Rumpelstiltskin by Christopher Noel

Genre:  Fairy Tale / Germany / Audiobook / Family
Year Published: 1991
Year Read:  2006

Publisher: Rabbit Ears Books

Series: We All Have Tales

Rabbit Ears Productions is widely known for their celebrity narrated stories. The production also many stories that were highlights of the 1990s. “Rumpelstiltskin” is a popular story from Rabbit Ears “We All Have Tales” series and is greatly enhanced by Kathleen Turner’s narration, Tangerine Dream’s haunting music and Peter Sis’s delicate drawings.

Kathleen Turner’s narration is extremely brilliant as she uses a somewhat menacing voice foreshadowing Rumpelstiltskin’s ulterior motives. Also, Turner does an excellent job at being brilliantly scary towards the end of the story when Rumpelstiltskin meets his demise. Tangerine Dream’s haunting music provided the perfect mysterious atmosphere to the appearance of the little man to enacting Rumpelstiltskin’s frightening dance number when the queen searches for him. Peter Sis’s drawings are delicate yet haunting, especially of the image of Rumpelstiltskin pulling off his mask, revealing a skeleton face.

Parents should know that younger viewers may be frightened by the theme of Rumpelstiltskin trying to take the child away from the queen. Since, many children are getting kidnapped in the world today; many young viewers may worry about being kidnapped by a little man. Also, since Rumpelstiltskin’s reasons for wanting the child is made unclear, children may fear that Rumpelstiltskin may hurt the baby boy.

“Rumpelstiltskin” is another Rabbit Ears story that is mysterious and haunting, just like “The Fisherman and his Wife,” and is full of engaging music and images that create a wondrous world full of mystery and enchantment. This is a great film for the whole family watch, but parents must warn their children about the theme of child-kidnapping before letting them watch this video.

Also reviewed on: Rabbit Ears Book Blog

The Fisherman and his Wife by Eric Metaxas

 

Genre: Fairy Tale / Drama / Family / Magic

Year Published: 1989

Year Read: 1993

Series: Storybook Classics

Publisher: Rabbit Ears Books

Most of the Rabbit Ears Series that I have seen were mostly aimed at children and would not contain material objectionable to younger children. However, The Fisherman and his Wife was the first story from Rabbit Ears that I have watched that actually kept me at the edge of my seat. The illustrations, the music, and the overall mood of the story are somewhat intense and gloomy at the same time, which has become one of my most watched Rabbit Ears story other than “The Fool and the Flying Ship.”

Like every Rabbit Ears story, there is a combination of narration from various celebrities, music, and illustrations to complement to the story without using animation to tell the story. The Fisherman and his Wife is no different from the other Rabbit Ears stories and is narrated by none other than Jodie Foster. Jodie Foster’s narration is monotonic as she speaks solely in a gloomy tone giving the story a mysterious edge. Diana Bryan’s dark silhouette illustrations enhances the story by creating frightening allusions for the story such as the large appearance of the flounder and scenes where the sea changes color dramatically from light blue to dark purple when the storm is approaching towards the fisherman. Van Dyke Parks’ music is extremely mesmerizing as the music resembles a sort of old England tune giving the story a mysterious yet elegant feeling that ranges from the fisherman’s mysterious encounter with the flounder to the elegant lifestyle of the fisherman’s wife.

Parents should know that younger children may be frightened by this video because of the intense scenes involved in this video. One such intense scene involves the storm causing chaos where it goes, as dark silhouette houses and boulders come crashing down the hill and bright flashes of lightning fill the screen every few seconds. Also, to add to the intensity of the storm scene, when the fisherman approaches the sea, the sea starts changing colors drastically from a lively blue color to a dark and foreboding purple color. Many children may find the disturbing images, such as the brief scene where the flounder’s eyes turn red during the storm and the dark silhouette images of the boulders and clouds overwhelming the screen, to be frightening indeed. However, this scene is not as bad as those gory scenes you would find in horror movies nowadays.

