Little Einsteins: The Christmas Wish is another compilation of older episodes, with the exception of "Show and Tell," which wasn't part of either Season 1 or 2. Getting a new episode is a big bonus for kids that have tuned in or tivo'd in to watch Little Einsteins on a regular basis. Of the other three episodes, two are drawn from Season 1 ("The Christmas Wish" and "The Northern Night Light") and the last from Season 2 ("The Wind-Up Toy Prince"). It's a shame that more episodes weren't collected here, since the only other content on the DVD is a special feature called, "Magic Mission Mode: Holidays Around The World." This feature works a bit like the trend from years back on VH1 and other channels, where videos and movies are shown with pop-up bubbles containing trivia about the scene, actor, or location. You can set this feature to automatically display pop-up items or interact with it as if it were a game.
The title episode is a good one, just in time for a holiday release. When everyone but Annie receives a magical wishing present from Santa, the Little Einsteins rally around their friend and use their wishing boxes to help her. The spirit of Christmas is definitely alive and well here. Other episodes follow a similar seek-and-find model, with Big Jet thrown in for good measure as the constant protagonist. He steals Quincy's instruments in "Show and Tell," forcing the team to master some musical concepts and learn to make instrument sounds using their bodies in order to solve puzzles. Kids love the physicality of patting and waving arms and mouth noises, all very brief and never so loud that parents will freak out. The Little Einsteins all participate and seem so sincere that you can't help but get up and take part. "The Northern Night Light" and "The Wind-Up Toy Prince" feature friends in need, outside the Little Einsteins family. Never afraid to support a good cause, the Little Einsteins jump into Rocket and save the day.
Parents will be surprised but happy that their 3-5 year old child is humming Beethoven's Fur Elise, albeit with different words: "Wish, I wish/ I wish a Christmas wish." All the music is wonderful, spanning a wide variety of classical styles, from Beethoven to Bizet to Tchaikovsky to Rimsky-Korsakov. Degas, Monet, and Van Gogh fill out the art offerings, with Mayan architecture thrown in as a left field choice for "Show and Tell." Even if these aren't familiar names to you, don't worry. Each show is built around a mission objective that is the focus, with music and art playing a peripheral role, sometimes subtle and sometimes center stage. It's impossible to not like Little Einsteins, but be aware that your kids will outgrow these kids eventually. While you do have little ones, toddlers mostly, give them something fun and entertaining that may even introduce them to something classy they can appreciate for years down the road.
