A very poor performance.  There were no funny jokes.  Normally my friends daughter would be laughing out loud, but she barely giggled.  The show was more a drama, than humourus.  Not very entertaining….

Mike and yourelf wrote some amazingly cute, and funny stories, but now, the humor has gone.  The silly song was amazing, as was the countertop.  I laughed at the countertop so hard myself.

John

I give Duke and the Great Pie War (whatever happened to the old title "The Princess and the Pie War?") about a 3 out of 10.  And this is from someone who loves Veggie Tales.  It is right above where I place "Autotainment" (which I'd give a 2 at best).

Yes, it has a few good laughs but that's about it.  I liked the male-falsetto "Go home, Ruhbarbarian" (ala Monty Python and the Holy Grail).

The story of Moses seemed incomplete somehow.  The lesson seemed more like "Laura, take your place in the family" instead of "we all have to stick together as a family".

Duke and the Pie War also seems to have a different lesson than what I would expect from the story of Ruth.  The lesson seemed more about Larry and Petunia's love for each other than about family.  Exactly how is Duke Duke related to Petunia??  Maybe I just missed that part.

This would, also, have been better off without the joust.  I don't mind the joust myself, but it doesn't seem appropriate for my children.  When Otis the Elevated (aka Mr Lunt) gets knocked off the wooden horse and flys through the air, my 3 year old son says things like "what happened to him?" and "that's a no-no".  He realises that it is because he got hit with Larry's pie-tipped lance that Mr Lunt went sailing through the air.  For this reason alone, we have put away this video and will not allow our kids to watch it until they are older.

Veggies Tales videos seem to have their ups and downs.  Most are really good (even the early ones).  The holiday ones dont seem all that great to me (although Easter Carol is growing on me).  Ester was a giant leap in graphic quality and paying attention to the little things.  Little Joe is the absolute, very best one to date.  Snoodles Tale and Sumo were good (yes, I'm one of the few that liked Sumo).  Duke?  Well… I didn't care for Duke.

I usually wait in eager anticipation for the release of the next Veggie Tales.  I will probably rent or borrow "Minnesota Cuke" and the upcoming Lord of the Rings parody before buying them.

Steve

hi phil vicher. ive written to you 3 or 4 times.

me and my family think that Duke and the great pie war was reeeaaalllyyyy different compared to aaaaannnnyyyy other veggie tale story.

we thought it wasn't such a great way to put it in.

this story should be like Dave & the giant pickle,r.s.b.,esther the girl who became queen.

me and my family deffiinnettllyy aggree like a few of the other kids you and Mike N. rrrrrrrreeeeeeaaaaallllyyyyy should be the story writers. or how about you put a BIGIDEA Election to put kids to vote if you and mike to be the writers or the people who are the writers.

i'm not kiddin.

well my big sister is gonna also send one review.

Joseph

I was so disappointed in the newest Veggie Tale movie!  The title is the first thing that throws you off, as the main, or first story isn't even about the Pie War!  The theme of the tale is a great one, but I think it could have been done with a more light-hearted tone.  It was very serious the whole way through (and a bit boring), including Larry singing the blues.  That is what used to make Veggie Tales so great; the whole fun take on these serious Bible stories.  I thought the story of Moses would have been "vegetalized," and I missed the songs that are usually in the films, although there is an attempt to sing in the Pie tale, but was very hard to understand.  I wasn't sure where the Pie tale came from, until I saw the bonus features and just barely related it to Ruth.

As another comment said, the sets look great, but it seems the content is not what it used to be.  I love Veggie Tales for it's fun songs, Bible message, and the fact that all ages get something from the videos; whether it be an adult joke or learning the Bible stories in a fun way.  I hope to give Big Idea another chance, but for now I think I will stock our DVD library with the old Veggie Tales.

Fuzzy

First off, let me say that duke and the great pie war is an awesome veggietales video… just got my pre-copy… , and i thought it was a very funny veggietales… specially luved the blues song with larry.. , heh…

just curious phil… how does bob the tomato feel about larry having a brother named bob the cucumber…

this video shows what loving your family is really about… something i known for a long time.. since they say i am the one in my family who shows the most love..

Ian

My overall rating for this video would have to be a 7 or 7.5.

 

I really liked this one. It does have alot of things I would have changed, or not put in there at all, or that I was just plain confused about.

