The Hooley Dooleys-The Hooley Dooleys/Ready, Set...Go! (2002)

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General		Extras
Category	Childrens	None
Rating
Year Of Production	2002
Running Time	76:17 (Case: 80)
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Ads Then Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Jacqueline Cairns Jane Davidson
Studio Distributor	Roadshow Home Entertainment	Starring	David Butts Antoine Demarest Bruce Thorburn
Case	Amaray-Transparent-Secure Clip
RPI	$24.95	Music	The Hooley Dooleys

    This single disc is a combination of 2 previously released VHS videos - "The Hooley Dooleys" and "Ready, Set, Go". The Hooley Dooleys are David Butts, Antoine Demarest and Bruce Thorburn, joined by Russell the Muscley Kangaroo and Tickle the Doodat. It's a more casual-looking bunch than say Hi-5 or their ABC stablemates, The Wiggles (whose uniforms always remind me of Captain Kirk's Star Trek!). They seem to be enjoying themselves and have written, produced and performed all 30 songs on this disc themselves.

Video

    The entire program is in full frame 1.33:1 ratio which is understandable given that it came from pre-digital TV source material. As you would expect for a recent kids program, bright colours are used nearly right through without any oversaturation. However, there are some songs, eg Yumbo Jive, which are either filmed outdoors or in other studios which suffer from somewhat washed-out colour and a softer focus. Looking closely there is also a hint of macroblocking visible around the character outlines. Notably this only occurs during the Hooley Dooleys and not during Ready Set Go. This could be due to those songs being from different original source material. Ready Set Go seems to be crisper and of more consistently higher picture quality, perhaps due to the more recent vintage of the source material.

    There are no black or white artefacts apparent, probably due to the source material being relatively recent video and not film. Edge enhancement may have been applied, perhaps to add to the 'crispness' of the whole picture.

    There is one subtitle track. This contains the lyrics of the songs and is in sync with the actual singing.

    This is a single layered disc.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    There is just the one soundtrack, English Dolby Digital 2.0. The audio quality was good and well synchronised with the image at all times.

    The 30 or so tunes on this disc are in a variety of styles, even including African, Country, Rock n Roll and Reggae styles. Some are memorable,  some are not so catchy, but all are enjoyable nevertheless.

    There is no rear surround activity at all.

    The subwoofer gets a good workout, especially during Hooley Dooleys, during which there is good deep bass.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

    There were no extras on this disc.

    The menu is 1.33:1 full frame and is presented after a couple of minutes of ABC for Kids trailers. The trailers can be skipped by pressing 'Menu' on the remote. The displayed menu offers the choice of starting ether Hooley Dooleys or Ready, Set, Go. Selecting either of these then presents you with another menu allowing the playing of the whole program, or selecting individual songs. The choice of turning on the subtitles is also offered.

    This DVD appears to only be available in R4.

    This would be a good addition to any collection of children's DVDs. It contains around 77 minutes (not quite the 'over 80 minutes' that is mentioned on the cover) of enjoyable original songs.

    It's good, clean fun for children from ages 2 - 6, and the subtitle lyrics allow older kids (or parents!) to sing along too.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall