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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.
The Wiggles-Racing to the Rainbow (2006)

The Wiggles-Racing to the Rainbow (2006)

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Released 8-Sep-2006

Cover Art

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Details At A Glance

General Extras
Category Childrens Menu Animation & Audio
Alternative Version-AUSLAN Sign Lanuage
Featurette-The King's Cadillac
Featurette-Electronic Storybook: The Rainbow Palace
Gallery-Photo
Featurette-How To Kick A Football
Game
Outtakes-Wiggly Bloopers
Booklet
Rating Rated G
Year Of Production 2006
Running Time 90:15
RSDL / Flipper Dual Layered Cast & Crew
Start Up Menu
Region Coding 1,2,3,4,5,6 Directed By Paul Field
Studio
Distributor

Roadshow Home Entertainment
Starring Jeff Fatt
Murray Cook
Greg Page
Anthony Field
Kamahl
Georgie Parker
Case Handle
RPI $14.95 Music The Wiggles
Malvina Reynolds
Brahms


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
English Song Lyrics
Smoking No
Annoying Product Placement No
Action In or After Credits No

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

Plot Synopsis

    The Wiggles are celebrating their 15th anniversary, and what better way to mark the occasion than with a superb new adventure: Racing To The Rainbow.

    Captain Feathersword challenges his friends to a race, to find who can reach the end of the rainbow first. The Captain departs with his crew aboard the S.S. Feathersword, while The Wiggles travel by road in their Big Red Car. Dorothy, Wags and Henry The Octopus take to the air in their giant hot air balloon. As you would expect, this is more about the journey itself rather than finding a winner, so along the way we join them in many songs, stories and adventures. We also meet some new friends, including the King of the Road (Kamahl) and the Queen of the Rainbow (Georgie Parker).

    There are some great new songs on offer, such as Rainbow of Colours, The Chew Chew Song and Everybody Dance!. These are mixed with some favourites like Here Come the Chicken, Music Box Dancer and quite a few standard nursery rhymes, which surprised me.

    Running at just over ninety minutes, this is a pretty long sitting for young kids. It takes nearly half an hour just to get the story going, but the pace is relentless and the colourful visuals and the energetic songs manage to keep things interesting. Since the disc arrived for review, my co-reviewer (who is fast-approaching four years old) has raved endlessly about this disc, sung most of the songs in the bath and learned the dance steps in a matter of days. High praise, indeed.

    One of the key features of this release is an AUSlan sign language version, accessible via the main menu. This is an identical version of the feature, with a window in the bottom right corner featuring sign language for the hard of hearing. A superb inclusion, I must say.

    If your kids are even vaguely interested in The Wiggles, they are sure to be entertained by this great collection of songs and stories. It might just be their best DVD yet.

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

Transfer Quality

Video

    Many short portions of this program were previously broadcast on free-to-air digital television in Australia. The transfer to DVD replicates standard definition digital quality, with 16x9 enhancement and a widescreen ratio of 1.78:1.

    The image is sharp, clear and easy on the eye. The bright, colourful visuals have been transferred without any unsightly bleeding or oversaturation.

    Some minor MPEG artefacts are present in the form of grain and some mild blocking during moments of high motion on screen.

    English subtitles are available for the hearing impaired, and these follow the dialogue accurately. Subtitles for the song lyrics only are also included.

    This disc is dual layered (DVD9 formatted), however there is no layer break present during the feature.

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

Audio

    A Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo soundtrack is included, and is very crisp, clean and free of any major issues.

    The English dialogue is always crystal clear and easy to understand, even during the more energetic musical passages. Audio sync seems to be perfect, however there are a few minor lapses in lip-sync. I doubt these will bother young viewers.

    The stereo mix is lively and well balanced, with plenty of panning to be heard in the music and particularly the effects.

    There is obviously no subwoofer or surround activity to report. Pro Logic processing of this stereo soundtrack did not produce desirable results at all.

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

Extras

Menu

    The menu pages are very colourful, subtly animated and easy to navigate. Pages are available for direct chapter selection by songs or scenes.

Alternate Version - AUSlan Sign Language

    A duplicate of the feature is accessible via the main menu. This alternate version has an oval window in the bottom right of the screen, with sign language that is displayed throughout the feature. The video bitrate on his version is lower than the main feature, so there is more compression artefacting evident.

Featurette- Electronic Storybook: The Rainbow Palace (4:45)

    A short, satisfying story that serves as an extension of the feature.

Gallery-Photo (6:24)

    A collection of photos, covering the Wiggles and some friends in action.

Featurette- The King's Cadillac (1:20)

    Greg and Kamahl introduce the Cadillac that was purchased by Elvis Presley in 1976.

Outtakes- Wiggly Bloopers (9:48)

    A collection of mishaps and giggle-fits on set. It gets a bit monotonous after a few minutes.

Game- Wiggly Game

    A simple game that has the kids match objects using their remote. Once it's played a few times, the novelty wears off quickly.

Featurette- How To Kick A Football (1:57)

    Anthony gets a few tips from some American footballers.

Booklet

    A two-panel colour insert is included with photos, credits and track listing.

R4 vs R1

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

    This disc is only available in Region 4 at the moment.

Summary

    Racing To The Rainbow is great fun for the kids.

    The transfer is decent all round.

    The extras are worthwhile and the inclusion of an alternate AUSlan version is a beauty.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Rob Giles (readen de bio, bork, bork, bork.)
Saturday, September 30, 2006
Review Equipment
DVDDenon DVD-3910, using DVI output
DisplaySanyo PLV-Z2 WXGA projector, Screen Technics Cinemasnap 96" (16x9). Calibrated with Video Essentials/Digital Video Essentials. This display device is 16x9 capable. This display device has a maximum native resolution of 720p.
Audio DecoderBuilt in to amplifier/receiver. Calibrated with Video Essentials/Digital Video Essentials.
AmplificationDenon AVR-2802 Dolby EX/DTS ES Discrete
SpeakersOrpheus Aurora lll Mains (bi-wired), Rears, Centre Rear. Orpheus Centaurus .5 Front Centre. Mirage 10 inch sub.

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