VeggieTales: The Penniless Princess DVD Review

When I was growing up I wanted to be a princess. Not a fairy tale princess but a real princess, preferably of England. So naturally I was a huge fan of A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett. Sara Crewe is as rich as a princess and is treated like one, but then her father dies and leaves her penniless. She continues to act like a princess, however, in her manners and her deportment. Eventually the happy ending comes about that the diamond mines were real and she is even richer than ever. Maybe I wanted to believe that if I lived well I too would become a princess in the end.

When I was contacted recently to review an advance copy (available August 14th) of Big Idea Entertainment's newest DVD VeggieTales: The Penniless Princess-God's Little Girl, I signed up right away. Now that I have a daughter, I need to start building a library of fun movies for her apart from her brothers' cars and trains DVDs. My kids have other VeggieTales DVDs but I really like the recently released titles that send a special message to little girls. In this Veggie-version of A Little Princess, Larry the Cucumber stars as Captain Crewe and helps to teach an important lesson about knowing your own true worth as well as trusting God, no matter what happens in life, based on Romans 8:39.

I was really impressed that the movie stays so true to the book. There are some lines that are straight from the book, like when Sara tells her father, "I know you by heart." Having watched three different non-animated versions of A Little Princess, I know how drastically wrong the movies can turn. I was really happy that VeggieTales was able to to take a story that was close to my heart and make it into something wholesome that would inspire kids to look inside themselves for their worth.

One of the best features of the DVD was the new Silly Song, "Best Friends Forever." If you're a parent that doesn't know what BFFNMW or YCMU means, this funny song is a tutorial in texting that will make you LOL and even ROFL. Watch it here:




Other bonus features include a special tour of London with the popular French Peas characters (especially timely with all the Olympics the kiddos have been watching), a hilarious look at the history of the Teddy Bear, a discussion guide for parents and behind the scenes clips. This is definitely one I'll be watching again with E as she grows up. 

I did not receive compensation for this post. I received a product sample to facilitate my review.