3-2-1 Penguins! Trouble on Planet Wait-Your-Turn
Reviewed by: Josh Johnson
CONTRIBUTOR
| Moral Rating: | Excellent! |
| Moviemaking Quality: |
|
| Primary Audience: | Family |
| Genre: | Animation Adventure |
| Length: | 30 min. |
| Year of Release: | 2000 |
| USA Release: |
November 14, 2000 |
| Featuring |
|---|
|
Mark Marten … Jason (voice) Melissa Peterson … Michelle (voice) Pamela Thomas … Grandmum / Mom (voice) Ron Wells … Dad / Zidgel (voice) Greg Mills … Midgel (voice) Page Hearn (Page H. Hearn) … Fidgel (voice) Ron Smith … Kevin / Vacuum Character (voice) Mike Nawrocki … Vacuum Character (voice) Eric Metaxas … Vacuum Character (voice) Pat Keane … Vacuum Character (voice) Keith Lango … Vacuum Character (voice) Amanda Fragale … Vacuum Character (voice) |
| Director |
|
Ron Smith |
| Producer |
|
Jon Gadsby Maya Autodesk Big Idea Productions |
| Distributor |
|
Warner Home Video |
Years ago, Big Idea productions created the groundbreaking video series Veggie Tales, which successfully combined Sunday school values and Saturday morning fun. Now, the creators of Veggie Tales have created an entirely new series that promises to live up to the first series.
“3-2-1 Penguins!” follows the story of two young children, Jason and Michelle, who have adventures with space-traveling penguins while visiting their grandmother. Because this is the first episode in the series, there is a lot of character development and not as much plot as later episodes will have.
In this episode, “Trouble on Planet Wait-Your-Turn”, Jason is acting impatiently until a toy spaceship and some penguin figurines come to life, and he is taken into outer space to help on a mission. On Planet Wait-Your-Turn, the locals’ desire to always be before everyone else has spread to the planet itself. As a result, the planet has broken its orbit and is now the first planet in the solar system, which means that it’s too close to the sun. Jason has to help the penguins while also learning the importance of patience.
In terms of quality, “3-2-1 Penguins!” is right up there with Veggie Tales. The plot is good, the humor fits in with the story nicely, and the animation is superb. The older fans will enjoy this new series as much as the younger fans. “3-2-1 Penguins!” has the same solid morals and Christian messages as Veggie Tales. The message of this video is clear: God wants us to be patient and to let others come before us.
I have been a fan of Big Idea’s works since I was in high school. I got this tape the day it came out, and my friends and I all loved it. I’m looking forward to future episodes of the series. I definitely recommend this video.
The folks at Big Idea have compared this series to “Chroincles of Narnia” meets “Chuck Jones” and that is a bit overstated. It seemed unbelieveable to me that a boy who was shrunk and brought into another world wouldn’t have been scared. Then to go to a planet full of vacuum cleaners? Why? My children thought that was so stupid. I think the whole show was a stretch. The animation was good, as is most of what Big Idea puts out, but the story was lacking… just a bit contrived to me and mine. [4/3]
My only real problem with the story […spoiler here, feel free not to read further!] was that in the end it was supposedly Jason’s allowing someone else to go first which solved the problem, although earlier the captain said to Kevin something like “OK, if that’s your attitude then you go first” when he kicked him out of the ship. Admittedly not the offer, but the attitude. In all I think the imagination and humor are on par with VT and I want to see more! My Ratings: [Excellent / 5]