Shopkins: World Vacation - DVD Review

[Michael Scott]

Shopkins: World Vacation

Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score: ​

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Movie
Ahhh, good old fashioned consumerism at its 100% finest. This has been a staple of the cinematic world for literally decades. Especially when it comes to kids and the toys and movies they collect and watch. “Transformers” was nothing but an excuse to sell action figures, and nothing beats the all-powerful marketing machine that is “Monster High”, which exists solely to sell toys, stickers, backpacks and other merchandise to preteen kids. However, move over “Monster House”, there’s a new gig in town. This time it’s Shopkins, a series of toys that are made in the shape of food and other food related items by Moose Toys based out of Australia. The toys range in size as well as rarity and price, making them collectibles for the little kiddies and pure profit for Moose Toys. Shopkins World Vacation is really several “seasons” of several minute webisodes pushed together to make one 71 minute “movie” for the kiddies (which is a stretch from the 45 minute film that was the first movie

Just like Shopkins: Chef's Club have to warn you that there is very little substance at all to Shopkins: World Vacation besides pure unadulterated consumerism. Most of the shows are 2 minute blurbs with the 1x1 inch characters teaching some sort of trite lesson as they run around Europe having fun with their human counterparts, Donnatina, Bubbleisha, Jessicake (. We’ve got Apple Blossom, Kooky Cookie, Nina Noodles for the little munckins. We go through things like lying, getting out of trouble without incident, and vanity, but these lessons are just lightly tied together by Kooky Cookie getting in some mild form of peril that requires the aid of the rest of the crew.

I have a REALLY hard time with “Shopkins Chef Club”. I’m usually VERY forgiving when it comes to kids films as I have to view it through their eyes and realize that they’re not meant for a near 40 year old male. I’m completely fine with things like Thomas & Friends, Monster High, and even Barbie for what they are, but Shopkins just REEEEEEEEKS of pure effort to sell little toys without putting much effort into their product. The animation is cheesy and cheap, the toys are basically looking at the screen and yelling at you to buy them, and the 2 minute stories are just slapped onto disc so quickly and shoddily that you can’t help but wonder if this DVD was nothing but walking advertisement The ONLY positive thing I can say about the series is that it's fairly harmless for what it is, but that it won't really appeal to anyone above 5 years of age, which kind of means that it is a cheap babysitter for the really really young. I personally would rather sit through another Barbie movie than be forced to see the insipid commercialism that is Shopkins





Rating:

Not Rated by the MPAA




Video:

If anything, Shopkins: World Vacation is a bright and shiny experience full of amazing pinks and more pinks and pinks galore (along with a myriad of other colors). The show is really one big buffet of vibrant colors, and while the digital animation is pretty low budget, the color saturation levels and fine detail are very well done. The pinks of the movie show up against the pinks, blues and greens of everything else and balance nicely against the other pinks (yeah, this has LOTS of pinks). Fine detail is solid enough, with no breaks or jaggies in the lines and fairly sharp detail for the limited budget CGI. Blacks are well done, and I couldn't really see any major artifacting to mar the image. It's a solid presentation despite the low budget, and the animation looks clean and clear on the disc (which it should be with plenty of bitrate and room due to only being 71 minutes).






Audio:

The 5.1 Dolby Digital track is pretty mild, but that is to be expected for a children’s animated film like this. Dialog is the main component of the mix and it is translated cleanly and clearly for all to hear. There's the traditional auto tuned pop music to fill out the channels, but mostly this is really a 3.1 track with little to no surround support. The front three speakers get a decent workout with the foods stuffs and their humans dancing around, but overall this is a low budget children’s release that’s main focus is letting the kids hear what the toys are saying. It's a simple track that doesn't really have a whole lot of oomph and doesn't put on any airs of trying to be anything more either. The clarity is good enough for teh film is going for, and there are no actual encoding flaws that would cause any problems.






Extras:

• Shopkins Bring Europe to Jessicake
• Move it Like you Meant it Karaoke
• Ready to Go Karaoke

Final Score: ​

I said this in my review of Shopkins Chef Club", but when your 6 year old niece and nephew say "Uncle Mike, can we turn this off?", then you're not really targeting the general kiddy audience. Honestly, there is so little of anything besides a one hour and 11 minute commercial for toys her that I can't recommend this for anything more than a harmless babysitter for REALLY young children when mom wants a break (even then I would only use it for 3-4 year old's who are only interested in pretty colors and music to distract them for a bit). Audio and video are done well enough to not cause any problems for this reviewer, and the sparkling bright colors should be enough to distract a toddler long enough for mom to go to the bathroom or get some housework done. Otherwise, just leave it alone as any adult in the same room with this series for any length of time very well be at risk for going postal.



Technical Specifications:

Starring: Kate Murphy, Tara Sands
Directed by Richard Bailey
Written by: Keith Wagner
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 MPEG2
Audio: English: Dolby Digital 5.1, French DD 5.1
Studio: Universal
Rated: NR
Runtime: 71 Minutes
DVD Release Date: October 17th, 2017

Image

• Michael Scott
• May 11, 2017

Recommendation: For the 5 and under crowd

 

[tripplej]

Thanks for the review. Thank goodness I have nobody in this age group that will say "buy".. lol.

 

[Asere]

My 5 year old loves them. In fact she is going to be a Shopkin this Halloween lol.

 

[Todd Anderson]

I remember having to endure videos like this. I'd rather pull teeth or climb cacti, than be forced to sit through them!

 

[Asere]

I remember having to endure videos like this. I'd rather pull teeth or climb cacti, than be forced to sit through them!

I know what you mean but know with streaming services you can't escape the wrath.

 

[tripplej]

I can't tell you how many times I had to watch Barney.. Oh the horror!

 

[Michael Scott]

My 5 year old loves them. In fact she is going to be a Shopkin this Halloween lol.

Lol. It's the stuff we endure for our kids

 

[Todd Anderson]

My 5 year old loves them. In fact she is going to be a Shopkin this Halloween lol.

Is this a relatively new show? I don't remember these being around 8-9 years ago...

Unfortunately, I do remember this:

Scarred for LIFE!

 

[Asere]

Is this a relatively new show? I don't remember these being around 8-9 years ago...

Unfortunately, I do remember this:

View attachment 4483

Scarred for LIFE!

I think it's been around since 2014. Recently though it's become more popular.

 

[Asere]

Unfortunately, I do remember this:

View attachment 4483

Scarred for LIFE!

I forgot to ask. Who are those guys?

 

[Michael Scott]

2014 is correct. and the picture is of "The Whiggles"

 

[Asere]

2014 is correct. and the picture is of "The Whiggles"

That's right. I think I remember my niece watching the whiggles.

 

[tripplej]

Oh man, I blocked out "The Whiggles".. Oh, the horror. lol.