marytara's Full Review: Wiggles, The: Wiggly Wiggly Christmas
Plot Details: This opinion reveals major details about the movie's plot.
Wiggly, Wiggly Christmas is one of two Christmas themed Wiggles tapes in our collection. My almost 18-month old son and I tie for the position of #1 Wiggles Fan in the household. We just can't get enough of Wiggles, which is why I'm reviewing a Christmas tape in the middle of summer!
The Wiggly, Wiggly Background
If you are not familiar with The Wiggles, they are a group of four Australian grown men with backgrounds in Early Childhood Education 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.
Holiday Heads up!
As the title of the video suggests, this tape is about Christmas. Make no bones about it, The Wiggles do not attempt to be inclusive of other traditions on this tape. There is mention of Hannukah in the Wiggly Christmas Medly which is the final number, but that is it. The rest of the tape is Christmas from start to finish. This includes, the nativity - JMJ and all the rest of it. This tape also includes Santa. If any of these things are against your belief system this might not be the tape for you.
About The Wiggles: Wiggly, Wiggly Christmas The Wiggles have released two videos with Christmas themes. Wiggly, Wiggly Christmas is their first holiday video (released in 2000) which was followed by Yule Be Wiggling released the following year (2001). The tape is 40 minutes in length and is targetted for children ages 1 through 8 years of age. The program contains a good mix of new songs, traditional Christmas carols as well as special renditions of known Wiggles tunes with a holiday flare.
Wiggly, Wiggly Christmas Song List
1. Have a Very Merry Christmas
2. Wiggly, Wiggly Christmas
3. Here Comes Santa Claus
4. Go Santa Go
5. Ding Dong Merrily on High
6. Christmas Star
7. Unto Us, This Holy Night
8. Feliz Navidad
9. Jingle Bells
10. Christmas Picnic
11. Let's Clap Hands For Santa Claus
12. Henry's Christmas Dance
13. Jeff's Christmas Tune
14. It's a Christmas Party On The Good Ship Feathersword
15. Away in a Manger
16. Wags is Bouncing Around The Christmas Tree
17. Silent Night
18. We Wish You a Merry Christmas
19. Wiggly Christmas Medly
Holiday Happenings
This is definitely a fun tape from The Wiggles If you like getting in the mood for Christmas, and early this is a good place to start. Like many of the earlier Wiggles tapes not much funding was put into fancy sets or production on this tape. There is some computer animation between each number which simply announces the name of the next song on the screen. The bulk of the program all takes place against the same set with a few simple props, including a Christmas tree and a cardboard sleigh. Instead of the famous Big Red Car, we have Santa's sleigh. And, for reindeer and elves we have the Wiggles dancers.
Oh, and I can't forget that Santa joins the Wiggles too!
The video begins with an introduction of The Wiggles in Have a Very Merry Christmas and then goes into three songs all about Santa including the traditional song Here Comes Santa Claus.
Go Santa Go happens to be a favorite of mine with Greg and the rest of the Wiggles dancing a dance that looks like it came out of the musical Grease, or something like that. The song is all about the journey Santa takes on Christmas.
After getting our hearts pumping and the adrenaline flowing we then take a bit of a pause and watch as young children decorate a small christmas tree to the tune of Ding Dong Merrily on High which is an instrumental song accompanied by Captain Feathersword ringing a great big bell. The song is followed by a gentile and sweet ballad like tune called Christmas Star. This is one of the songs where Greg (the Yellow Wiggle) really shows his vocal talent as he delivers a sweet and innocent tune all about a peaceful nativity setting. In the song, he describes a star shining bright, a baby sleeping through the night as the animals watch over. All the children are gathered around him seated on the floor and the lights are dimmed.
Like all Wiggles tapes, plenty of children are involved. These are real children, not actors and some of their innocent mistakes are what make the tapes so great. The children are putting on a nativity scene and Anthony sits down and talks to a Shepard, Joseph, Mary, and a Sheep. The little boy who plays Joseph is actually named Joseph and when asked about what his job is, he responds "I put my arm around Mary". I thought that was great!! Claire plays Mary and she has a special shawl for her head with a star on it. Much effort is put forth by one of the Wisemen to get her shawl tied on properly. Its all really good stuff, brought me right back to CCD lessons. Speaking of nativity, what follows is a wonderful upbeat song called Unto Us, This Holy Night which gets to the real meaning of Christmas, none of that Santa stuff - we're talking about the birth of baby Jesus. The children act out the nativity in the background.
