Barney's Great Adventure - The Movie

Being released into the wild, erm, cinemas in 1998, this film managed what could arguably be called the pinnacle of all children’s television achievements: making it onto the big screen. In Barney’s Great Adventure, ever-present luminary of the children’s TV market, Barney the Dinosaur makes his big screen debut. And in the DVD version that’s all they’ve bothered with. The film and a chapter list is all we are granted as consumers and I’m just not sure the film has the ability to hold itself up so well among many rival DVDs that do everything from wash the kids’ hair to play them at chess. Even the daybills for this film - given away free in cinemas at the time - had puzzles and colouring-in activities for the kids on them. So what’s up with that?

"Oh sure, he’s big now, but you just wait... these fads come and go."

Yes, on DVD, Barney is washed up. No doubt he has made billions of dollars for parent company Universal, but isn’t worth the effort to give extras to. Or a widescreen transfer. Or even anything better than Dolby Digital stereo sound. I’m no fan of Barney, but come on. This just isn’t right.

The film sees four kids about to be dropped on their Grandma and Grandpa’s farm for the summer. Sweet Abby and her friend Marcella, brooding Cody and baby Fig (yes, I spelled that right). Abby and Marcella love Barney the Dinosaur and believe if they imagine hard enough he’ll show up. And so they try it and the inevitable happens. Meanwhile, Cody the pre-teen isn’t buying it and demands Barney disappear. It doesn’t work of course (as any adult could have told him...) and Barney is around for the summer. That evening a strange star crashes into the barn and inside is a bizarre egg. As it gestates, the children sing songs with Barney and finally discover it contains a Dreammaker® (sold separately). This is a being who can give rise to your wildest dreams, but through an ongoing colourful series of events, it gets lost and the kids must get it back to the barn or it won’t hatch.

Along the way we learn the importance of sharing and imagination and being creative through the primitive medium of singing and dancing in well-choreographed spontaneous singalongs. Even encouraged as voyeurs to enter into the spirit of things, this is sadly, the only acknowledgement we get as consumers. And it’s aimed at the kids anyway. Oh well.

4:3 gives us every beautiful colour, every wide sweeping scenic vista and every pissy computer animated effect. Obviously banging this one out for the Christmas market (and before the world entirely forgets who Barney is), they haven’t done much to gussey up the film. While colours are rich and well saturated and the picture quality is sharp enough, some of the night shots get a little grainy. Flesh tones are okay and the film is practically artefact-free. Typically picturesque, the film is kinda like a cartoon regarding caricatures of folks. The granddad wears a belt with braces (because he’s a farmer, though what he farms is indeterminate). All the characters from the TV show turn up eventually, though in a surreal fashion, and the film does have its share of continuity errors, but kids won’t notice that right?

Like I said, Dolby Digital stereo brings us each and every song in its perfectly wincing way. Some songs are rapped-up nursery rhymes, like Old McDonald’s Farm and Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star while others are new songs written for the film. Some are a little embarrassing at times, but the littl’uns won’t care.

Dialogue is easily understood and well spoken by our young cast and even Barney himself is pretty well clear with that thick Godfather brogue that all dinosaurs once spoke with. Sound effects are okay and usually added to for comic effect and sound good enough here. I know a surround package would probably be wasted on the kids, but being shot in 1998, surely they recorded this film in something other than stereo? Anyone hear a toilet flush?

Not even subtitles! To be honest I’m surprised we even got a menu.

This film is strictly for kids. Any adult watching it will find it charming in its own way, but probably won’t be able to stomach much of it for long. The highlight among the cast is the adorable nerd from Dr Doolittle, Kyla Pratt as Marcella, though she’s younger here than in those films. No doubt the little girls and boys will love the film, particularly if they’re fans of big purple dinosaurs, though for adults, we might find more to enjoy in a film like Death to Smoochy. It’s an hilarious send up of modern children’s programming which features a very similar character indeed...

The lack of extras for a kid’s movie is an insult and shouldn’t be taken lying down, however for fans of Barney, this is all there is. Disappointing.