 

I'm gonna keep this brief (unlike my other ones, lol), and just add on to it as i watch it some more. I've only seen it once right now, and now its not even in my posession anymore, cause I've loaned it to a friend. ^_^

 

I loved the countertop scene, where Bob is completely clueless about Larry's family. Just his reactions, and facial expressions, and things. But I didnt see any counter top items. like those jars witht he flour and sugar and stuff. I dont know if that was intentional, or yall just forgot, and didnt notice it. That was kinda funny, I guess.

 

The mariam story was funny, but i'm not sure if the lesson was integrated very well with the story. i mean I was always confused, and wasnt sure if it was just a story about Loving and watching out for your family, or the reality of a little kid taking care of a baby. Like: what would happen if you got a little kid to take care of a newborn? Thats what will happen.

 The whole story just needed to be worked a little bit more. Maybe it would have been netter if yall just went along with the whole story of moses, where moses comes back and he is looking out for his family. If I remember the story correctly…I dont know. But that "valleygirl thing" was the last thing I expected. I'm still half shaking my head. Its funny, I mean to see a voice like that, coming outta the queen's head…but I dont know if it still fits.

  

I really would have liked yall to have done the moses story as its own video. I can see right now, that yall are doing parodies for the veggietales stories right now, and not from the bible but from mainstream stuff. Like Lord of the Rings, and Indiana Jones, but I miss the bible stories, and that would have done well as its own video…after the story was reworked a little.

 

But I love the models, and the scenary, and how every house had pink balloons on it. That was clever. ^_^ That was cool. Its like old times, like the classic veggietales (everything before sumo), where clever stuff was hidden, you just had to look for it. 🙂

 

Larry's Blues!

 

That was cute. I was just thinking when i was watching it, how was Larry gonna sing about none happy stuff, he's always happy, so its gonna be interesting to see how they'll make him sing the blues. I just knew something was gonna go wrong like with the pirates song, where he was completely off the subject, and didnt get the point. lol. that was great. Although, I didnt like that polka stuff, it could have been left out. my favorite Silly song will still be love my lips,a dn the song of the cebu.

On a side note for that, i wasnt expecting that "smash the cookie" that is great, hilarious. I liked that part.

 

Last story: Duke Duke.

 

Just calling him Duke Duke was I thought, rubbing in the fact that they were in love. I mean reeeeeeeally in love. It didnt feel like the love of a family at all. Through out the whole thing. They were positivly twitterpaited (and I probibly spelled that wrong), but Larry and Petunia were just ga ga for each other, and the blueberry (whatever her name was) was simply the match maker host. Just get them to marry each other, just get them to marry each other. Petunia is soo drop dead gorgeous, that he'll fall in love right away. Cause they're young. I dont know. And I didnt see what the point was in the duck key. It was all really confusing. Cute, but not like the loving family thing really had anything to do with it.

 

The whole video was great, it was, but it didnt feel like "veggietales" like how it used to be. Where the values really stood out, and worked well witht eh story, and nothing was confusing. There's just something missing all the time.

  

If I can, I'd like to change my rating for Sumo to a 2 or maybe a 3. Maaaybe a 4. But, after the first few times, I just dont think I'll be watching it anymore. And Duke, i give it a 7. Not for how it ususally is, but if you want to put it on Nickelodeon, its perfect for that. It felt like something I was seeing off of that network. Not quite Big Idea-esque…or something like that.

  

Keep trying you guys. Pleeeease, dont forget the good stuff. Its not just about the humor. That catches people's attention, but then the values teach ya something, so you'll walk away with a nugget of truth. (I think thats how you used to say it). This new veggietales (veggietales aftermath, as I call it), isnt really keeping me with the series. So I dont want you to forget the important stuff. I dont wanna preach, so I'll just stop right there. Thats' the end.

Lydia

By far, this has got to be the cutest VeggieTales episode I have ever seen!  I was squealing and laughing to the extreme while watching it!  This show wasn’t like Sumo where after watching it a few times I got kinda bored of it.  I must have watched Duke at least fifty times by now and I’m still not tired of it!

Counter Top- I was a little frightened for a minute, wondering what the animation might be like, but I was so relieved.  The animation on this show was actually excellent!  Meeting Larry’s brothers for the first was also a big hoot.  I was a little off with their appearance, though.  Bob looked kinda old, like he could have actually been Larry’s dad or something.  It was also well, interesting to have them sing like a boy band.  I wasn’t exactly expecting that.  I also loved Bob’s (tomato) comment, “Bob the Cucumber?!  I would remember if you had a brother named Bob!”  That was, of course, because Mike’s brothers are named Bob Steve and Mark.  That was pretty funny! 

