Have you ever seen an American buffalo climb a tree?
tvtv3 | Sorento, IL United States | 02/28/2007
(5 out of 5 stars)
"MOE AND THE BIG EXIT is basically a retelling of the story of Exodus from the Bible, but set in a Western format. It's also a homage to the Lone Ranger and a sequel to one of the more popular Veggie Tales in recent years, THE BALLAD OF LITTLE JOE.
Following the usual Veggie Tales format, MOE AND THE BIG EXIT begins with Bob preparing to read a letter from a child asking for help in understanding a lesson learned at church. However, Larry interrupts Bob and asks him if he remembers THE BALLAD OF LITTLE JOE. As Larry is already dressed in Western garb, it becomes clear that he is hinting at something. Larry then reads a letter from a viewer who asks to see a sequel to LITTLE JOE. Bob is able to read his letter before Larry announces he has the perfect story to tell. Thus begins the story of MOE AND THE BIG EXIT.
A group of singing carrots sitting around a campfire gives a recap of THE BALLAD OF LITTLE JOE and one of the members of the group narrates the tale to follow. The story follows Exodus fairly closely, though in a Western-VeggieTale twist, until just after the crossing of the Red Sea (in this version the children of Little Joe cross Death Valley under the covering of snow). Besides the crossing Death Valley, some other twists include Moe talking to a burning tumbleweed, characters being literally sent up the river means that they died, and a condensation of the 10 plagues to six or seven (I lost count, but there weren't ten).
I enjoyed MOE AND THE BIG EXIT. Having had to watch countless Westerns with my parents as a child, I have more respect for the genre than many of my peers. I also like it when the Big Idea crew revisits settings from previous episodes.
The "Silly Songs with Larry" segment is once again taken over by someone else. This time it's THE BOYZ IN THE SINK who sing a rap song, "A Mess Down in Egypt" retelling the story of Moses and the Exodus. At the end Bob cuts them off. "Silly Songs with Larry" used to be my favorite part of a Veggie Tales episode. However, Larry hasn't been singing very many Silly Songs by himself lately. I hope that in the next few episodes the segment goes back to just Larry singing a silly song.
MOE AND THE BIG EXIT is one of the longest Veggie Tales I have ever seen. Normally an episode runs about 30 minutes, though some of the later episodes have been running closer to 35-40 minutes. MOE AND THE BIG EXIT runs almost 50 minutes in length. The time flies by and since the story is told so well most children won't even notice. However, very young children might become a little fidgety.
Overall, another fine production from the folks at Big Idea. I'm surprised that they've been able to come up with so many fresh and original twists on Biblical stories and am looking forward to see what they are able to come up with next."
Heigh Ho Sliver Away!
Mark Baker | Santa Clarita, CA United States | 03/06/2007
(4 out of 5 stars)
"It's a return to Dodgeball City for the newest entry in the VeggieTales video series. This one is a follow up to THE BALLAD OF LITTLE JOE in every way. In fact, it even starts with a recap of that story. And, since that was the story of Joseph, it naturally follows that this is the story of Moses.
Moe (Larry the Cucumber) is a descendant of Little Joe who was lucky enough to be adopted by the mayor's daughter when the rest of the young were sent up the river. As a result, he lives a life of luxury while his kin are forced to work building the Grand Canyon. All that changes when he is forced to defend a worker struggling with a heavy load. Moe takes off for the Rockies. But after several years, God appears to him as a burning tumbleweed and tells him to go back to Dodgeball City to free the rest of his kin. Can he follow directions to do it?
I rewatched LITTLE JOE recently, and it really built my expectations for this video. While there were fun parts, it wasn't up to par. The biggest problem was the moral. Unlike other episodes, this one seemed forced. There were some great gags, but I got bored in parts. And what was up with the buffalo and bear? They were so poorly animated it took me out of the video.
Another disappointment was the new Silly Song. Since Boyz in the Sink made their debut on LITTLE JOE, it was appropriate to bring them back here. But the song this time was a rap. I really don't like rap. I did enjoy the fact that it spoofed the "Fresh Prince" theme. But it wasn't worthy of the spot.
Again, this isn't a bad video, but it wasn't up to Big Idea's usual high standards."
Disappointed in the latest release
S Maxwell | Augusta, ME | 04/25/2007
(2 out of 5 stars)
"Our daughter really enjoys VeggieTales, and we do too. Like any video series, there are going to be some that are better than others. This one fell flat from the child and adult perspective in our family. It was a bit over-narrated, especially compared to Little Joe (which we enjoyed) and the musical narration frankly got irritating by the end. It's too bad, because the story of Moses and the Exodus would seem to be a topic Big Idea could do great things with, but that didn't happen here."