Chillin' With Pingu [DVD]

I have to admit, I was a little skeptical before I rented my first Pingu video. But not only does my toddler love the claymation, my older ones do too - and even I got a kick out of them. Funny and universal due to no language used, I've even recommended them for my toddler neice who is half Japanese and can barely understand any English yet. Being able to tell a good story is wonderful, being able to tell a good story that older and younger both appreciate is even better - and being able to tell a good story without using words of any kind is just...wow! I'm impressed. Not only is Pingu cute, his stories are fun and educational! Now we've purchased all available and are eagerly waiting for more!

Our 18 month old got a hand-me-down video from her older cousins. It was Pingu "Artic Antics", a claymation video about penguins going about life as we do. At first it seemed odd which made us keep watching. The characters have their own odd language but each one has so much personality. There are several short stories which are easy to follow. They are funny situations with good values and life lessons. They are very creative stories about Pingu, his baby sister Pinga and his penguin family and friends. Our two year old wants to watch it everyday and we love it too. Since there isn't much talking, it is easy for her to fall asleep watching it at night. We now have bought 'Meet Pingu' and 'Chillin' with Pingu' which we love. We would buy all the Pingu DVD's if they were available.

And more fun. I'm always surprised that we come back to Pingu over and over, and the kids still laugh out loud at his antics and problems. Waking that spontaneous laughter from kids is not an easy trick. Pingu achieves it.

My 2 1/2 year old grandson loved the first Pingu so I bought this one. This one is even beter. We both LOVE the "birth" scene with the nurse helping the baby hatch from the egg. It also shows the reality of having a new baby in the house, complete with Pingu having to run the tissue with the baby poo to the toilet. And of course, Pingu is jealous of his new sister. I wish there were more Pingus!

I watched and am writing this review of Pingu from the perspective of an adult who has no children, but I do enjoy claymation, especially from non-US sources. There are a few laugh-out-loud moments. I would compare this to a cross between Teletubbies and Wallace & Gromit, with the weight solidly on the Teletubbies side. You find very simple and repetitive story lines. Without true dialogue, of course, you miss the wittiness and verbal banter of W&G, and the creators rely much more heavily on sight-gags and prat-falls, which with claymation can be quite funny. Pingu is a lot of fun, though I might suggest NOT watching them all back2back. Try watching a cut every morning when you are at your grumpiest, or at night when you need a good, simple laugh. Will adults like it? I did! ***1/2

My son (age 3) loves Pignu and thinks these DVDs are hilarious. However, Pignu is a tad mischievous and has planted some ideas that I'd rather he hadn't because my son imitates everything. I would still have bought them but might have waited one more year. The series is terrific.

Pingu was also a character shown on PBS Kids (Sprout) that my oldest watched. We loved watching him and his antics, the wah wah wah voice (sort of wished for sub-titles..) My youngest loves him and also refers to him as the "Naughty Little Penguin" Our favorite episode remains the one where his parents go to the opera and are lucky the igloo is still standing when they return (how Pingu got his "Naughty Little Penguin" moniker in our house)...

We first saw Pingu as an extra on a Hit produced dvd a couple years back. My son has since always checked his dvds to see if there would be Pingu extras. He was ecstatic to receive an entire DVD of all pingu. and it was even better because now Pingu has a baby sister--just like he does. I thought Pingu was a little weird at first but now am just as entertained as the kids.

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