This is my second excursion into the land of Shopkins. I might have come off a little harsh for the first go-around, (which you can read here) but this time, I'm older and wiser. Though I still have a hard time with the metaphysical aspect of a line of toys about shopping, that primes young girls to shop by making them shop, shop, shop, (or something) I was charmed by this feature-length adventure.

Shopkins are animate consumer products, from a bunch of bananas, to a lipstick, to a crown. (Which isn't really a consumer product, but what can you do?) The Shopkins have human friends, sassy girls known as Shoppies. The group has wild adventures, originally told in a short-form web-series format. Now they're going world-wide in this movie that finds Shopkin Kooky Cookie turned into an international fashion sensation through the inadvertent theft of a crown jewel.

While travelling the globe, Kooky and friends try to hide the fact that Kooky is no fashionista, while fending off the original jewel thieves, and the rightful owner of the ‘Shop Diamond'. It's an adventure filled with songs, humor, and mildly-questionable life-lessons for its target audience.

It should come as no surprise that I'm not a member of that audience, and my 11-year-old daughter appears to have left that group as well, as she had zero interest in watching this with me. No matter, a beer or two made the whole thing go down in a pleasant haze, highlighting a few jokes for adults, some peppy dance songs, (including one that sounds like a close approximation of French popsters Phoenix) and the realization that Kooky Cookie is just a watered-down version of Meatwad from Aqua Teen Hunger Force.

If that's not enough to get you to buy or rent this for your kid, I don't know what is. Shopkins: World Vacation brings to the table eye-popping Flash animation, a relatively engaging plot, (with only one credited writer!) humor for both kids and their unwitting parents (a worm doing ‘the worm' was a highlight) and some catchy dance songs. At 70-minutes length, it will hold your adolescent's attention without making you want to gouge your eyes out, plus it goes easy on the exhortation to shop-til-you-drop. I'd say Rent It, but it comes with an exclusive Biscuit Bandit Shopkin, so if your kid is a collector then it's recommended.

The DVD

Video:
Shopkins: World Vacation arrives in a 1.78:1 ratio presentation that highlights the crisp Flash animation and bright, over-saturated colors nicely. (I can't imagine how searing the image would be in 4k.) With no compression artifacts present, this is a state-of-the-art animation DVD.

Sound:
The Dolby Digital 5.1 audio track is equally excellent, perfectly mixing voices both chirpy and otherwise with the robust musical score. No complaints here.

Extras:
Extras include the aforementioned Exclusive Biscuit Bandit Shopkin, an additional 10-minute Shopkins episode Shopkins Bring Europe To Jessicake and two Karaoke Music Videos for the songs ‘Move It Like You Mean It' and ‘Ready To Go'.

Final Thoughts:
Shopkins: World Vacation brings to the table eye-popping Flash animation, a relatively engaging plot, (with only one credited writer!) humor for both kids and their unwitting parents (a worm doing ‘the worm' was a highlight) and some catchy dance songs. At 70-minutes length, it will hold your adolescent's attention without making you want to gouge your eyes out, plus it goes easy on the exhortation to shop-til-you-drop. I'd say Rent It, but it comes with an exclusive Biscuit Bandit Shopkin, so if your kid is a collector then it's recommended.

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