Product Description

Studio: Genius Products Inc Release Date: 09/14/2004

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #70186 in DVD
• Released on: 2003-08-05
• Rating: Unrated
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Color, DVD, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 30 minutes

Amazon.com
A lonely trumpet solo and a narrator sporting a Jersey accent set a somewhat ominous, Godfather-esque stage for this stylish, 35-minute lesson about courage. But fear not: it's a VeggieTales story after all, and it soon kicks into action. Based on the Bible story of Esther, "just an ordinary girl" who becomes queen of Persia, this animated retelling tosses in the usual cup of Veggie humor to lighten the flavor of its very serious message. Esther, a young green onion, cannot understand why she has been chosen to wed King Xerxes (played by the humble pickle, Mr. Nezzer). Her cousin Mordecai (Pa Grape) assures her that God must have a reason; she soon discovers that her entire family's fate rests upon her ability to show courage under pressure. While this particular tale drops many of the comical sing-along aspects of other favorite VeggieTales (such as Dave and the Giant Pickle and Where Is God When I'm S-Scared), its strength comes from its story line; its rich, inspired artwork; and its impressive musical score. The creative team at Big Idea continues to produce quality Christian videos for the entire family. One quibble: there's no "Silly Songs with Larry" segment. --Liane Thomas

Customer Reviews

A Big Dissappointment [I regret to say]
I really hate to say this, but I thought Esther was a huge dissappointment. We *adore* VeggieTales and we own [and love] all of them. I was extremely excited about this one with "Esther" in particular, because it would have a female lead character. [I am the mom of a little girl, and that's my only real complaint about VeggieTales - hardly any female main characters. Laura the Carrot is the only recurring female really, and she gets very little air time compared to the guys. Since I'm trying to raise a devout Christian woman, I'd like some help with a couple of female role models!].

How sad I was when I bought this one though - the female lead, Esther, is a whiny, pouty, obnoxious little thing [and I can't even identify her as an actual vegetable - she looks more like a green stick to me]. The wonderful VeggieTale format has been altered with this one [no intro with Bob and Larry, no Silly Song, no closing comment from Querty], much to the detriment of this video, in my opinion. The whole tone of this story is very dark compared to the others, and there are two scenes that include a very scary Grim Reaper who comes out with a feather to take the 'bad guys' to the "Island of Perpetual Tickling". The Grim Reaper scared my two year old to tears, however, and now she screams "No, I'm scared of the Tickling Guy!" and cries if we try to watch Esther again. Not a big plus.

There are some good things about this one however - the animation in particular is spectacular. Also, Pa Grape makes a great showing as Esther's wise cousin Malachai, Mr. Lundt is a very entertaining villian, and Mr. Nezzer as the King is wonderful as well.

I wouldn't neccessarily reccommend Esther - and definitely I'd get all the other VeggieTales first, but this one is probably worth owning for a die hard Veggie Fan.

Good - but not the best - entry in a high-quality series
After eagerly awaiting this new release in the superior VeggieTales series, my family was a bit disappointed. This episode lacks the silliness that makes the others so enjoyable. While my two daughters did enjoy watching the video over and over, I don't think it compares to the other VeggieTales.

As a mother of two girls, I appreciate Big Idea's use of a Biblical story with a heroine. None of the other videos have featured a lead female character. Esther is indeed a story with rebellion, revenge, and violence. Big Idea has toned all this down, of course. Still, it's difficult to find other Biblical tales with women in active, positive roles that don't involve even more violence, vengeance, and worse. Tamar? Rebecca making off with her father's household idols?

I agree with the other reviewer that Esther comes off as a bit whiny. She lacks the vivid characterization at the heart of the appeal of the sorely-missed Bob, Larry, Archibald, et al. In a nutshell: "Esther" is not up to the quality of "Rack, Shack, and Benny" or "Dave and the Giant Pickle." But it is a far better choice for your home collection than 90% of kids' videos around today.

People can be so very picky....
I looked at all of the reviews on this page, and one theme kept coming back: that this film is too serious to be a Veggie Tale. I'm sorry if I disagree with all of you, but I think that this is probably one of their finest pieces of animation to date, and my kids love it (they're 6 and 3). Contrary to what everyone seems to be claiming, not all of the Veggie Tales have silly songs segments, and it would be very difficult to make the story of Esther any lighter than this. That being said, this is one of the finest moments in computer animation history, as well as in the history of Veggie Tales. They've tried to do something very different here, and it is this style that will probably inform the announced Veggie Tales movie, since the half-hour format with the Bob and Larry intros would be impossible to sustain for a feature length film. I may be in the minority, but I really like this one.