Search - The Sights and Sounds of Christmas: The Complete Collection on DVD

Gotta be kidding

12/11/2002

(1 out of 5 stars)

"I can only imagine that those who gave this video 4 or 5 stars must be somehow receiving a share of the profits. I feel completely robbed--you know, that kicked in the gut feeling you get when you realize you've been suckered! There is almost nothing here visually but still images, none of them particularly interesting or poignant. In fact most are simply tacky. Wreaths on somebody's front door, a local mall's Christmas decorations. A house with a light display no more impressive than my neighbor's. Photographs, I kid you not, of Christmas cards. Not one or two, but sequences of dozens--none of them very appealing or interesting. This "video" seems to have been made by someone who just drove around town for a few days and took pictures of anything and everything even vaguely related to Christmas. It may be good for shut-ins who can't make it to the mall to see what The Gap or Limited II has put in it's windows. It's like an annoying colleague who insists you look at his Christmas pictures and gushes over them as you think to yourself, so what?"

The best I've seen for this type of video

S. Fennell | Somewhere out there.....beneath the pale moon ligh | 12/29/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"A wonderful collection of images with every type of Christmas scene you can think of, and a soundtrack that really is beautiful, unlike some of the other cheesy productions along the same lines. ("Moodscapes" and "The Spirit of Christmas" come to mind......Both of them are horribly tacky.) The producers of this video actually had enough sense to use the original Nat King Cole and Bing Crosby versions of the songs, "Christmas Song" and "White Christmas", respectively, rather than make the mistake of utilizing tacky synthesized remakes. (See the other videos listed above for THAT travesty...) The London Symphony and Royal Philharmonic provide much of the remaining soundtrack, while ever-changing scenes of Nativities, Santas, wreaths, Christmas trees, Christmas cards, sleighs, nutcrackers, winter scenes, a few home-movies, (who's, I have no idea.....), and every other Christmas-type thing you can think of parades across your screen for 70 continuous minutes. The only thing I really don't care for is the person who appears on the screen and lip-syncs (badly) to the song, "Is There a Place?", about halfway through the production. The song, which is the only non-traditional selection in the program, is pretty dynamic taken on it's own, (in a mid-80's "Sandi Patty/Steve Green/Larnelle Harris/Look-at-me-I've-got-the-highest-song-in-the-Christmas-musical" sort of way, for those of you who know what I'm referring to), but I could do without Mr Lip-Sync; he's very distracting. Even with that one slip-up, this is another great video to play during Christmas parties, while decorating the tree, annoying the cat by draping tinsel on it's head, etc..... It makes a great companion piece to the video "In the Christmas Spirit", which is an hour's worth of spectacular light displays on homes. Check that one out too."

This is the one to get!

T.W. | Los Angeles | 10/06/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The DVD is very complete, very relaxing and snow-filled and snow-feeling (unlike In The Christmas Spirit, which just sucked and also had no snow) and just screams "traditional Christmas." Hate the dude who sings that song, "Is There A Place" or something. His voice and the song just annoy me--fortunately, it's easy to just program out that track, so there's no harsh interuption from this lame performance.A must-have for remembering Chirstmas and those when you were a child. Very memory-stirring and reminds me of winters in New England."

The complete collection of what? By whom?

S. Fennell | 06/10/1999

(1 out of 5 stars)

"I love Christmas videos and music, but I usually read and/or inquire about the material -- whatever it is -- before I purchase it; inevitably, sales for this particular dvd would increase if more particulars were given regarding its contents. Shame."