The Adventures of Brer Rabbit   Starring (voice): Wayne Brady, Nick Cannon, Rhyon Nicole Brown, Danny Glover, D.L. Hughley and Phil LaMarr Distributor: Fabulous Films Ltd / Fremantle Media Enterprises RRP: £9.99 FHED3364 Certificate: U Release Date: 27 July 2015

Get ready for all of the laughs, adventure and hip-hopping good times in this all new imaginative and modern retelling of Uncle Remus's best-loved tales. Parents and kids alike will delight in the escapades of the most mischievous and clever Brer Rabbit as he gleefully outwits Brer Fox, Brer Bear and a whole cast of other critters. With irresistible and toe-tapping new songs and an all-star line up of voice talent (Wayne Brady, Nick Cannon, Danny Glover, D.L.Hughley and Wanda Sykes), The Adventures of Brer Rabbit is sure to be a family favourite for years to come...

The Adventures of Brer Rabbit is a straight to video animated movie from 2006. It takes the characters from Julius Lester's book Tales of Uncle Remus: The Adventures of Brer Rabbit and brings them up to date for a new generation.

The movie is split up into segments, each tackling a different story, including how the animals originally came to earth and why they're all pretty angry with Brer Rabbit.

On a technical point of view I was a little saddened to discover that the original 4/3 aspect ratio had been stretched to fit widescreen TVs. What I mean by this, is that if you have your default TV settings set to "auto" (which most people will have) then the picture you see on this DVD will be stretched.

I suppose, in this day and age, I shouldn't be all that surprised. I lived through the years before widescreen TVs were introduced and would get irritated when people moaned that they didn't want the black bars at the top and bottom of the picture when watching a film. They wanted to see "the whole picture". In recent years I have noticed people complaining when forced to watch original 4/3 TV shows on a widescreen TV as it doesn't fill up the entire screen.

Thankfully, however, this isn't really an issue if you know your way around your TV remote. Simply change the picture setting to 4/3 and it will revert back to it's original aspect ratio.

The animation is as impressive as any modern cell drawn animation, and the songs and stories will keep little ones entertained. This is also a movie that can be enjoyed by adults too.

7

Nick Smithson