Plot: What’s it about?
One of most popular children’s shows around, Angelina Ballerina never fails to entertain with music, dance, and fun stories. The series centers on Angelina, a mouse who also happens to be a ballerina with numerous ballerina friends. As you’d expect, all the stories revolve around dance in some fashion, but there is a general theme of music as well. So Angelina and her friends love to dance, sing, and just perform in whatever ways possible. I imagine Angelina Ballerina has a female audience in mind, as the stories tend to be about empowering girls to succeed, but the episodes are solid enough to where young boys should enjoy most of them as well. But if you have a young girl in mind that has an interest in music or dance, Angelina Ballerina is a home run, no doubt about that. Angelina Ballerina: Ultimate Dance Collection houses three discs of episodes, plus a bonus CD with four of Angelina’s songs. These three discs were available as stand alone releases, but here you can get all three and the bonus CD for a bargain price. Pop Star Girls, Dancing on Ice, and The Shining Star Trophy are the included discs. Two discs contain five full episodes of Angelina Ballerina and the third features an Angelina movie, so you wind up with quite a bit of content in this collection. Below is a list of the included episodes.
1. Dancing on Ice (Angelina’s Lost Skates, Angelina and Alice’s Big Night, Angelina’s Cheese Roll, Angelina’s Lunch Table, and Angelina and Gracie’s Creative Day)
2. Pop Star Girls (Angelina’s Crazy Solo, Angelina’s Rock Band, Angelina’s Hip Hop Boys Show, Angelina and the Giant, and Angelina and the Broken Fiddle)
3. The Shining Star Trophy (This is a 55 minute movie)
Video: How does it look?
The episodes are presented in 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen. The episodes look clean, sharp, and pleasant to watch. The animation looks terrific here, with bright colors and a good overall level of detail. This is still a standard DVD, so don’t expect HD type results, but the show looks quite good here.
Audio: How does it sound?
The 2.0 soundtrack is fine, but won’t dazzle or stand out. The music is lively and sounds good though, which is important. I also heard no vocal issues, so all the dialogue comes across in clean, clear fashion at all times. You can choose between English, Spanish, and French language options.
Supplements: What are the extras?
In addition to the bonus CD, this collection also includes three interactive Angelina games.