To take a break from the religious aspects of Christmas, Spanish dancers come on stage and the Wiggles sing Feliz Navidad along with some crazy looking puppets that look like they belong in a Taco Bell commercial. Its all good, fun.
Time for Jingle Bells as The Wiggles decorate a giant cardboard sleigh. Jeff has these great big cardboard scissors and he dances around with them. I guess that his mother never told him that its not good to "Wiggle with Scissors!".
All the wiggling with scissors wore him out though, and like in all Wiggles programs, Jeff falls asleep. He dreams about the beach and a sand castle. Since its summertime in Australia at Christmastime - The Wiggles go to the Beach and have a Christmas Picnic with Santa, Dorothy the Dinosaur, Wags the Dog, Henry the Octopus, and friends. They make a sand castle together and have a picnic and feast on the beach. It looks great and is very different than the white Christmas that I'm used to here.
After being in that Santa suit on a hot beach, Santa needs a round of applause. So, Let's Clap Hands for Santa Claus - which is a very quick tune about how great Santa is. My son loves to clap his hands and so he clapped right away along with the Wiggles and this tune. Very cute, since he doesn't know who Santa is.
No Wiggles tape is without special appearances of the Wiggles friends. The first Wiggles friend is Henry the Octopus who leads a special dance, Henry's Christmas Dance, is in honor of Christmas coming. It includes some special moves like putting your hands above your head like a Christmas tree, etc. This is a song that is intended for kids to get up and wiggle and dance. The moves are all easy to do and even young toddlers can imitate them. Dorothy the Dinosaur shows us all what a good dancer she is and does tap dancing, line dancing, Scottish dancing, and her favorite - Irish Dancing. All the children are dressed like reindeer, and they dance to Jeff's Christmas Tune. Captain Feathersword (my favorite) groans and moans because he has eaten too much Christmas food - boy have I been there before! He may have a full belly but he is still able to celebrate with It's a Christmas Party of the Good Ship Feathersword. This is an adaptation of popular Wiggles tune with the focus on all the food that you eat at Christmas time. We know, the Wiggles love to eat, especially fruit salad! Ahoy there, me hearties!.
After all that fun, its time to take a break again. So, the children all join around Greg again, the lights dimmed and he sings Away in a Manger. The cadence is changed a bit and he sings it as a lullaby. I almost wish it was at the very end of the tape, for that reason.
But, no dice.
All of the Wiggles then share a fun skit about their presents for Wags the Dog. The each have gotten him a bone, and its wrapped in their signature color. Wags then joins them and says he has a present for them too and its a bone! Wags is so thrilled and happy and they join in with Wags Is Bouncing Around The Christmas Tree.
And then its quiet-time again. Greg leads a traditional round of Silent Night and the children sway side to side. They are dressed in their nativity clothing and a handful of the kids are dressed like animals. Gathered around the cradle, one young little girl is very fascinated with baby Jesus but Mary holds Jesus (a doll) tight and Joseph protects them both (his arm is around her).
The tape ends with The Wiggles singing We Wish You a Merry Christmas and wishing everyone a Wiggly, Wiggly Christmas and Happy New Year!. A bonus song is included which is actually a medly of tunes from one of the Live Shows taped around the holiday time. They perform a few segments from handful of the same songs from the tape plus a few new ones, including the Little Drummer Boy which is none-other than Officer Beaples.
Overall
Definitely a fun tape to add to your Wiggles collection if you are a Wiggles fan looking for a Christmas compilation. I enjoy it because of the mix of Santa type christmas songs, new Wiggles tunes, and traditional carols including the nativity songs. I do wish that they had looked at the pacing of the tape. It has quite a few peaks and valleys and I think that the slower songs in the middle may be "boring" to some children. I would have rather they ended the program with the quieter almost lullaby-like versions of Away in a Manger and Silent Night, and I'm sure some other Mother's might agree with me.
Wishing you a Wiggly, Wiggly Christmas all year long!
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