VeggieTales Review

VeggieTales is an interesting presentation of Biblical truths in a way that is supposed to communicate with a younger audience. Phil Vischer talks about how he takes very seriously the fact that he is entrusted with communicating to children in their innocence Bible truths and thinks that others, while perhaps teaching good lessons, abuse the trust parents place in them.

MInTheGap talked this week on our stand for Christ and whether we receive persecution for it. VeggieTales is in a unique place in that they’ve only had one Video that’s flat out talked about Jesus and salvation, but they boil down every story to a “nugget” and they focus on that and add jokes.

Is this a cause for concern? Some sites seem to think so, and I think they have a point. VeggieTales takes liberties with stories. They introduce the fact that the Ninevites were slapping people with fishes– definitely not a sin that was big at the time that Jonah was trying to rebuke. Jonah, played by Archibald Asparagus, went out on a pirate ship away from Joppa, was greeted by angels in the belly of the whale a la Pinocchio, and then ends up meeting up with the pirates for Mr. Twisty’s Twisted Cheese Curls.

But is this adding to the Biblical account? Can we say that the VeggieTales crew is actually trying to add to the Scripture? They did go about quoting it, but I think there’s a less serious thing going on here. In the context of what is going on, these are vegetables telling a story in their own way. Now, I don’t think that even if they had gone word for word with the Biblical text you would still get me to believe that Jonah was a vegetable. In fact, I think that I’ve even told a few Bible stories with a child-type explanation for a big term. Does that me not faithful to the text?

In fact, this is probably one of the few tellings of the Jonah tale that sticks to the whole story– where it doesn’t end with Ninevah repenting, but with Jonah arguing with God about not finishing them off.

I’m undecided about where VeggieTales is going– I think that they are trying to become more appealing to the general culture, and may therefore water down the Biblical messages. At the same time, they continue to be faithful to the “nugget” and my kids aren’t having troubles differentiating the real stories from those on VeggieTales.

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Rating:

I Love My Lips is the first time that Larry the Cucumber came close to yodeling. Mike Nawrocki, the voice of Larry, determined early on that Larry could yodel, but it wouldn’t be until Yodeling Veteranarian of the Alps that he actually yodeled.

This silly song is set on the countertop in Dr. Archibald’s psychiatric office. Larry is laying on a couch. If you look in the background, a picture of the mountains of Flibberoloo is behind Archibald on the wall. Archibald starts by asking what Larry’s problem is, and Larry goes into singing about how he loves his lips.

Keying off the stereotypical Freudian things, Larry links loving his lips to his dad and mom, to which Dr. Archibald believes that he has a serious case on his hands and shows Larry some ink blots. If you look closely, one of these “blots” is actually an artist rendering of Mike Nawrocki.

There are a few comedic moments in this silly song that stand out. One is the fact that Larry’s Aunt Ruth has a beard– which feels weird. Aunt Ruth is a running joke in VeggieTales and you only see half of her in the Song of the Cebu. The other part played for laughs is the rapid fire of what happened to Larry when his lips got stuck on a gate. As he’s spewing what happened, you see smoke coming from Dr. Archibald’s pad, and he finally just asks for the Polish word at the end.

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Don’t forget to take a stab at the trivia question to the right! –>

Thirteen of Peter Plum’s Favorite VeggieTales Moments 1. When Larry says “Deparados, you better come to your senses” in The Ballad of Little Joe. 2. Junior’s song about His Day in Larry’s Wonderful World of Autotainment. 3. When Hope finishes her song saying that if the story of Jesus ended at the cross, there would be no hope in An Easter Carol. 4. When Larry shows up with Bob and he has a candy bar stuck to his helmet in Are You My Neighbor. 5. When Junior and the gang cannot figure out how much 70 * 7 is in God Wants Me to Forgive Them. 6. At the end of Duke and the Pie War when Larry brings out his brothers the cucumbers and they sing the “What Have We Learned Song.” 7. When Minnesota rescues Julia from a bunch of malt mix– even though there was no way it should have flooded the room in Minnesota Cuke and the Search for Sampson’s Hairbrush. 8. When Larry says “Sure, give the gourd a bow and arrow and he thinks he’s a real elf!” at the end of Silly Songs with Elves on Lord of the Beans. 9. That Madame Blueberry can just keep buying and buying things without any kind of payment, and it isn’t until the air compressor (to blow food off your dresser?) is loaded up that the house topples in Madame Blueberry. 10. When Jimmy and Jerry build a rocket to knock down the walls of Jerico– and then Jimmy comments at the end that it was a lousy day to wear his contacts in Josh and the Big Wall. 11. When Larry Boy and Alfred have a text message from a girl, and Larry’s first comment is that he’s impressed she typed out that long message on those small keys in Larry Boy and the Bad Apple. 12. The fact that Cavis and Millwood thought that the Turtle of Damascus was the Star of Christmas, and then they brought the food to the guy in jail in The Star of Christmas. 13. When Bob says that he wanted to play Mouse Trap instead of sliding downhill in the snow as he’s stuck in a bank in The Toy that Saved Christmas. Links to other Thursday Thirteens! 1. PixiePincessMom 2. Write From Karen 3. jennfactor 4. What have we learned today? Leave a comment, get added here!

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This is a hard call for me– what’s my favorite VeggieTales Video. I will split it up into categories and then choose my overall favorite!

Story
As far as story line goes, I believe I would have to choose An Easter Carol simply because it tells the story of Jesus– and there are a lot of great things about it. The story line that emphasizes that Christ’s story begins at Christmas, comes to the cross, but doesn’t end there has to be my pick for best story.

Silly Song
The best silly song I also tackled this week with the Belly Button song. This song has kept me laughing far beyond the others.

Modern Spoof
Although the Larry Boy series is pretty funny, I have to say that my favorite modern spoof has to be VeggieTales: Minnesota Cuke and the Search for Samson’s Hairbrush. This one is definitely hilarious with all of the Indiana Jones tie-ins.

Bible Story
Probably has to be VeggieTales: Duke and the Pie War with having both a story about Moses as a baby and the retelling of the story of Ruth as in the midevil time period.

Over All Favorite
Drum Roll Please…
VeggieTales: Minnesota Cuke and the Search for Samson’s Hairbrush. The beginning story of Junior in Bully Trouble (with all the cute previous VeggieTales tie ins), the Pizza Angel Song (my number two Silly Song favorite) and my favorite spoof ranks number one in my favorite VeggieTales Video of all time.

What’s yours and why?

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