Veggie Tales The Little Drummer Boy as reviewed in The Phantom TollboothJust the thing to get us all in the Christmas spirit - veggies!

Veggie Tales The Little Drummer Boy (DVD)
45 minutes
Big Idea

In a re-telling of the Christmas classic, a drummer boy (Junior Asparagus) learns about his need for other people, in order to experience what love truly is.

Junior is waiting for his friends to pick him up to go Christmas caroling. Obsessed with his drums, he doesn't hear them arrive. Fuming from his being "ditched," he is forced to spend the evening with his Grandpa (Pa Grape), who tells him a story of another drummer named Aaron.

Aaron has a good life with his parents until Roman soldiers burn down his house, leaving him with nothing but his drums and a few animal companions. Left to fend for himself, he gets railroaded into performing a part of a ragtag traveling road show/band of small time thieves, and he becomes a hit. While on the road, they rum into a group of Magi, who are searching for a boy King. Through a series of negotiating and cheating, Aaron loses his camel, who is taken by the Magi in their quest to locate Jesus.

Aaron breaks his ties with the sideshow, and goes off in pursuit of his pet. While doing so, his lamb is injured, and Aaron accidentally finds himself face to face with a newborn King. His drumming draws a crowd of people, and he is reunited with his parents, presumed dead in the fire.

This story stays true to the Biblical accounts, while explaining to the viewer what parts of the story are tradition, and what is actually fact. The Christmas Silly Song, "The 8 Polish Foods of Christmas," adds little, as it has been done before on one of their CDs. Overall, this DVD is a worthy project, and may be the best of the Big Idea Christmas projects.

Brian A. Smith

4 tocks as rated by The Phantom Tollbooth