Review of Barney: Can You Sing That Song?

Introduction

Possibly the scariest of the Tyrannosaurid dinosaurs of the Cretaceous era is Tyrannosaurus Purpura Barneii, or Barney the Dinosaur - seven foot of purple plush with a penchant for singing "If You`re Happy And You Know It".

Sing That Song is sixty minutes of the Goofy-voiced puce lizard and his primary-coloured pals keeping a studio audience of American preschoolers and Mums entertained with the kind of routine Brian Cant used to do on Play Away back in the days BT (before Tellytubbies).

The show follows a game-show style of format which the youngsters in the audience participate in the fun and games. Unfortunately, the youngsters in the audience are, to an anklebiter, precocious stage-kids of the Bonnie Langford variety.

Video

An eye-achingly gaudy videotape production made in 4:3.

Audio

The sound is Dolby Digital 2.0. Would you really want Barney singing "Old King Cole" in DTS??

Features

There is a "sneak peek" on the main menu of a feature presentation of Bob The Builder called "Built To Be Wild" that lasts an epic 11 seconds. There is a karaoke singalong of all the songs featured in the show, a photogallery of ten images of Barney and his friends from the show and a Barney Website Link. There is also a text piece "Your Child And Barney" informing parents how much good Barney products are for their children.

The show is fully subtitled for hard of hearing viewers. The subtitles also make excellent reading cues for youngsters, incidentally.

Conclusion

Harmless fun for the preschool generation, but very Americocentric. I`d strongly advise alternating Barney with stuff like Bob The Builder if you don`t want your four-year-old developing a transatlantic twang.