Children’s Classics Collection is retrotastic, but slow for kids 8 & up

Every generation has a certain style of animation to their cartoons when they grow up. If you grew up in the early 80s your style was soft, rounded edges, with lots of storytelling, morals and lessons to share all day long. Children’s Classics Collection is the cannon of early 80’s animation that you may, or may not have been screaming for. If you grew up with it and want to show it to your children under 8 then it’s for  you; otherwise you might watch it for nostalgia.

Children’s Classics Collection is a four-DVD compilation of episodes, short movies or shows from Dorothy in the Land of Oz, The World of Strawberry Shortcake, Puff the Magic Dragon and Peter & The Magic Egg. I have memories of Puff the Magic Dragon, but, being that I am from this era, knew about all of the shows.

For the record, I feel like a dinosaur now that I just said, ‘from this era’.

Our five year old liked Puff the Magic Dragon best. It’s got a dragon who teaches children about various aspects of being a good person. That could include, being honest, sharing, nice or other slogans that Google could incorporate into simply not being evil. By today’s animation show standards the show is slow, but it still kept his interest and taught a positive lesson.  Quite frankly I was surprised that it held his attention for 30 minutes.  It’s a classic, is quite touching and it’s great to hear Burgess Meredith again.

Other kids may also like Dorothy in the Land of Oz and Strawberry Shortcake.  Neither one of ours cared for them, but, it’s a classic. I don’t mean that as a throw-away, but these shows, especially the later are referenced in pop culture very frequently.  Eventually they’ll (especially the later) will be made into full length movies and introduced to a whole new audience.

If your children are 8 or under they’ll like some- if not all of the shows on Children’s Classics Collection.  Each show comes on its own DVD and they have various running times.