Nickelodeon Favorites: Sisters and Brothers (a J!-ENT Children’s DVD Review)

For any parent who is expecting or have a relative coming with a baby and want to get your young ones used to the concept of babies, Nickelodeon’s “Sisters and Brothers” is a wonderfully fun and educational DVD for the children!  Recommended!

Images courtesy of © 2011 Viacom International Inc. All Rights Reserved. NICKELODEON, NICK JR., DORA THE EXPLORER, GO, DIEGO, GO!, WONDER PETS, NI HAO KAI-LAN!, BLUE’S CLUES and all related titles, logos and characters are trademarks of Viacom International Inc. TM, ® & Copyright © 2011 by Paramount Pictures. All Rights Reserved.

DVD TITLE: Nickelodeon Favorites: Sisters and Brothers

DURATION: 5 Episodes (122 Minutes)

DVD INFORMATION: Full Screen, Dolby Digital

COMPANY: Nickelodeon/Paramount

RATED: NOT RATED

RELEASE DATE: February 8, 2011

Dora the Explorer

Created by Chris Gifford, Valerie Walsh and Eric Weiner

“Big Sister” written by Valerie Walsh

Executive Producer: Chris Gifford

Co-Executive Producer: Valerie Walsh

Executive Story Editor/Producer: Eric Weiner

Supervising Producer: Jeff DeGrandis

Go, Diego, Go!

Created by Chris Gifford, Valerie Walsh Valdes

“To Babysit a Bobo” is written by Brian Bromberg

Executive Producer: Chris Gifford, Valerie Walsh Valdes

Head Writer: Rosemary Contreras

Producer: Miken Wong

Directed by George Chialtas

Blue’s Clues

Created by Traci Paige Johnson, Todd Kessler, Angela C. Santomero

Written by Angela C. Santomero

Directed by Lucy Walker

Executive Producer: Todd Kessler

Executive Producer & Head Writer: Angela C. Santomero

Executve Producer & Design Director: Traci Paige Johnson

Wonder Pets!

Executive Producer: Josh Selig

Creative Director: Jennifer Oxley

Music Director and Producer: Jeffrey Lesser

Directors: Jennifer Oxley, Josh Selig

Supervising Producer: Mason Rather

Producer: Melanie Pal

Writers: Billy Lopez, Jennifer Oxley, Josh Selig

Ni Hao, Kai-Lan

Created by Karen Chau

Original Development: Mary Harrington, Karen Chau, Judy Rothman

“Hoho’s Big Flight” is written by Adam Peltzman

Executive Producer: Mary Harrington

Producer/Head Writer: Sascha Paladino

Directed by Dave Marshall

Featuring the voices of:

Dora the Explorer

Kathleen Herles as Dora

Harrison Chad as Boots

Marc Weiner as Map/Swiper/Fiesta Trio

Sasha Toro as Backpack

Go, Diego, Go!

Brandon Zambrano as Diego

Gabriela Aisenberg as Alicia/Spider Monkeys

Rosie Perez as Click

Blue’s Clues

Starring Steven Burns

Lisa Kudrow as the voice of the Baby Doctor

Wonder Pets!

Sofie Zamchick as Linny

Teala Dunn as Tuck

Danica Lee as Ming-Ming

Ni Hao, Kai-Lan

Jade-Lianna Petrs as Kai-Lan

Clem Cheung as Yeye (English)

Ben Wang as Yeye (Mandarin)

Jack Samson as Rintoo

Khamani Griffin as tolee

Angie Wu as Hoho

Jeremy Herzig as Mr. Fluffy

The Nickelodeon Favorites: Sisters and Brothers DVD will focus on the relationship between siblings, welcoming new family members and working out conflicts between sisters and brothers. This DVD features the positive relationships shared between siblings of all ages. Properties that will be showcased in this Nickelodeon Favorites collection include Dora the Explorer, Go, Diego, Go!, Wonder Pets!, Ni Hao, Kai-lan, and Blue’s Clues.

In this special Nickelodeon DVD release, the theme is having a brother or sister.  You get five of the popular Nickelodeon children’s educational shows (Dora the Explorer”, “Go, Diego, Go!”, “Blue’s Clues”, “Wonder Pets!” and “Ni Hao, Kai-Lan”) on this special DVD.   As children welcome a new baby into the family (may it be their parents or a baby from other family), this DVD shows how happy a family can be with the addition of a new baby or even a visit from family who had a baby.

In this DVD, children can learn Spanish and Chinese language skills, math skills, problem-solving skills and also helps in preparing a child of welcoming a new baby to the family.

Included on this DVD are:

  • Dora the Explorer – In “Big Sister Dora”, Dora needs to hurry home!  Her mother is having a baby…but will it be a baby boy or baby girl?
  • Go, Diego, Go! – In “To Babysit a Bobo”, while gathering fruit for the spider monkey fiesta, the Bobo Brothers three baby sisters run off.  Help Diego and the Bobos find the babies.
  • Blue’s Clues – In “The Baby’s Here”, everyone waits for the arrival of Mr. Salt and Mrs. Pepper.
  • Wonder Pets! – In “KalamaZoo” and “Back to KalamaZoo”, Ming-Ming flies to KalamaZoo to take care of her baby cousin Marvin.  In the next episode, Ming-Ming returns with her friends in order to rescue Marvin.
  • Ni Hao, Kai-Lan – In “Hoho’s Big Flight”, it’s the Big Lantern Festival and Hoho forgets to listen to Yeye.

VIDEO & AUDIO:

The episodes featured in “Sisters and Brothers” are presented in full screen and in Dolby Digital stereo. Animation features vibrant colors and dialogue is clear and understandable. Picture quality is dependent on the series as “Dora the Explorer”, “Go, Diego, Go!” and “Ni Hao, Kai-Lan” are animation-based, “Blue’s Clues” and “Wonder Pets!” tend to combine CG.

But overall, this is for the children and the picture and audio quality should be satisfactory.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

“Sisters and Brothers” comes with the following special features:

  • Team Umizoomi Music Videos: Numbers Everywhere – (:59) Team Umizoomi singing “Numbers Everywhere”.
  • Team Umizoomi Music Videos: Acorn Flower Patterns – (1:01) Team Umizoomi singing “Acorn Flower Patterns”.
  • Previews – Previews for upcoming Nickelodeon DVD release

“Sisters and Brothers” is a fun release for children and also parents who want to find DVD’s that can be educational as well as finding a DVD to help ease children with the concept that there is a baby coming.  May it be mommy or daddy, relative or friend.

With this latest DVD, you get five episodes that deal with the concept of baby’s and for children who love “Dora the Explorer”, “Go, Diego, Go!”, “Blue’s Clues”, “Wonder Pets!” and “Ni Hao, Kai-Lan”, this is a pretty cool DVD as there are different episodes of different shows on one DVD and not only does it work great as an educational DVD to keep children’s busy but also for those commutes, these shows are very helpful in the development for children.

My child was raised from these educational children’s shows and I do believe that it helped in his development as he is doing exceptionally well at school, especially when it comes to decision making and also an appreciation for other cultures and languages.

Also, the DVD includes special features with Team Umizoomi music videos as well.

For the most part, your young children should be entertained by this release. All episodes are safe for children and parents will also be happy to know that they can learn from each of these episodes.  Granted, this DVD is not going to relieve any anxiety of a new child being brought to the family but every bit helps and in this case, this DVD may easily help reduce some of those jitters.

Overall, for any parent who is expecting or have a relative coming with a baby and want to get your young ones used to the concept of babies, Nickelodeon’s “Sisters and Brothers” is a wonderfully fun and educational DVD for the children!  Recommended!