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  • Widescreen 1.59:1
  • 16:9 Enhanced
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  • English: Dolby Digital Stereo
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    English - Hearing Impaired
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    Hi-5 - Five Alive
    Roadshow Entertainment/Roadshow Entertainment . R4 . COLOR . 48 mins . G . PAL

      Feature
    Contract

    I got worn out just watching these youngsters do their thang. The onslaught of activity, colour, beaming smiles and youthful exuberance was the opposing spectrum of my own spiralling destiny. This is what my life of binge drinking, eating cake and sleeping through the day has brought me to; merely watching people move around happily. At least they’re all good looking and sweet, not like that last kid’s show I watched... what was it? Two Fat Ladies? Anyhow, I’ve hauled myself to the computer to write about these young hairstyle magnets, so here goes...

    There’s no wonder this stuff appeals to kids. There is so much eye candy at any given moment, with garish and lurid colour and detail all around, it’s gotta be one step away from giving seizures. When I was a kid we got Play School® with Big Ted® and Jemima®. We only sang about Bananas in Pyjamas® and Bettina didn’t wear slinky see-through stuff to awards nights (dammit). The test card had a picture of Mr Squiggle® on it with some undisclosed woman (Miss Jane® probably) and was boring. About the only cool thing to watch was Humphrey B. Bear® and he didn’t say much (although, I always felt I understood that fun-loving bear perfectly... like he and I shared a secret communication). Oh well. You can’t beat progress.

    So these five youngsters are full of beans, right? They dance around and sing with their own voices and their own dance steps and I just couldn’t keep up. Still, I kinda wish I was a kid with all this ultra-cool stuff for them that’s around these days. What with their hula hoops and Scooby-Doo® lunchboxes and Hi-5 DVDs, they’ve got it made. During this DVD I learned how to kick a soccer ball around, exercise with common household items, be friendly, sing songs and do dance moves. I learned how to do Tai Kwon Do, what my Gluteus Maximus actually is and what to wear for a hoedown (flannelette shirts as it turns out. No wonder the guys kept picking on me when I showed up dressed like a spaceman).

    There isn’t a kid alive (under eight) who couldn’t enjoy this and it is refreshing to see that kids today are being educated in fun ways about exercise, healthy eating habits, sun protection and the fun of pretending to be stuff. Oh, and wearing vinyl pants. Seriously though, this is bound to keep the kids amused for weeks, but it gets a little loud with all the singing, so parents and guardians may wanna step out of the room occasionally.

      Video
      Audio
      Extras
    Contract

    Picture quality is excellent, of course. There is occasional aliasing and flaring of colour, but that can hardly be helped when the show is so glaringly colourful. I swear they’ve invented two new colours that have never been seen before just for this program. Lurid is a good word, as is bright, whilst another is intense, yet the colours work like some sort of siren song, attracting the eye until you can’t help but be dashed to pieces on the rocks. Flesh tones are all nicely even and as for shadow detail... erm, what shadows? It’s a constant sunshiny day in Hi-5 Land, and I’m booking tickets.

    All the dialogue is very clearly delivered by our perky hosts and is also sung eloquently when required. The sound effects are naturally comedic boings and crashes and doodooloodooloops that are creatively employed to enhance the Hi-5 experience (for both kids and grouchy reviewers). Musically, the kids are perfectly catered for with a wide ranging series of songs and styles that encompasses a variety of stuff. And again, the kids will love it. There’s also plenty of cool animation and cutaways and shots of actual kids doing what kids do best... which is, of course, be kids.

    The main menu gives us the ability to cut to any of the parts of the DVD which is hosted by your favourite Hi-5inator, which is handy if you're keen on one of them. You can even repeat that bit again and again say, on Kathleen if you like her best... or one of the others. We can also cut to either of the ‘Sharing Stories’ which is a live-acted, live-read story, or one of three karaoke numbers with or without singalong words. These are entitled Boom Boom Beat, Friends Forever and Rain Rain Go Away which was particularly relevant where I live today.

    So, the kids will go ape for this stuff. Any adult not afraid to act like a kid or who can remember what it was like to be a kid is always gonna find friends in children, and there’s no doubt these Hi-5inators have thousands of them. Clever production, classy marketing and genuine fresh enthusiasm has already bought these dudes an unholy army of fans and releasing DVDs of this calibre is sure to win them yet more.


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  •   And I quote...
    "I don’t remember being this energetic and enthusiastic at that age. Or that cute and well dressed."
    - Jules Faber
      Review Equipment
    • DVD Player:
          Nintaus DVD-N9901
    • TV:
          Sony 51cm
    • Receiver:
          Diamond
    • Speakers:
          Diamond
    • Surrounds:
          No Name
    • Audio Cables:
          Standard Optical
    • Video Cables:
          Standard Component RCA
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