Veggie Tales will soon be releasing their first full length movie in theaters. To help prepare the public for this event they have released JONAH: SING ALONG SONGS. It includes four new songs, as well as older songs with sea themes.

THE PLOT
A plot in a sing-along? you ask. Well, as will other Veggie sing-alongs, Bob and Larry introduce all the music clips with typical veggie zaniness. (These clips were actually taken from the JONAH:AN OVERBOARD ADVENTURE VBS program clips.) Arichibald Asparagus is playing Jonah in the movie, but won't come out of his dressing room to play the scene where Jonah gets swallowed by the fish. Over the coarse of the show Larry tries a variety of silly stunts to convince Achibald to play the scene. Larry tries to inspire Archibald with heroes from the silver screen, like Indiana Larry, and Larry Bond. He tries to bribe Archibald out with some movie theater popcorn, and even tries to auction off some veggie items to raise money to help Archibald. During all this silliness they address all sorts of godly values, like letting go of anger, serving others, mercy and compassion.

OPENING SONG
They open the show with the expected Veggie Tales Theme Song. It's the same as any other Veggie Tales, but they've added words across the bottom, so we can sing along.

MESSAGE FROM THE LORD
This is actually a song from the movie. It shows Jonah bringing the people of a town a message from the Lord. With lines like "wash your hands before you eat" it gives practical advice. While it is on the more serious side of a veggie song, it does get progressively more silly, and is quite a lot of fun.

THE PIRATES WHO DON'T DO ANYTHING The Remix
The words to this song are the words we all know and love. The change comes with the thrashing guitar and drum accompanyment, and periodic skipping at the end of lines. It's a song about all the things that these "pirates" have never done. They cover everything from never going to Boston in the Fall, to never kissing a chipmunk and never painting daisies on a big red rubber ball. It's a fun and crazy song, but I must say that I think I like the first version a little better.

VIKING MEDLEY
This is a conglomeration of the short versions of all the music from LYLE THE KINDLY VIKING. This is the kind of think I don't like about sing alongs. I have all these songs already. There's nothing new here, and they're much better in the context of the actual movie. I'm sure that kids, the intended audience, love this sort of thing. I wouldn't ever buy this kind of video if it wasn't for the new material.

BELLY OF THE WHALE
This song right here makes the entire tape worth purchasing. Of course, I'm an avid Newsboys fan, and this is a song sung by the Newsboys with video clips of both the movie and their concerts. "I'm sleeping with fishes here; In the belly of the whale; I'm highly nutritious here; In the belly of the whale; Bad food lousy atmosphere; In the belly of the whale." That's a taste of the first chorus. This song is Newsboys zaniness combined with veggie silliness for a combination that's catchy and hilarious. You'll be humming this song all day.

BILLY JOE MVGUFFREY
This is a song sung by Chris Rice. If I were 5, I'd probably be more entertained, or I just might have been bored. It's hard to say. It's about a kid who is really clumsy and ends up with a lot of doctor bills, until all the doctor bills get him a big loan for college. In the opinion of this 23 year old, this is a stupid song, and Chris Rice just sunk a couple of rungs on the ladder. There are a couple of entertaining lyrics like "and got squirted by a skunk." It says that it's a "Twippo Classic." I don't know what twippo is, and I don't think I want to know.

SECOND CHANCES
This is another song from the movie Jonah. This is done in the high gospel style. Kahlil, the worm who ate Jonah's plant in the movie, does some fun break dancing. The singing makes you want to shake your booty and get down with God while raising your hands and singing along. It's a high energy song with a great message. "Our God is a God of second chances."

NOTE
Could a man actually survive being eaten by a large creature of the sea? I was curious about this and found my answer at this site: http://www.asa3.org/ASA/PSCF/1991/PSCF12-91Davis.html

CONCLUSION
I'm a little too old to appreciate a sing along for what it actually is. I only get them because I don't want to miss our on the new tidbits that the veggies have to offer. With that said, this is my favorite of their sing alongs, only because of the Newsboys song. I'm sure children who are fans of sing alongs will find this one just as great as any other. Parents might find that this tape is a little bit of a marketing scheme for JONAH the movie. Well, you just bought a tape called JONAH: SING-ALONG SONGS which was released BEFORE the movie. ALSO the cover states "Featuring 4 New Songs from and inspired by Jonah- a VeggieTales Movie." If you weren't expecting a little bit of marketing from the cover.... The one question this video left me with comes from the back cover. It states "Featuring Songs Performed by Chris Rice, Newsboys and Anointed." It was obvious which songs were by Chris Rice and the Newsboys, but they didn't tell you which was by Anointed. My guess is that it was the song SECOND CHANCES from the movie, but they forgot to tell us. Overall, the music on this sing-along is a little more adult and less silly than in past sing-alongs.

FINAL RECCOMENDATION
This video is for die hard Veggie fans, and die hard Newsboys fans, and kids who like sing-alongs. If you don't fall into any of those categories, wait and go see the movie.

Recommended:
No

Viewing Format: VHS
Video Occasion: Better than Watching TV
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children up Ages 8