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Clifford: Clifford's Doghouse Adventures

Lionsgate Home Entertainment // Unrated // February 6, 2007
List Price: $14.98 [Buy now and save at Amazon]

Review by John Crichton | posted April 10, 2007 | E-mail the Author
Originally published in 1962 by Norman Bridwell, Clifford the Big Red Dog gets animated thanks to Scholastic, who adapted Clifford for PBS Kids beginning in 2000. Doghouse Adventures collects nine episodes that follow Clifford and his friends Cleo, T-Bone & Mac and their various adventures on Birdwell Island.

Included on the disc are:

• Clifford Cleans His Room - As Clifford is cleaning his room, he reminisces about how he obtained items like Mr. Bleakman's boots, Emily's mom's mop and a towel that he and the gang found at the beach.

• Doggie Garden - Clifford, Cleo and T-Bone do their part to keep Birdwell Island beautiful by planting their very own garden.

• Screaming for Ice Cream - On a hot day during the summer, Emily Elizabeth and her friend Charlie get into trouble with his dad's ice cream machine. Thankfully, Clifford, Cleo and T-Bone are more than willing to help out.

• Jetta's Project - This one doesn't feature Clifford and his gang as much as the other 'toons. Instead, the story revolves around Jetta getting Charlie to work with her instead of Emily Elizabeth.

• Then Came Bob - Clifford has to deal with a mischievous new friend named Bob, who always seems to be getting in trouble, with Clifford getting the blame.

• Clothes Don't Make the Dog - After Mac makes some derogatory comments on his new sweater, T-Bone spends the entire cartoon hiding from his owner for fear of hurting his feelings for not wearing the sweater. Little does he know that

• Limelight Fright - Though she's a good dance, Cleo stresses over having to dance in front of an audience during a talent show put on by Emily Elizabeth and her friends. With her friends' support, she finds it isn't as scary as she thinks.

• Clifford's Cookie Craving - The carnival hits Birdwell and Clifford, Cleo and T-Bone decide to clean up since "if it drops on the ground or it's headed that way, it belongs to the dogs and that's okay!". However, Clifford soon becomes enamored with Mr. Bleakman's giant cookie since it's as big as he is.

• Guess Who's Coming to Birdwell - Despite T-Bone's assertion that they should be themselves, Clifford and the gang decide to spruce up their appearances to look "special" to impress Oscar, a "Best In Show" champion visiting Birdwell Island. Once Oscar hits the island, it turns out that T-Bone was right all along - it pays to be yourself. 

Video: Clifford the Big Red Dog's Doghouse Adventures is presented in a full-frame 1.33:1 ratio. The picture is very sharp and colorful with deep reds and lovely pastels. I didn't notice any artifacts or grain. Plain and simple, this disc looks fantastic - as well it should.

Audio: We have two audio options - English and Spanish 2.0 Dolby Digital. Both were crystal clear and serviceable, with the majority of the sound coming out of my center channel.

Big Fun Features: Broken down in to three categories, viewers can choose from:

• Where Did Clifford Hide It? - An unremarkable "game" where children read the screen and attempt to locate the item mentioned. Pretty useless.

• Speckle Stories - Emily Elizabeth reads Clifford some stories about Speckle - "Speckle and the Magnificent Magnified World", "Speckle and the Great Story" and "Speckle and the Indoor Picnic" - that each run about a minute and a half long.

• Trailer Gallery - Nothing more than trailers for "Happily N'ever After", "the Last Unicorn", "Miss Spider: the Prince, the Princess And the Bee" and "Rock & Bop/Dance & Hop With the Doodlebops"

In addition to a Gallery and a "Where Did Clifford Hide It?" "game", there are three Speckle stories - "Speckle and the Magnificent Magnified World", "Speckle and the Great Story" and "Speckle and the Indoor Picnic" - that each run about a minute and a half long.

Conclusion: Clifford the Big Red Dog's Doghouse Adventures is a Highly Recommended disc for youngsters of all ages. It's not as frenetic or "aggressive" as something like Lazy Town or some of the other contemporary shows for kids, and they don't hammer kids over the head with an "overt" message. Scholastic also deserves props for putting nine episodes (or almost two hours of content) on this disc - far too many children's DVDs today only slap on 3 or 4 episodes, in an effort to force parents to purchase other collections. In the end, you and your children will enjoy the leisurely pace of Doghouse Adventures. I know my family did.

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