Search - The First Snow Of Winter on DVD

Superb gentle story

BARBARA THOMPSON | USA | 12/13/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"My 3-year-old grandson and I have new favorites in Sean, Puffy, and Voley. The lessons learned by the little duck are good and sincere...Voley was a master teacher. The first time, I was apprehensive regarding a child's reaction to the hungry fox and the separation of Sean from his parents. However, now that we know the happy ending, the film provides a repeated happy experience each time we watch it. I am giving it as a gift to share with other children at Christmas. The humorous reference to "Riverdance" is a great touch. I hope I can find other films by the same director/writer."

MIxed feelings

BARBARA THOMPSON | 01/21/2000

(3 out of 5 stars)

"I really liked the beautiful animation of this video and the key characters are quite endearing. The irish accents and "river dancing" sequences are charming. However, I found the story to be a bit too dark and anxious. Sean, the main character, has to face being separated from his parents, the near death of his friends, surviving a harsh winter, and more than one close call from a sinister fox all in the course of 25 minutes! If your little one is sensitive or highly imaginitive, this is definitely a video you need to watch with your child just to keep the anxiety level down. We'll definitely get our money's worth from this purchase but this video probably won't get the steady use that some of our favorites receive. We'll be sticking to gentler fare at our house...Little Bear, Kipper, and Spot."

Wrong version advertized

Cavan Baillie | Canada | 11/27/2006

(1 out of 5 stars)

"The description of this DVD claims that it is the ORIGINAL English version of the recording. In fact, the voices have been dubbed in with American actors.

I am not impressed."

Flying South for the winter

Bonnie Sayers | Los Angeles, CA | 08/19/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Sean is the cutest white duck with a British accent you will encounter in a video suitable for all ages. On this the flying south for the winter day, Sean and his friend Puffin, who has a colorful beak that reminds me of a cereal box, are chasing gulls.They come across a fox but escape for the time being and find Sean's Mother telling them it is time to get ready for flying. Sean bids farewell to Puffin for the winter, hoping to see each other come Spring. Up above the sounds of the other ducks leaving with the flute music in the background of the video. Sean's Dad is late in arriving because he forgot his whistle.Sean falls from the sky landing in the water while his Mother realizes he got lost and goes to look for him, leaving the Father with his two smaller siblings. Sean makes it out of the water and rain begins. A brown animal named Voley arrives and greets Sean. Voley wants to sleep for the winter in his burrow in the ground, but Sean states he cannot survive without Voley. " I could sleep for ages if you told be a very boring bedtime story". Voley comes back with a funny line, " You'd only be up every hour on the hour asking for a glass of water". Before Voley leaves he tells Sean to look for the lambs since they are the first sign of spring arriving. Puffin ends up lost from the cloud cover with Sean taking care of him and teaching him how to play music with grass. Soon the lambs are visible and they make their way to the boat with a surprise visit by Voley before finding their parents.I never get tired of viewing The First Snow of Winter with my children and have watched it many times when they are asleep. It has such an appealing quality with the flute music bringing tears to my eyes and lumps in my throat.

A few months ago my son got our video stuck inside the TV/VCR. This is a hard to find video. This is well worth the price, my only complaint is the shortness of the video, about twenty minutes."