Just Good Old Family Fun, 3 Oct 2004

Firstly, you have to be able to watch these three animated shorts for what they are: entertainment for children. They're just a bit of fun to entertain the young and young families alike so if you're looking for Oscar winning material with great character development and a complicated storyline then I suggest you buy something else.

Still with me? Okay, I suppose you passed the first test. Secondly, you have to watch these shorts and forget that former-Beatle Paul is behind them. Anyone judging his work since the split will no doubt come down hard on these. For some reason, miracles are expected from one man who was a quarter of the greatest band of all time. There was an assumption that everything he'd do in his solo career would be just like the Beatles. Wrong, he's come close at times, but here he is just one man making colourful, fun cartoons for kids. It's not meant to be genius.

Thirdly, you have to be ready for the surreal nature of the shorts. A squirrel being rescued by a hot air balloon flying frog from hunters to be taken to a tropical island inhabited by various animals for a good old sing song ("Tropic Island Hum")... or frogs magically taking off on their lily pads and flying around a town at night, watching Letterman or chasing dogs... (By the way, Dustin Hoffman has one line in this as a detective called to the town for a brief scene the day after as lily pads cover the town) ("Tuesday")... or a talking bear going for a walk in the hills to witness a group of frogs sing and play, summoning their King and Queen from the water only for an evil owl and his cat friends to try and crash the party (Rupert saves them with a "Watch out!" and they all vanish magically) (Rupert And The Frog Song)... Confused? I was slightly... but as I said earlier you have to look beyond this and just enjoy the colour, the action and the music (which isn't the greatest but does it's job in the context of a kid's cartoon).

Finally, the shorts are called shorts for one reason... they're short. I haven't timed them but no sooner has Wirral arrived and sung a song than "Tropic Island Hum" is over... The same goes for the others although Paul says he's developing a feature based on Wirral and his friends so we may eventually get more... if we want it.

The extras are all right (an interview made up of snippets of interview) and storyboards etc. but the stars of this collection are the shorts - three voyages into a colourful, fun, surreal world which have that class Disney-esque touch.

The genius of this set is that it isn't just for fans of McCartney but those of animation alike. So if you like what you've read - but it now!

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