A major draw for parents is the high production value of each Little Einsteins episode. More beautiful looking and sounding content is hard to find on television, especially for younger kids. Photo, video, and animation is mixed and melded into something that is truly pleasing to the eye; the soundtrack and musical underpinning of each episode is inspired. Listening to the kids sing along to musical masterpieces using their own words matched to the theme of the episode is priceless. The fact that your kid might recognize a snippet of Dvorak, Verdi, or Strauss after watching Little Einsteins: Flight of the Instrument Fairies is pretty cool. The only downside to this collection is that there aren't more episodes collected...
Four episodes are featured here. The eponymous episode is built around Dvorak and takes the team on a quest to free a group of musical instruments from the clutches of a relatively benevolent polar bear. "Little Red Rocket Hood" includes art by Kandinsky and Verdi's famous aria from Aida. The retelling of a classic fairytale with Rocket and his (her?) grandmother is hilarious, and it's hardly a spoiler to know that the part of Big Bad Wolf is played by none other than Big Jet. "The Puppet Princess" barely manages to work in art by Leonardo Da Vinci, but is a worthy feature for music by Charles Gounod. The final episode, "The Glass Slipper Ball" has what sounds like an odd pairing of Warhol and Strauss - it actually works... The special feature on the DVD is a game where you'll match instruments to their sounds, some lightweight fun.
The older your child, the more likely that Little Einsteins: Flight of the Instrument Fairies will feel too much like formula. The great suspension of disbelief present in toddlers will have them clapping their hands, dancing, and singing along with the Little Einsteins. The learning is top-quality, the message is good, and the medium is beautifully realized, all things that parents love to see on the tube but so hard to find outside a few well done shows like this one.