Babysitter in De-Nile- I love that title!  My boyfriend thought it was funny too, we were both laughing!  I loved this story of Miriam and Moses.  I really do think that it showed how we can at least learn to take care of our siblings when our parents need our help the most.  Too bad I didn’t watch this when I was younger.  Maybe one day ya’ll can make a sequel because I’m still dying to see a Moses and Red Sea story presented by the VeggieTales cast. I liked that Laura was back on the scene.  She was a character that I really missed, considering she hasn’t really had a role since Jonah, besides Easter.  And it’s creepy because it seems like she’s getting older.  In her first show she seemed like four and now it feels like she’s eight.  Oh and btw, I loved the valley girl Akmetha!  That had me on the floor laughing with no control!  Please do that again I’m begging you!  Baby Moses was also adorable!  I just wanted to rock him to sleep he was so cute!  A very cute and loveable story… and clever!  The beach/ swimming area was a really kool idea.  Maza ball!!

Larry’s Blues- Tim was right!  This silly song was hilarious!  I was waiting for about six months to see how the song resolved, and boy did I loose it!  I really like how in this song (and the rest of the, actually) there was a lot more “randomness”.  I love randomness!  The cookie crushing, the poodle, stuff like that deserves to be included more often!  And I really like Blind Lemon Lincoln.  Wow, what a character!  Poodle!!

Pie War- Oh… my… goodness… It made me so happy!!  I loved the Larry and Petunia-ness!  LOL. I’ve known the story of Ruth to be pretty confusing, and this story for the most part was kinda confusing.  I don’t know if that was intentional or anything, but I briefly did get kinda lost.  Who was royalty?  Who wasn’t? I don’t know

  I also thought the storybook drawings could have used some work. It was, however, extremely funny to have a Ducky crest substitute for land ownership.  And, the jousting tournament was a lot of fun!  One of the best “chase scenes” yet!  I do personally think that it was a really good, loosely retelling of Ruth and Boaz, cause a lot of the elements were the same.  Such as Naomi setting the two up, the argument of land, kindness and devotion to taking care of family, and the part I really loved is that they got married in the end!  That has never happened before and it was just so cute!!  Oh, and the singing choir, beautiful! Had me laughing!  Please use Petunia beyond Minnesota as well because I really like her character!

Wrap up: I like how creative this show was!  Creating the story of Ruth and putting it as a medieval, prequel to King George was one of the best ideas ever! The part I loved is that it was like a storybooksetting, with the painted backgrounds and everything. Babysitter had it’s adorable moments, and the Blues with Larry is a top ten best for sure!  The music, settings, designs, animation, and story telling were fantastic! 

One big complaint:  Don’t use knives like that ever again!  It kinda felt like you were promoting them and that was really unnecessary!

So this was, I admit, a great show.  It was extremely entertaining!  However, I do think that the teaching part was a little weak.  Yes, Otis was definitly not very convincing, but I don't know how well kids will grab onto the message.  God was not even refered to or mentioned in the Pie War story, and that was a little disapointing. When it comes to entertainment, I'd give this show an 8 out 10, but when it comes to teaching, I'd say a 4 out of 10.  Big Idea may want to work on that.  Still, I'd recommend buying it, because it is a good show, and I can't wait to see the next one.

Rachel

I'll have to say that I was very dissapointed with "Duke and the Great Pie War." 

First of all, what's up with that title?  The Pie War is barely a part of the story, not much more than a footnote really.  That could bring accusations of false advertising–I mean, you buy the video expecting that a major part of the story will be a pie war.  Instead, the video focuses on Larry's love story.

I remember the days when I could purchase a VeggieTales video and be certain that it would contain brilliant storytelling and sly humor.

Those days are almost a distant memory now.  As soon as you and Mike Nawrocki quit writing the stories, things started going downhill.  The writers they have now are usually not very good and not very humerous.

I hope the fans will speak up and tell the executives at Big Idea that we want Phil and Mike to write the stories again!

We need good storytelling, humor, biblical lessons, and most importantly–episodes that bring glory to Jesus Christ!

Scott