You can’t go wrong with Sesame Street when it comes to wholesome children’s education and entertainment. Shout! Factory has been a long time publisher of Sesame Street content including a new DVD and digital release last week that covers the alphabet. The Awesome Alphabet Collection runs about two hours and covers the alphabet in the charming, engaging way that only Sesame Street can.
For over fifty years, Sesame Street has delighted kids with their content. Sometimes they use celebrities to add a dimension to their skits, but the message always comes across as genuine and inspired. In this DVD release, celebs including Norah Jones, Pharrell Williams, Tori Kelly, Maya Angelou, Sheryl Crow, and Ricky Gervais pitch in. Their presence adds quality, like Tori Kelly’s “Kindness” song, and Pharrell singing about “B,” but the regular cast of Sesame Street is also great. Cookie Monster and Telly have always been my favorite when it comes to the puppets. CM’s “C Is For Cookie” (and that’s good enough for me) is not something I had heard in years, but it still holds up, especially with his on screen antics during the song.
The content on this disc isn’t new, but it’s tested and true. The way it’s presented on disc is straight-forward. Chapters are segmented in groups: A-E, F-J, K-O, P-T, U-Z. Audio is English only, while subtitles are offered in English and Spanish. Technical quality is basic; this is old SD content on a SD medium afterall — but gets the job done, and the target demographic (kids) really don’t care about the technical details, so there are no concerns here. The menus are also simple and functional, too.
There are two extra features included. The first is “Elmo’s Amazing Alphabet Race,” a fourteen minute segment that sees many Sesame Street characters in a skit that has Elmo collecting all the letters of the alphabet as he finds them in the community. The second extra feature requires a PC as it’s actually a PDF file with multiple activities that you can print out. Four trailers for other Sesame Street DVD releases are also on the disc.
As I mentioned at the top, you can’t really go wrong with Sesame Street for the targeted demographic. This DVD release covers the alphabet and includes a couple of worthwhile extra features. It’s an easy one to recommend for the appropriate audience.
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