In this DVD, Minnie is the focus. One episode centers around Minnie's pajama party. The problems to solve here include a pillow that has lost its stuffing (this prompts the question to kids watching: "what should we put in the pillow?") and how to divide the room so everyone has a place to sleep. Another episode has Minnie and Mickey helping their friend Buzz Buzz the bee find his way back to a flower. Another involves a picnic, and of course, one episode is about Minnie's task of opening her "Bow-Tique" store.
There are four episodes, but only two are fully interactive. This interactive mode has two difficulty levels, and you can also choose whether the DVD forces you to answer with the remote or simply pauses for a bit to allow the viewer to answer. Interactivity is, however, built into all the episodes, more or less. There are plenty of times where a character will ask a question to the audience, pause for a bit, and then say "yes you're right" or something appropriate to the question. Of course, not every kid is going to want to talk to the TV just because it asked a question, but this is at least a pretty good feature for encouraging some active engagement.
The only problem with this DVD is that a child could easily forget about or have trouble finding the interactive "Adventure" modes. You have to go to bonus features to find it. Even for adults, this seems a little counterintuitive. You'd think it would be under setup. So count on having to set up the DVD every time you play it if you have a kid that likes the interactive questions.
As a bonus, this DVD comes with a magnet frame and bow magnets with a Minnie-Mouse theme. Four episodes provide a decent amount of content for this DVD, though it could be seen as lacking in variety. Then again, this is generally targeted toward an age group that can enjoy repetition, so it's not a bad offering. This generally is a show that doesn't scream and squeal with obnoxious sounds, and doesn't offend the eyes with lazy artwork, so it strikes a balance with adults and kids. In fact, some of the songs are catchy enough that you might find yourself singing along with a happy kid. It's hard to find entertainment for this age group that does such a thing, so I can easily recommend giving Minnie's Bow-Tique a try.