The Fisherman and his Wife is simply perfect and breathtaking. The images by Diana Bryan bring an eerie feel to the story but keeps the story fast-paced. Also, I enjoy how the moral of the story was established by starting off with the fisherman’s wife wanting to be more powerful than anyone and then suddenly she loses all that power because she was so greedy. This moral applies to anyone who want many materialistic things but ends up losing everything in the end. Despite the intense scenes, this video is worth watching over and over again.

1989 Parents’ Choice – Honor Award – Silver

 

Review is also on: Rabbit Ears Book Blog

Rabbit Ears Treasury of World Tales Volume 3: The Bremen Town Musicians and Koi and the Kola Nuts

Genre: Fairy Tales / Folktales

Year Published: 2007

Year Read: 2012

Series: Rabbit Ears Treasury: World Tales #3

Publisher:  Listening Library (Audio)

Now how many of these “Rabbit Ears Treasury” audio CDs will I have to listen to just to be satisfied?  All of them of course! So, imagine my surprise when I finally picked up another “Rabbit Ears Treasury” audio CD, which is called “Rabbit Ears Treasury of World Tales Volume 3: The Bremen Town Musicians” and “Koi and the Kola Nuts” and I definitely enjoyed both stories on this CD!  “Rabbit Ears Treasury of World Tales Volume 3” is definitely an audio CD that you will enjoy for many years to come!

I have pretty much already summarized both of these stories through their book counterparts, so I will just briefly summarize each story:

The Bremen Town Musicians
Told by: Bob Hoskins
Music by: Eugene Friesen

When a donkey is threatened with death because he had grown too old to work on the farm, he decides to run away to the town of Bremen and along the way, he meets a cat, a dog and a rooster who were also in the same predicament as he was.  Further down, the four friends meet up with a band of robbers and they prove to be a match for the unsuspecting robbers!

Koi and the Kola Nuts
Told by: Whoopi Goldberg
Music by: Herbie Hancock

When the youngest son of the former chief, Koi, only receives a Kola Nut tree after his father’s death, he decides to go to a village that would treat him with respect.  Unfortunately, Koi ends up in a village that wants to eat him and he must complete three impossible tasks in order to avoid being thrown into the cooking pot!

Wow! The “Rabbit Ears Treasury” series just keeps getting better and better!  These two tales are excellent to listen to and my favorite of the two stories is “Koi and the Kola Nuts” since Whoopi Goldberg does a brilliant job at narrating this ancient African folktale.  I loved the way that Herbie Hancock’s music just flows so well with this story as it contains an African beat that truly defines the African feel of this story and Whoopi Goldberg’s narration is smooth and regal as she narrates the story of a young prince who wants to be treated in a respectful manner, while meeting some great animal friends along the way.  In the other story “The Bremen Town Musicians,” Bob Hoskins has done an excellent job at narrating the classic Brothers Grimm tale as his narration is both hilarious and engaging to listen to.  Eugene Friesen’s music is both creative and hilarious to listen to as I find myself enjoying putting together the different instruments that go with each animal (the rooster has a voice that sounds like bagpipes and the cat has a voice that sounds like a violin) and Eugene Friesen’s music beautifully complements with these elements of each animal.

As with most of the audio CDs of the “Rabbit Ears Treasury” series, there is no book to accompany it and for readers who remembered reading the “Rabbit Ears” series during the 80s and 90s might be a bit disappointed with this.  This can be a problem especially if you wanted to show your children or your friends the stories so that way they could better understand the story, especially with “Koi and the Kola Nuts” that has many African terms that many small children might not understand very well with only an audio CD to go by.

Overall, “Rabbit Ears Treasury of World Tales Volume 3: The Bremen Town Musicians and Koi and the Kola Nuts” is definitely one collection of classic stories that both adults and children will enjoy for many years to come!

So go out and buy this fantastic series of popular children’s stories! I am sure that you will not be disappointed by these brilliant CDs!

 

 

Also reviewed at: Rabbit Ears Book Blog