God Made You Special Isn't Quite as Special as It Could Be

I have been a fan of Big Idea's VeggieTales upwards of ten years now, and I get excited every time Bob, Larry and the whole veggie gang get together for another computer animated outing. While I was happy to hear about the latest release, God Made You Special, I was disappointed to learn that it was essentially a retrospective DVD. VeggieTales has made these before, most notably with the silly songs compilations, in which the extra silly song, along with the convenience of having all that goofiness in one place, made up for the fact that it was mostly old material.

I'm not quite sure that's the case with God Made You Special, whose point is to emphasize the closing line of most VeggieTales episodes: "God made you special, and he loves you very much!" Granted, the three stories it revisits are classics, and I have no complaint with them, but they're really not the only stories in the Veggie canon focusing on characters feeling special, so the DVD can hardly be called definitive. At the same time, at an hour and 15 minutes, it's considerably longer than the average episode, which runs either half an hour or 45 minutes, and I have a hunch that young attention spans might start to wander after the second story.

The re-treads include the following:

Dave and the Giant Pickle - This retelling of the Biblical tale of David and Goliath is pretty straightforward and by-the-book, as compared with later stories such as King George and the Duckie, Duke and the Great Pie War and The Ballad of Little Joe, which offer much looser adaptations, particularly in terms of setting. Dave is played by shrimpy goodie-two-shoes Junior Asparagus in one of his two stereotypical storylines. There's Junior Learns a Lesson, which is generally found in Junior-centric episodes taking place in the modern day, and then there's Junior Teaches a Lesson, of which this story is an example.

While his brothers go off to fight, Dave is left to tend the frequently-tipping sheep, since his father (Pa Grape) agrees with them that he's too little to be of any use against the Israelites' big, bad enemy. Eventually, his determination wins out over the protests even of the skeptical King Saul (Archibald Asparagus), and he sets out defeat the giant threatening his people and prove that "With God's help, little guys can do big things too!" This stands out as the only Bible story on this DVD, and it's an ideal one for demonstrating the titular principle to children.

The Gourds Must Be Crazy - Though it has precious little to do with the movie whose title it parodies, this installment definitely deserves a nomination for the best name of a Veggie installment. The episode is so early that it actually serves as the introduction to the loopy, over-eating Jimmy and Jerry Gourd and Scottish carrot Scooter, who is a blatant knock-off of Scotty, though in later episodes he usually plays a police officer. As a lifelong Star Trek fan, I've always loved this story, which was originally found on the video Are You My Neighbor? It gives us the U.S.S. Applepies, a meteor made out of popcorn, a very catchy ditty that drops the first hint of the elusive Aunt Ruth... It's golden.

This is one of those Junior Learns a Lesson stories; after he sees the contribution Jimmy and Jerry Gourd were able to make, even though they're the weird new guys who like to sing all the time, he re-thinks his resistance to inviting Fernando, a neighbor he hasn't gotten to know yet, to his upcoming party. Bob and Larry facilitate the lesson, while his dad reinforces it in a gentle bedtime chat.

A Snoodle's Tale - One of the most all-around gorgeous tales Big Idea has produced, this story is a throwback to The Story of Flibber-o-Loo, a Dr. Seuss-style retelling of the parable of the Good Samaritan. As much as that rhymed story evokes the good doctor, this much later one takes the mimicry to another level, inventing a world awash in dazzling pastel colors, bizarre shapes and winged creatures never seen before or since. The only familiar character is Bob, who serves as narrator. The lilting script borrows extensively from The Lorax, while there are obvious visual nods to How the Grinch Stole Christmas; in an interesting reversal, the recluse atop the mountain is the one character who makes our little hero feel loved, while the rest of the Snoodles are much Grinchier than the virtuous Whoville residents.

