Search - VeggieTales - The Wonderful World of Auto-tainment on DVD

As Pa Grape might say...

David Michael Cohen | California | 06/27/2004

(3 out of 5 stars)

""Eh, it coulda been woise." "Larry's World of Auto-tainment" is a different sort of a veggie-tales video. It doesn't present a story, but rather an over-plot of Larry's view of the future, where humor is generated randomly for maximum suprise value (and minimum logic). Being Larry's vision, it naturally goes screwy, with humorous results.The main thrust of the show is songs done by "randomly selected" characters on "randomly selected" topics. As a result, we get to hear the French peas singing "There's a hole in the Bottom of the Sea," and Pa Grape singing, "Erie Canal" among others. One gets the sense that the video was made purely for entertainment purposes. Now, a veggie tales that just tries to entertain isn't necessarily a bad thing (my family has practically worn out our copy of "Ultimate Silly Songs Countdown.")Unfortunately, the writers try to stick in lessons that just don't work. For example there is a short called "Lunch" that illustrates a lesson against greed in a way kids can relate to. They also include a quote from "John," the only scripture in the episode. Unfortunately, "Lunch" is a silent short with non-veggie characters. It seems so out of place it is jarring rather than enlightening.At the end, Junior Asparagas sings a song about God loving him no matter what. This is a good lesson, one that deserves to be the subject of a full video. As it is in "Auto-tainment," it feels tacked on as an afterthought.In short, buy this video expecting to be entertained with a good presentation of kid songs. There may not be a proper lesson to discuss with your kids, but hey, there are lots of veggie-tales videos that provide that."

A jab at postmodernism?

Jason E. Huff | Wilmore, KY, United States | 02/12/2006

(3 out of 5 stars)

"It's clear from most of the reviews that "The Wonderful World of Auto-tainment" is easily the least of the VeggieTales videos available. Sadly, I must agree. Yes, there is some mildly amusing material here, but it is intentionally different from the rest of the VT canon. My almost 3-year-old son liked a couple of bits, but nothing like his excitement over, say, the dumbwaiter scene in "The Star of Christmas."

The problems with the show are easily explained if you are willing to listen to the audio commentary from the production crew. For one, this video was produced in a very short period of time -- a total of 12 weeks from start to finish, which for this kind of show is insane. Second, the intent was to animate some of the songs that had appeared exclusively on the VT soundtracks that had been produced over the years. The plotline, as bizarre as it is, was created almost solely to link together random songs. The creators admit this freely on the commentary, and it explains just why this one appears so disjointed.

What's interesting to me as a seminary student is that the "world of the future" and the randomness of it all seems in some way to be a jab at the whole postmodern movement that American Christianity is trying to embrace. The show has virtually no Truth (with a capital T) on display until the last song when Bob takes over and has Junior sing a song where he talks over his day with God. (It's actually a sweetly moving song nearly worth the cost just to see.) The world of the future seems to have no point, no real truth but what we make of it...and it's seen as a pretty ridiculous place. Is it a commentary on postmodernism and the church? Unlikely, but it's certainly possible.

However, who's going to notice this concept? Certainly not 3-year-olds, and almost certainly not their parents. VeggieTales has never really been a commentary on society but a fun way for parents to introduce children to biblical stories. This one has a little bit of fun once you get past its jarring nature, but nowhere near the message or goofy humor of "Rack, Shack, and Benny" or "The Ballad of Little Joe.""