TaleSpin, Vol. 1: Episodes 1-27 DVD: Review By Mushy

TaleSpin, Vol. 1: Episodes 1-27 gives us famed Jungle Book character Baloo and his sidekick Kit Cloudkicker as they navigate the skies seeking out adventure where ever it may be. Working for businesswoman Rebecca Cunningham, these two characters never find themselves lacking for fun and excitement. Whether they are squaring off against an evil band of Air Pirates led by the dastardly Don Karnage, or dealing with smugglers and daredevils, it is the "can do" attitude of Baloo and Kit Cloudkicker that always sees them through.

No Extras came with this DVD set.

Full Screen - 1.33:1. Like in my review of Darkwing Duck, I was really surprised that the color and overall image quality was not better than it was. This is Disney for crying out loud and these DVDs only looked a few steps brighter than VHS. As someone who still watches movies in that format, I don't mean that as a slag, I just think we have come to expect DVDs to be a bit higher quality than what's presented here.

Dolby Digital Stereo Sound. French Language Track. Nothing about the audio particularly grabbed my attention. While I think that everything was in order, I also noticed that I didn't need to turn the levels on my set up that loud. Basically, it seems like messing up the audio mix and compression for a three disc set like this would be pretty hard. While I don't think these DVDs are going to win any awards, they do have a sharpness in their soundtrack that I think bodes well for viewers.

A smiling Baloo and Kit Cloudkicker grace this front cover. A small version of their plane also flies through the sky, and there is what seems like a globe laid out behind them. The back cover of this digipack set offers up some color shots from the 27 episodes (the picture quality of the actual DVDs isn't this good), a description of what TaleSpin is about, and a technical specs listing. All three of the discs are stored in three, slim cases, all of which have very vibrant artwork and episode listings.

I had never heard of TaleSpin, Vol. 1 before it was handed down to me to review, but overall I was impressed with this show. It isn't like I ever felt that our main characters were ever in any real danger, but there was a deepness to these characters that I don't see in a lot of the animated movies I am asked to review. I am not sure quite how to describe it, but I liked how it didn't feel like Baloo and Kit Cloudkicker were constantly going up against the same bad guys. More to the point, it was the episodes that had an air of mystery about them that really got my attention.

Overall, if you are in the market for some high flying adventure, you really should think about checking out TaleSpin, Vol. 1: Episodes 1-27.