Noddy in Toyland-Noddy and Friends [VHS]

Traditionalists were of course scandalised enough when the stop-motion animated Noddy TV series featured regional accents and (gasp) positive black characters. God only knows what they'll make of this. Try to keep up: what you have here is an Anglo-American co-production in which stories from the stop-motion series are sandwiched between frantic scenarios featuring live-action children and adult characters and puppets--a kind of Sesame Street in total overdrive. This, of course, seems hopelessly incongruous to everyone except the show's intended audience, which simply takes the whole thing in its stride.

Individually, the two elements are commendable anyway; the first live-action episode--involving a parrot and an unstoppable vacuum cleaner--is a particularly fine piece of slapstick, while the original stop-motion stories are as gently rewarding as ever. This DVD is guaranteed to meet with approval from the jingly-hatted one's many young fans. --Roger Thomas