The Wiggles have done it again! When I heard that their newest release
Wiggle Bay had made it to the US I zipped over to my local Target to pick it up. My son (and I) absolutely adore The Wiggles so it was a given that we would be adding this movie to our collection. Though the VHS tape was only $10.99, I purchased the DVD which was $14.99 and comes with a few (not many) extra features. The features include subtitles option, a photo gallery and a jukebox selection.
The Wiggly, Wiggly Background If you are not familiar with The Wiggles, they are a group of four Australian grown men with backgrounds in Early Childhood Education who sing and dance around and perform children's tunes. Each member of The Wiggles (Greg, Murray, Anthony, and Jeff) wears their own color (Yellow, Red, Blue, and Purple) and has a distinct performance personality. The Wiggles are joined by a few of their friends which include: a pirate (Captain Feathersword), a dog (Wags the Dog), a green dinosaur (Dorothy the Dinosaur), a purple octopus (Henry the Octopus) and a few other friends - which add to the fun. Their biggest appeal is the 6 and under crowd with a strong toddler contingent making up quite a large fanbase in Australia, US, and Canada. The Wiggles are a class act and enjoyed by the whole family, and they put on one heck of a live show. If you have a child who is 6 or under, I recommend you and your children check them out. You might just find you have a little Wiggler too. If you are curious to learn a bit more about The Wiggles, you can check out this
Wiggles Primer that explains more about who The Wiggles are, and why we love them so much.
About Wiggle Bay Wiggle Bay is a slight departure from typical Wiggles fare but is along the lines of
Wiggly Safari where the entire movie is around a theme. The theme of course for
Wiggle Bay is a trip to the sea.
Appropriate for children of all ages (and parents too), the
Wiggle Bay has a running time of 45 minutes not including the DVD extras. There are 5 previews on the DVD which is a bit excessive
in my boat. Luckily for the next button I just forward ahead to #6 on the DVD to get the movie started. There are a total of 12 songs performed plus accompanying skits in between which make up the storyline.
Wiggle Bay Song List Wiggle Bay
Dancing in the Sand
Swim Like a Fish
Dance a Cachuca
Rolling Down the Sandhills
Running Up The Sandhills
Let's Make Some Rosy Tea
Zing Zang Wing Wang Wong
Watching The Waves
Let's Have a Barbie
On The Beach
We're on our way to Wiggle Bay Unfurl the pirate treasure map.. The Wiggles head to Wiggle Bay for a seaside vacation. With their Wiggly lifejackets on they travel by sea, in a large rowboat (named the S.S. Feathersword). When they reach the beach (
hey..that rhymed, as Anthony would say) the Captain forgets to tie off the boat securely and it drifts off to sea. Instead of swimming out to get it, or sitting around moping til the tide comes back in they decide to make the best of it.
When things go wrong, just sing a song Its definitely a full day at Wiggle Bay which begins with a bit of
Dancing in the Sand and pretending to
Swim Like A Fish. The Wiggles do a bit of fishing and instead of catching fish, (or even a shoe or an old rubber tire like I expected they would), they catch a beautiful conch shell. They give the shell to Dorothy the Dinosaur as a gift. After this The Wiggles serenade Wags (dressed up in berets like frenchmen),
C'est Wags..C'est Bon. Henry the Octopus meets a beautiful mermaid, Magdalena, and together with the Wiggles they
Dance a Cachuca. The Wiggles are dressed up in their spanish outfits (also used in Wiggly Safari) and the Captain is in his wetsuit in the water dancing with Magdalena the mermaid. After some
Rolling down the sandhills and
running up the sandhills the Wiggles find a message in a bottle but the message has been jarbled a bit. Of course, they take it to Dorothy the Dinosaur where they enjoy
Rosy Posy Tea. They show her message so she listens to her magic shell and hears a message about a golden key. So off to the beach they go to do some digging, building castles and the likes of it. Will they find the key? What does the key open? Will their boat come back? Will they get to return home from Wiggle Bay? You'll have to watch Wiggle Bay yourself to find out what happens. Your children will be sure to enjoy
Watching the Waves.
Come along now..
Let's Have a Barbie (BBQ) on the Beach....
** The Wiggles explain that "a barbie" is a barbecue for those children who are sure to be confusing it with barbie doll..
Our take on Wiggle Bay The music in
Wiggle Bay is enjoyable but not as catchy as many of the other Wiggles songs. Its all new material, so perhaps its the unfamiliarity of it all. I think the kids might also appreciate the addition of one or two of their regular numbers, any of the Captain's pirate ship stuff or Henry's Underwater Big band would have fit in quite nicely and added to the Wiggles feel to it. That being said, I do appreciate that the music is all new though, and not the same songs done over and over like much of their other stuff.
Our favorite numbers in
Wiggle Bay are Dancing in the Sand and the Rolling Down the Sandhills/Running up the Sandhills. These are the ones that really encourage get out of your seat and dance along the most, I'd say, which is why he likes them.
But, what Wiggle Bay lacks is the children dancers that are present in their other movies alongside the Wiggles dancers. My son really enjoys the dancing children so they are missed. The Wiggles really should have included some children in this movie - they missed the boat on this one.
Overall, being big fans of The Wiggles, of course we had to have
Wiggle Bay and I had lots of high hopes for it. That being said, this one is far from being our favorite Wiggles movie. But, I would not go so far as saying it is a dud. Let's just say that it is not as successful as Wiggly Safari was at a theme type movie. I understand the next movie we'll be seeing is another theme typed Wiggles movie with a Space theme - Of course, we'll buy that one as well.
Endnote: Parents - you'll get a kick out of watching for movie bloopers. For example, The Captain magically changes in and out of his Pirate wetsuit and regular pirate outfit and back again all during the same song. Oops!
Reviews of Other Videos from The Wiggles Wiggle Time Yummy Yummy Wake Up Jeff Dance Party Wiggly, Wiggly Christmas Yule Be Wiggling Wiggly, Wiggly World Toot Toot! Wiggly Play Time Hoop Dee Doo Its a Wiggly Party! Wiggly Safari The Wiggles Magical Adventure - A Wiggly Movie The Wiggles website: http://www.thewiggles.com.au
