PLEASE NOTE: Michael D's is currently in READ ONLY MODE. Anything submitted will simply not be written to the database.
Lots of stuff is still broken, but at least reviews can now be looked up and read.
PLEASE NOTE: Michael D's is currently in READ ONLY MODE. Anything submitted will simply not be written to the database.
Lots of stuff is still broken, but at least reviews can now be looked up and read.
Angelina Ballerina-The Show Must Go On! (2001)

Angelina Ballerina-The Show Must Go On! (2001)

If you create a user account, you can add your own review of this DVD

Released 3-May-2004

Cover Art

This review is sponsored by
BUY IT

Details At A Glance

General Extras
Category Family Main Menu Introduction
Main Menu Audio & Animation
Featurette-Angelina's Dance Class
Storybook-Book: The Show Must Go On
Gallery-Photo
Song Lyrics-I'm All Alone & Mad, Bad And Dangerous
Web Links
Rating Rated G
Year Of Production 2001
Running Time 71:00
RSDL / Flipper No/No Cast & Crew
Start Up Ads Then Menu
Region Coding 4 Directed By Roger McIntosh
Kitty Taylor
Studio
Distributor

Roadshow Home Entertainment
Starring Finty Williams
Judi Dench
Colin Towns
Case Amaray-Transparent-Secure Clip
RPI $19.95 Music Colin Towns


Video Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame None English Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio 1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
16x9 Enhanced
Video Format 576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio 1.78:1 Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures No
Subtitles English for the Hearing Impaired Smoking No
Annoying Product Placement No
Action In or After Credits No

NOTE: The Profanity Filter is ON. Turn it off here.

Plot Synopsis

    Angelina Ballerina - The Show Must Go On is a feature-length presentation of the popular UK children's cartoon series which is shown locally as part of the ABC for Kids programming. All the characters from the series appear in this 'movie'.

    Mr Operatski is putting together dancers for the forthcoming Christmas stage musical, and Angelina is very keen to play the lead role of Cinderella Mouse. However, following the auditions, Mr Operatski decides to give the role of Cinderella to Priscilla Pinkpaw instead, while Angelina is offered the role of the Wicked Stepmouse. This causes poor Angelina to get rather cross. Her temper gets out of hand, and soon she finds herself dumped from the musical entirely. Things then worsen, with events eventually leading to the possible cancellation of the entire show!  

     The voices of some of the main characters are provided by stalwarts of the UK film and stage scene, including Judi Dench and Derek Jacobi.

    The style of the animation used reflects the original artwork from the books by Helen Craig and Katharine Holabird, and is far less showy and loud than in any US-made childrens' animated series. In comparison, this is a far gentler, almost slow-moving style of storytelling.

    Therein lies a problem...while children may enjoy Angelina in the shorter, daily dose on TV, getting them to sit through this 50 minute story might be a little bit difficult, especially if films like Nemo, The Incredibles, The Shreks, and other more catchy films are available.

Don't wish to see plot synopses in the future? Change your configuration.

Transfer Quality

Video

    The video transfer on this disc is very good.

    The feature is presented in its original ratio of 1.78:1 and is 16x9 enhanced.

    The sharpness, black level and shadow detail (what little is required) is good at all times.

    Colour, as one would expect for a kids animated show, is rich at all times, though not as vivid as one would find on US-made animated series. There is no trace of oversaturation or colour bleed.

    There were no visible MPEG transfer artefacts.

    Given the recent production date, the fact that it's in 1.78:1 ratio, and from the UK, it seems reasonable to assume that it was originally recorded on digital video. This explains the total lack of any film artefacts.

    The only subtitles are in English. These are accurate and well-timed to the onscreen dialogue.

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

Audio

    The only audio track is in English, and this is presented in Dolby Digital 2.0 surround.

    Dialogue quality is fine at all times with no audible distortion. Lip sync is as good as one could expect from an animated feature.

    The music, by Colin Towns, suits the onscreen action quite well without drawing attention to itself in any real way.

    The bulk of the sound activity is across the front three speakers. The rear surround speakers have very little to do apart from carrying some ambient noise and music at a low level.

    The subwoofer also has very little need to exercise itself.

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

Extras

Main Menu

    The main menu is presented in 1.78:1 and is 16x9 enhanced. It has music from the show playing in Dolby Digital 2.0 with surround.

Featurette - Angelina's Dance Class

    This featurette is a collection of short clips of live action ballet dance classes. Focuses on girls demonstrating the movements in accordance with the narration.

    These classes are obviously aimed at budding ballerinas (not necessarily with tails) who already have some knowledge of ballet and know what a fondus or tendus is! Each of the 15 lessons can be played individually or via a 'Play All' option.

    These are presented in 4:3 fullscreen and run for a total of 14 minutes.

Storybook - The Show Must Go On

    This is basically the text of the entire feature! It's very long, and I'm not sure I'd recommend this being used as a reading tool for kids because reading the white text against the red background is probably not the best for their eyes. This is presented in 4:3 fullscreen.

Photo Gallery

    A somewhat pointless collection of 15 stills from the feature. There should have been some music, if not narration, to accompany this.

Song Lyrics

    Two songs from the show, together with the lyrics displayed via the subtitle stream so kids can sing along. This is presented in 1.78:1 ratio and is 16x9 enhanced.

Web Links

    Link to the official Angelina Ballerina website. This only works if your computer has a DVD-ROM and is connected to the internet.

R4 vs R1

NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.

    This release is available in R1. The only difference appears to be the cover picture. Consequently the R4 version is the one to go for.

Summary

    Angelina Ballerina - The Show Must Go On is perhaps an animated show better suited to slightly older kids, maybe around 10 years old. The story is a little slow-moving with plenty of good dialogue, though parents should be pleased that there's none of the violence, monsters, lasers or explosions that seem essential in kids' animated shows from the US and Japan.

    This show uses a simpler style of animation which is not as eyecatching as that used in typical US animation. However, the voice characterisations are of a great quality, being provided by some fine British actors.

    The video and audio transfers on this disc are very good.

    The extras are reasonable, though the inclusion of the text of the entire story is of some questionable value.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Satish Rajah (don't read my bio!)
Saturday, April 30, 2005
Review Equipment
DVDPioneer DV-344 Multi-Region, using Component output
DisplaySony KV-XA34M31 80cm. Calibrated with Ultimate DVD Platinum. This display device is 16x9 capable.
Audio DecoderBuilt in to amplifier/receiver. Calibrated with Ultimate DVD Platinum.
AmplificationDenon AVR-2801
SpeakersMain: Mission 753; Centre: Mission m7c2; rear: Mission 77DS; Sub: JBL PB10

Other Reviews
DVD Net - Jules F
The DVD Bits - Dean B