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Martha Speaks Martha Says it with Flowers

SCORE: 80

Martha Speaks Martha Says it with Flowers is all about a talking dog who teaches kids vocabulary words. The television shows explain the meaning of the words, and their proper usage. There are eight episodes of the television show that will run for around 100 minutes. Two shows are put together to fill what would be a thirty minute show on television. The story behind Martha is she ate alphabet soup and the letters went to her brain instead of her stomach.

I was not impressed with the graphical style of artwork in Martha Speaks Martha Says it with Flowers. The details were not that great, and the shows were not as colorful as other children's shows. Children did not seem to mind, although a few thought the dogs looked funny. The animation is passable, but again Family Friendly Gaming has seen a lot better.

There are some wonderful words that are taught in Martha Speaks Martha Says it with Flowers. Some examples of these words are socialize, prejudice, logical, and considerate. The entrance song to the show is actually fetching as well. The episode that dealt with singing and music made me cringe though. I can thank this show for children deciding to sing every single little word after watching it. That migraine lasted for a few hours.

The extras on this DVD contain coloring pages, and resources for parents. Both of these require a computer that has a DVD player. I appreciate extras like coloring pages. I suppose I have been spoiled by other products (editor: some of the PBS) that contain even more bonus features. There is 100 minutes of the show, so that is more than some other children DVDs.

The menu screens exhibit an intelligent design that I appreciated. Martha Speaks Martha Says it with Flowers teaches children various lessons. Things like being considerate and thinking about others to prejudice. As an adult though I found the prejudice episode to be pretty one sided. Both children in that episode were wrong, but only one side was allowed to win the day (so to speak). The lessons in Martha Speaks Martha Says it with Flowers do reach the audience and influence them.

Martha Speaks Martha Says it with Flowers deals with some interesting issues like ghosts and jinxes. There are episodes that deal with art, and also music. Neither of these went into church at all though. The one thought I keep coming back to with Martha Speaks Martha Says it with Flowers is this show tries too hard. At times the words being taught are used too frequently. Because of that some children lost interest during the show.
- Mark

Graphics: 74%
Sound: 83%
Replay/Extras: 78%
Gameplay: 85%
Family Friendly Factor: 82%
System: DVD
Publisher: PBS
Rating: 'NR' for Not Rated

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