PlaySkool Busy Ball Popper

When my son was younger we bought him a Busy Ball Popperfrom Playskool. Apparently Hasbro bought Playskool, as Amazon.com calls it a "Hasbro Playskool Busy Ball Popper." He was about 9 months old when we bought it, and was not very mobile. We thought this could entertain him while he was sitting around.

The ball popper is a pretty basic toy. There is a fan that circulates air through a tube and shoots balls up through the top, where they go down a spiral slide and start the process all over again. When my wife first described the toy to me before we bought it, I thought it sounded dangerous. "Just what our boy needs", I thought. "Something that can shoot him in the eye." She assured me that it was perfectly safe, and it turns out she was right. There is not a lot of force behind the balls as they launch, and he never stuck his face in the path.

Our initial reaction when we installed the batteries and turned it on was of disappointment. The balls didn't seem to have enough oomph to make it out of the tube. I could create a vacuum with my hand that would launch the balls, but it seemed to us that something was wrong. We returned it to Target and replaced it.

The second one worked much better. It turned out the first one was a fluke. This one had plenty of power to get the balls launched. My son was too young to understand how to push the lever to get the thing going, so he would make us do it. Over and over. As he began walking he would sometimes try to carry it to us so we would push it. Not only was my son fascinated with the whirring of the fan, there are a number of different songs it plays while the balls are in motion. Among them are "Rockin' Robin" and "Flight of the Bumblebees", both classics from their respective eras.

The only thing really wrong with the product is that sometimes the balls shoot too high and miss the slide. If you are monitoring your child's use of this product (as I highly recommend you do if your child is under two years old), you can stick your hand a few inches above the tube to knock the balls back down onto the slide. I don't think this glitch is too big a deal.

Here is what the manufacturer has to say about the product:

Get silly with poppin', droppin' colored balls! Pump the plunger and drop the balls onto the spiral track. When they reach the bottom, look out - the balls pop out the top! Giggles are guaranteed with wacky sound effects and 8 lively songs to help keep the fun rolling along. The Playskool Busy Ball Popper has won numerous toy awards, including American Baby's Best Toy, Child Magazine's Best Toy, and the NAPPA Gold Award. Requires 4 "D" Batteries.

Tonight my 2 year old son was playing with his Busy Ball Popper,having long since mastered it. He learned early on how to get the vacuum going with his hand when he loses a ball now and then. Tonight he had a lot of fun with it. He has had it about a year and a half now, and it has been a great product.

I highly recommend this product for your child's enjoyment.

RATING:

Disney - The Jungle Book

I know this movie has been out for a long time, since 1967 in fact. I was watching the special features and decided it was worth a brief review. The Jungle Bookhas long been one of my favorite Disney movies.

This movie, as most of you know, is based on Rudyard Kipling's story of the same name. It tells the story of a boy named Mowgli. In Disney's version, the animals all talk and sing and dance, which makes it a hit with kids.

The music is what makes it a hit with adults too. Most of the songs are catchy, and I have seen adults get excited about the songs when they come on, myself included. Knowing that the music is one of the reasons this is among my favorite Disney cartoons, I watched the special feature about deleted songs. Let me tell you, I was pretty surprised.

Some of these songs were plain awful. The original demo of "The Bare Necessities" sounds like it belongs in the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland. The original version of "That's What Friends Are For" involved a Beatle's/British Invasion inspired tune and included a character that was also deleted. It was okay as far as copying the Beatle's style, but that character that was axed was awful to.

I can't imagine what would have happened if these songs stayed in the movie. I certainly would not have enjoyed it as much as I do. I was glad to see Rocky the Rhino didn't make it to the final version. I was glad "The Bare Necessities" was transformed into its current version. I am glad the vultures sing a barbershop "That's What Friends Are For" and not the Beatle's-based version. I am glad that Disney had the wisdom to cut the bad parts and leave in the good. If only George Lucas had used the same level of discernment.

I liked this movie a lot before, and I like it even more now. It could have been much worse, as the special features can attest. I highly recommend this for your family's movie collection.

RATING:

Vantage Point

We picked up Vantage Pointfrom the Red Box at the grocery store last night.

The movie stars Dennis Quaid, Forest Whitaker, and William Hurt. It starts into the action fairly quickly. There are a couple of gun shots, a couple of explosions, and then the scene rewinds itself. The scene starts again from the point of view of the next character.

This process repeats a few times. Scene happens, rewinds, and starts again with the next character. I didn't mind this, since I knew from the previews it would happen. My wife got bored and left the room after the second rewind.

I liked the different perspectives presented. I thought some of the scenes were better than others, but for the most part I was enjoying the movie. Near the end there is a pretty cool car chase. One of the best car chases in recent memory.

Unfortunately the car chase was the climax. The final scene went really fast and was over before I expected. I could have done with something a little more exciting, especially since most of the movie was a repeat of the same scene.

Overall, I still think this was a pretty good movie. I would recommend a rental definitely. I don't think I will be adding this to my collection, though.

RATING: