Veggie Tales - The Princess and the Popstar (DVD)

Identical vegetables in very dissimalar circustances

Veggie Tales The Princess and the Popstar
48 minutes
Big Idea

If your kids have read The Prince and the Pauper, seen Freaky Friday or Trading Spaces, then this story is going to seem pretty familiar. Vanna Banana is the popstar, a lonely success who is incredibly popular, but has no life outside of the business. Princess Poppyseed (Laura the Carrot) is the plain girl with five siblings who wants nothing more than to escape her daily routine and the constant noise that comes with a houseful of children living on a farm.

Poppyseed wins a chance to meet her idol, but her brother sabotages it by accidentally unplugging the phone. Meanwhile, Vanna isn't feeling up to her latest video project, and sneaks away. The two meet on a playground by happenstance, notice how much they resemble each other, and the game is on. They enjoy the switch at first, but then things start affecting those around them. Vanna's band is confused, and Poppyseed's chickens and cows stop producing.

Themes of being content in all circumstances, and of Jeremiah 1:5 are woven throughout. When peril comes to Poppyseed's brother Pepper, her resistance to returning to her previous life disappears, and she realizes what she has in life. Vanna's mother (Madame Blueberry) sees the extent of her daughter's distress, and the resolution is predictable.

Silly Songs promotes the history of fashion with a Gilbert and Sullivan-like "Astonishing Wigs," and Francesca Battistelli sings "You Never Are." This production isn't a bad one, but the story has been done so many times and way that it never quite achieves the excellence of other Big Idea projects.