The adorable little Snoodle in the story wants to paint and fly, but his peers insist that he lacks the skill, and they use their abilities to make fun of him. It's only when he ascends Mount Ginches and meets a Stranger who we hear but never see that he realizes just how special he really is. Though there are no songs, the score is as lovely as the artwork. All factors combine perfectly to make this an incredibly artful presentation, and one very easy for children to relate to as just about all of us have gone through the experience of being belittled.

The Bellybutton Song - This is the first of two silly songs that shows up. It originally appeared on The Ballad of Little Joe and served as the introduction to the Boyz in the Sink, the 'NSync homage consisting of Larry, Junior, Jimmy and Mr. Lunt. Mr. Lunt is the lead singer here, and he wails earnestly to a disgusted nurse in whom he may or may not have a romantic interest that he has no bellybutton. Though it is decidedly silly, it fits the theme because Mr. Lunt's lack of a bellybutton is one of the things that makes him special.

The Yodeling Veterinarian of the Alps - This one was Larry's big comeback, premiering as the finale of the second silly song compilation, The End of Silliness? A barbershop quartet comprised of scallions narrates the story of the wacky veterinarian, played by Larry, who is convinced that his yodeling can heal any injured animal. The truth of the matter is that his faithful nurse, portrayed by a disgruntled Pa Grape, is the one fixing all the patients, while Larry gets all the credit. Eventually a patient arrives that neither of them is prepared to deal with, and Larry realizes the hard way that his singing isn't so magical after all. Here, it's Pa Grape who needs to feel special; this overlooked assistant role was revisited several years later in Sheerluck Holmes and the Golden Ruler.

This is all well and good, but for the devoted Veggie fan, it's probably not enough to merit buying the collection. What long-time fans need is new material. God Made You Special mostly offers this in the form of countertop chatter between stories and candid interviews with real kids. Bob starts off by introducing the topic, but Larry quickly takes over, much to Bob's consternation. It seems everyone has something to say about being special, but will the tomato ever get a chance to toss in his two cents? The interviews take up more time than the chatter, and it's an interesting idea, getting kids' reactions to the various tales. What a thrill it must've been for those children to see themselves up there on the screen, transformed into vegetables! But the answers really aren't all that compelling; they're the sort of answers you would expect, and while it might be a nice idea to show each story and the kids' reactions in a Sunday school setting, hopefully sparking discussion, I find these segments rather skippable, like the live-action bits that break up several of the educational shows on PBS.

That leaves the new story, which comes fairly early in the film. I'm a little surprised they didn't save this one for last, since it is both new and it ties in with Bob's countertop feelings of inadequacy. I do think A Snoodle's Tale is much more powerful, but it still might have made more sense to give long-time fans something to look forward to at the end. Bob's Vacation finds Bob giving Larry instructions on how to look after his house and answer the show's fan mail while he is away. Larry is eager to help but rather worried he won't do the job properly. In an effort to appear confident, however, he takes a call from Madame Blueberry, who offers her assistant's help in caring for Bob's plants. When Bob overhears Larry saying, "He's not that special," he is devastated. Little does he know that Larry is referring to Bob's beloved fern, which he attends faithfully and even names, reminding me of the square Nick Angel in Hot Fuzz.

While Bob goes off to turn his vacation into a pity party, Larry grapples with his housekeeping duties and panics when half the town decides to crash at Bob's to answer fan mail and gorge on pizza. Of course, there's affirmation for both Bob and Larry by the end of the songless short, but Bob seems a little excessively petulant. The look is also a bit strange; the colors are a bit askew, slightly paler, as they were in the added segments when VeggieTales was on NBC. It's not unpleasant to look at, but the coloration is distinct enough that it doesn't look quite right.

If you're as big a Veggie fan as I am, you'll want this collection even though you're not getting that much new material, none of which is especially memorable. If you've never seen the veggies before, this isn't a bad place to start, though the countertop scenes are self-referential, so you might feel a little out of the loop. All told, God Made You Special contains several quality components, but as a package deal... well, it's just not that special.