Pooh's actions set the 30-minute story in motion, as Owl teaches the gang how to write letters and how rhymes work. It's a pretty educational disc, hidden in a popular kids cartoon. The pace isn't bad for most of the show, but when you're dealing with kids, even one lapse in action can lead to wandering. A chase that takes place early in the cartoon, that goes on and on and on made me want to go draw on the walls.

My mother-in-law, a first-grade teacher, sat in on my screening of this disc, and she said it wasn't a bad disc, it just aimed a bit high, considering the age range listed on the package. She also noted that while the disc is presented as an ABCs lesson, it's better as an introduction to rhyming words, and that in that capacity, it's an excellent disc. I can't argue with her on that matter.

The DVDs
There's not much different between this disc and the 123 DVD, so excuse me for repeating myself: Disney has packaged the full-screen 30-minute disc in its standard white keepcase, with an explanatory insert that talks about the main cartoon and the extras. Audio options include English and French 5.1 tracks, while English subtitles can be turned on. My mother-in-law felt they would be a big help for first-graders, so they can see the letters. This DVD is a Disney FastPlay disc, which means after inserting the DVD, the feature, followed by the bonus feature, plays automatically. Of course, that means automatic previews as well. If you do choose to use the menus, they are animated and anamorphic widescreen.

The Quality
This disc isn't made for videophiles, but the full-screen video looks very good, without any kind of problem. This is a pretty recent production, so that kind of quality is to be expect from Disney. In an unusual move for a kids-only DVD, the soundtrack is presented in 5.1 Surround. There are no surround effects nor is there an aggressive mix, but it does sound nice.

The Extras
Like the 123 DVD, this disc has previews and two bonus features, one a song video, the other an interactive activity. Played over old Pooh cartoon clips, the song is "Disney's ABC Song" a new take on the old stand-by. In my mother-in-law's view the song is fine when presenting three letters at a time, followed by a call-and-repeat repetition. But then, in the second half, it presents 14 letters at one time, too many for young children to remember. Her opinion is that it should be slower, less complicated and more repetitive. My view? The old "next time won't you sing with me" song is best.

The second bonus is the "Easy as ABC Letter Activity," an introduction to the alphabet, how to write the letters and words that start with those letters. The instructions seemed overly complicated to me, while my mother-in-law felt it was too slow and tedious for 2- to 5-year-olds and too advanced for kids that young. In order to get anything out of it, she says, kids would need to have a pen and paper to write along with the disc, and even then, the explanations on how to form letters are too advanced in terms of ideas, such as left and right. She also noted that the teaching of how to write a "T" goes against the traditional instructions taught in school.

The Bottom Line
More entertaining than the 123 DVD, it still suffers from the same problems, the biggest being the lack of anything worthy of an adult's attention. Though a good intro to rhyming, the concepts would likely go over the head of the average 2- to 5-year-old. My mother-in-law felt the audience for this disc is in the 4- to 6-year-old range. Myself, I think it might take an act of Congress to get a kid that old to sit through a disc that, at times, drags like Eeyore on a bad day.

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*The Reviewer's Bias section is an attempt to help readers use the review to its best effect. By knowing where the reviewer's biases lie on the film's subject matter, one can read the review with the right mindset.