marytara's Full Review: Wiggles, The: Wake Up Jeff!
Plot Details: This opinion reveals major details about the movie's plot.
This is yet another review of a children's video from The Wiggles who are currently getting top viewing priveleges in our house.
A Wiggly Background
If you are not familiar with The Wiggles, they are a group of four Australian grown men who sing and dance around and perform children's tunes. Each member of The Wiggles (Greg, Murray, Anthony, and Jeff) wears their own color (Yellow, Red, Blue, and Purple) and has a distinct performance personality. The Wiggles are joined by a few of their friends which include: a pirate (Captain Feathersword), a dog (Wags the Dog), a green dinosaur (Dorothy the Dinosaur), a purple octopus (Henry the Octopus) and a few other friends - which add to the fun. Their biggest appeal is the 6 and under crowd with a strong toddler contingent making up quite a large fanbase in Australia, US, and Canada.
About Wake Up Jeff! Wake Up Jeff! is a 37 minute tape containing 15 songs from The Wiggles. There isn't much of a plot to this tape, because its all about the songs and dance. The purpose is to get kids up and dancing, enjoying the music and the plot is really secondary. In a nutshell, the plot involves the pianist/accordianist Jeff (Purple Shirt) who keeps falling asleep at the most inopportune moments and the rest of The Wiggles gang who "wake him up" with their song and dance and silly skits.
Wake Up Jeff! was released in 2000 shortly after Wiggle Time and Yummy Yummy had become big hits with children everywhere. While not as technologically sophisticated as recent releases from The Wiggles, this offering is a tad less primitive than its forebearers. Instead of taking place on a single stage throughout the entire tape, on Wake up Jeff! the background settings for the song and dance numbers are varied according to the theme of the tune. For example, Having Fun At The Beach features The Wiggles on a surfboard (all 4 on 1 surfboard) riding the waves. In this case, they really aren't surfing and it was obviously done with use of a blue screen but they weren't going for realism here and kids enjoy it none the less.
Wake Up Jeff! Track Listing
1. We Like to Say Hello
2. Henry's Underwater Big Band
3. Having Fun at The Beach
4. Bing Bang Bong (That's a Pirate Song)
5. Bucket of Dew/Paddy Condon From Cobar
6. Wake Up Jeff!
7. Dorothy (Would you like to Dance?)
8. Take a Trip out on the Sea
9. Romp Bomp A Stomp
10. I can Do So Many Things
11. Wave To Wags
12. Pipers Waltz (instrumental)
13. Goodbye Dance (instrumental)
14. Can You Point Your Fingers and Do The Twist?
15. D.O.R.O.T.H.Y (My Favorite Dinosaur)
Our Favorites
By far our favorite segments are the following:
Henry's Underwater Big Band Bing Bang Bong (That's a Pirate Song!) Wave to Wags Romp Bomp A Stomp D.O.R.O.T.H.Y (My favorite Dinosaur)
If you are familiar with The Wiggles you'll notice that these numbers all have something in common. These are the ones that involve other the other "Wiggles Characters" - Dorothy The Dinosaur, Wags the Dog, Captain Feathersword, and Henry the Octopus. These numbers are really fun and entertaining for kids (and parents) and the characters really come alive through the music and dance.
Not so keen on the following Wake Up Jeff! begins with skit that involves The Wiggles "freezing" and becoming like statues everytime an alarm bell rings. I don't know if its the alarm bell or the frozen expressions but this skit is a bit upsetting to my toddler (16 mths). Just a word of caution for those with a younger audience.
There are two instrumental only numbers on this tape that are just "so-so".
Pipers Waltz Goodbye Dance
I think the concept of instrumental with dance only is good. Unfortunately without the song-aspect these numbers don't live up to the rest of The Wiggles standards. Also, after giving it quite a bit of thought, I think these 2 numbers would have worked out better if they were at the very end of the tape. Properly placed at the end of the tape they could have served as "wind-down" from the rest of the upbeat program. I just think that they would have had a better flow at the end. I always almost get up and turn the tape off after the "Goodbye Dance" - it just seems logical that Goodbye implies the end of the program.
One last "downside" (if you consider it that) is that it seems like Wake up Jeff! flies by. The tape being less than 45 minutes ends very quickly. With little ones, this is good because their attention only holds for just so long but for older children they may like one of the longer Wiggles programs instead.
Overall Recommendation Wake Up Jeff! is an enjoyable Wiggles program for young (and old) Wiggles fans. Given my choices it is not the first tape that I put in, or the one that my son enjoys the most but its good for some variation. Of course, the best thing about The Wiggles is that your child (if anything like mine) is not just sitting and watching characters on the screen. Instead, they are up dancing and moving. The Wiggles have really opened up a new world of song and dance for my toddler. If you know of a toddler who likes rhythm, movement, music or fingerplays consider introducing them to The Wiggles. Because this is one of the shorter Wiggles programs it might serve well as a good introduction to The Wiggles and their entire cast of crazy (and fun) characters. Captain Feathersword is my favorite (Ahoy There!)
Keep Wiggling!
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My Wiggles Reviews
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