Lynley Dodd (author of Hairy Maclary) is a genius!

Hairy Maclary is a little black poodle type of dog. His adventure and those of his friends are captured in these little animated short flicks. Ten episodes are included in this DVD; each episode runs for approx. 5 minutes, and is narrated in a really easy and clever poetry style. The language flows really nicely and the stories are appealing to both young and old alike. Each character comes to “life” beautifully in these animations, the production is simple and the animation faithfully replicates the illustrations in the books. So for kids who have read the books, this is a perfect “follow on” and for those that haven’t, it’s a wonderful new experience of animated story telling.

On a constant quest for adventure Hairy Maclary goes to the butcher and gets a bone and all his friends chase him home - Hairy, not wanting to share, takes all his friends on a wild chase through a home made obstacle course, until he is the last dog standing. He then heads home to eat his bone in peace. In the next 5 episodes Hairy “accidentally” enters a cat show and wins! He created havoc at the vets and tries his hand at fame, he chases the towns cats for fun and drives their owners crazy!. But don’t rely on me for all the details this is a DVD you should buy, watch, and enjoy with your kids.

Hairy’s friends are all unique; their names describe them so well; e.g. Scarface McClaw, the savage cat or Bottomley Pots, the big fat dog, or the little sausage dog Schnitzel von Crumb… with the very low tum. But my favourite is character on this DVD is Slinky Malinky - the cat who is Blacker than Black, with bright yellow eyes and a warbling wail, and a kink at the end of his very long tail! (Just to give you and idea!).

ABC DVD’s on the whole are so educational as well as enjoyable. One of the things I was really impressed with is that the wording on this is true to the books so you could easily make this a “read along” adventure for kids. In a technology age it would be tempting to change these animations and I’m glad they have decided to keep with the original concept of the books. My kids have had Lynley Dodd’s books read to them for the last 5 years and were very excited to see all the characters on the small screen; this is a DVD that will not disappoint.

THE EXTRAS

No bonus features - not really needed on this type of DVD.

CONCLUSION

Hairy Maclary is a little black poodle type of dog. His adventure and those of his friends are captured in these little animated short flicks. Ten episodes are included in this DVD; each episode runs for approx. 5 minutes, and is narrated in a really easy and clever poetry style. The language flows really nicely and the stories are appealing to both young and old alike.