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Sony Family Wonder presents

Enchanted Tales: An Easter Bunny Adventure (1994)

"Are you the sort of kitten who eats mice the way cats do, because, what is a kitten, but a cat waiting to happen?"- Trevor T. Tittlemouse

Manufacturer: IFPI
MPAA Rating: Not Rated for (nothing objectionable)
Run Time: 00h:48m:01s
Release Date: 2002-02-05
Genre: family

Style
Grade
Substance
Grade
Image Transfer
Grade
Audio Transfer
Grade
Extras
Grade
A- B+A-A- D

 

DVD Review

Mother: Peter knows the difference between the truth and a lie.Peter's sister: He should, he's told enough of them.Beatrix Potter's popular characters from The Tale of Peter Rabbit find themselves on An Easter Bunny Adventure in this animated tale from Sony Wonder. Peter, the Cottontail whose tales are longer than his ears, is charged with babysitting his four sisters, just when he had planned to go to the city with his cousin Benny (from The Tale of Benjamin Bunny - 1904). Now stuck at home, Peter goes against his mother's instructions and sets off with Benny and the girls to Mr. McGregor's farm, where fields of carrots lie ready for the eating, if they can avoid the farmer's cat. Peter tells his sisters to hide in a paper box, marked "Zanzibar," while he and Benny round up the carrots. Mr. McGregor's cat is indeed on the prowl, which keeps the boys busy just when the postman appears and carries off his sisters in the parcel! Not knowing what to do, Peter decides the only course of action is to head off to Zanzibar—at least 30 miles away—to recover his siblings before his mother finds out what he has been up to. Off they go, and along the way they run into a collection of friends who join them on their journey, including a field mouse, whose verbosity far exceeds his limited height, a female rabbit, a question-filled chipmunk, a paranoid squirrel, and a French feline. But the way is also paved with danger, including an ill-tempered hedgehog, a wily fox—and Mr. McGregor's cat. The adventure is fun, and kids should enjoy the range of animal characters provided. A few musical numbers appear that are fairly catchy and cute. The animation is decent, but as an adult I did find some of the voice acting a bit annoying. Those pining for the Potter characters may be disappointed, but for a bunny-based story, this one does hold entertainment value. Note that the story's ties to Easter are limited to the title.

Rating for Style: A-
Rating for Substance: B+

 

Image Transfer

 One
Aspect Ratio1.33:1 - Full Frame
Original Aspect Ratioyes
Anamorphicno


Image Transfer Review: Image quality is quite good, with vibrant colors and solid blacks. There are some minor source defects, but nothing distracting. No sign of edge enhancement or notable compression issues. Light grain is visible, and there is a bit of aliasing in places, otherwise this looks fine.

Image Transfer Grade: A-
 

Audio Transfer

 LanguageRemote Access
DS 2.0Englishno


Audio Transfer Review: Audio is clean and well-balanced, and dialogue is easy to discern. No hiss or other technical deficiencies were observed. The menu audio was a bit loud compared to the program; other than that, the track does serve the material well.

Audio Transfer Grade: A- 

Disc Extras

Full Motion menu with music
Scene Access with 20 cues and remote access
Packaging: Amaray
1 Disc
1-Sided disc(s)
Layers: single

Extras Review: Hippity, hippity, hop, hop, hop.Aside from the motion menus, it looks like all the extras went to Zanzibar, 'cause there's none here. There isn't even a cast list!

Extras Grade: D
 

Final Comments

While it has nothing to do with Easter, and a minimal connection to Beatrix Potter's characters, An Easter Bunny Adventure is still an enjoyable romp through the coutryside with a motley crew of talking animals. Peter has to learn that his fibbing only gets him into trouble, as he tries to rescue his sisters. I don't know that this would be a must have for the collection, but works as a rental.

Jeff Ulmer 2002-03-06