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- Word Girl: Tricks And Treats. On DVD August 24th. (********8/10) »
Year: 2007, 2008
Genre: Kids, Cartoon, TV series
Country: United States
Language: English
Starring: Dannah Phirman, Chris Parnell, Patton Oswalt, Fred Stoller, Jack D. Ferraiolo, Cree Summer, Pamela Adlon, Ned Bellamy, James Adomian, Jeffrey Tambor, John C. McGinley, Peter Graves
Creator: Dorothea Gillim
Run time: 100 minutes
DVD distributor: Paramount Home Entertainment
I don’t like to complain about Word Girl, because I really like the show. But for a show that’s all about vocabulary and the correct choice of the proper word for the appropriate situation, there are sure a lot of misnomers I can point out. First of all, Word Girl herself. Word Girl is a superhero with super-strength and the ability to fly. And yet she has chosen her name based on her love of vocabulary words. Spider-Man is called Spider-Man because he has the abilities of a spider. The Flash is so named because he is extremely fast. But imagine if The Incredible Hulk were actually called The Numismatist, because of David Banner’s love for coin collecting. That’s the type of nomenclature we’re expected to swallow with Word Girl.
Second, the title of this DVD is Earth Day Girl, out August 24th from Paramount Home Entertainment. Which leads me to believe there will be an overarching environmental message tying the episodes together. Or at least a single episode celebrating Earth Day and involving some environmental theme. But this is not the case. Instead, the disc kicks off with a single episode called “Earth Day Girl”, where the super-villain Birthday Girl throws a tantrum. See, she thinks it’s her birthday, but really people are saying Earth Day. How perplexing. All Birthday Girl really wants is a piece of cake.
And that’s the third problem I had with this disc. The theme of the eight episodes is clearly food. Birthday Girl wants cake. The Butcher throws meat at everyone. Granny May causes trouble in the grocery store. Dr. Two-Brains is interested only in absconding with enormous amounts of cheese. Chuck The Evil Sandwich-Making Guy is self-explanatory. Mr. Big is named after a chocolate bar. That’s the theme here – food! Not Earth Day or the environment or anything else.
OK. Enough bashing Word Girl. This remains a really smart, really funny TV show for kids that I like very much. An example of the humour in this show, humour which might go over the head of some kids – on the back of the DVD, all the villains Word Girl encounters are listed, along with their episodes. Like for example, “The Butcher” in Jerky Jerk, or “Granny May” in Coupon Madness. Then, the last episode on the disc (and one of the best), stars “Lady Redundant Woman” in Lady Redundant Woman. Get it? Then get Word Girl.