book derived from there. It doesn't do much justice to the book.
Good, but altered from original Good tape, but one problem: previews for Brambly Hedge contained on my child's other "Crayola Presents" kids' videos show the Brambly Hedge characters talking in quiet, attractive British accents - indeed, this Brambly Hedge tape itself includes such a preview. Yet the actual tape is in fact dubbed into American. That itself is not so much the problem: the real problem is that the voices and accents used are about as loud and grating as they could be. A far cry from the original, or indeed, the quiet, calm spirit of the books (and George Carlin's Thomas the Tank Engine voice shows how well a UK show can be rendered into American if any care is taken). My 4 year-old still watches it, though, and I feel the show is better value than so much of the Satuday morning junk.
There are two episodes on this tape, about a half-hour each. In the first, two young mice get lost in an autumn storm and have several adventures before being rescued. In the second, a winter snow storm allows all the Brambly Hedge mice to build an ice palace and have a dance before rescuing a couple more mice snowed in. There follows a third section, a long digression on the whole world of Brambly Hedge; who the mice are, where they live. This seems to be thrown together a little too quickly, with very flat narration (at least in the American version) - my child loses interest here. The books are a better bet for this part.
Other fine British kids' shows that have not been altered or duubbed in any way include Mouse and Mole, William's Wish Wellingtons, Old Bear Stories, Brum and the Baby Carriage, The Secret of Roan Inish, The Sand Fairy (AKA Five Children and It), Postman Pat, The Princess and the Goblin. With a multiplayer VCR (such as Samsung's model) you can play British PAL system videos on your American NTSC television, opening a whole new world of childrens' and adults' entertainment (get the tapes through Amazon's UK site).
Where'd They Get These Voices? This video is really a cut above the average. The production values are super and my just-turned four-year-old daughter likes it a lot. I was dismayed, however, to find the mice of Brambly Hedge speaking with American accents, badly tinged here and there with something not quite British. It sounds like the producers ransacked the high school drama club for some cheap talent. The U.S. licensee apparently decided that our American kids couldn't follow an English accent. Wrong. Result: the video looks lots better than it sounds. I was disappointed.
Just a little warning My 3-year-old daughter was enchanted with the characters, yes, but has refused to view this video a second time. Why? Both segments contain scenes she finds alarming and scary. In the first, the young heroine-mouse quakes in terror of an imaginary weasel. In the second, the protagonists are trapped, shivering, in a collapsing ice tunnel. My kid is not particularly sensitive to dangers she can see, such as the monsters in "The Dark Crystal." What troubles her are imagined terrors, like the unseen, undescribed weasel of Brambly Hedge.
Absolutely delightful! My 5 children thoroughly enjoyed this tape. So much of viewing for children today does not portray childhood innocence and simplicity---Brambly Hedge is a "breath of fresh air". Highly recommended.
Anything Goes Trivia
Trevor
Megaton Man
