Frog and Toad Are Friends

I'm a perfectionist when it comes to children's programming. And my opinion of the genre is generally low.

That's why I was so particularly delighted to find this gem. It's charming and very true to the book. The voice acting is marvelous, although I have to wonder if whoever voiced Toad has a medical problem with his throat; I know from painful experience that it's really hard to sound THAT gravelly! But the voice is perfect for Toad. I just wish the IMDb's credits included the voice actors.

If you're looking for something for a child ages 2-6, I think you'll be very happy with this. It has a nice old-fashioned (but not stale or lame) claymation style, and is clearly a labor of love. It's nice to find a treasure like this amidst all the hyped-up commercial garbage that's being pushed on children these days.

You can also find some of these Frog and Toad episodes on the DVD "Curious George Comes to America", which is NOT the recent movie, but rather a couple of stop-motion animated episodes from the 1980s. It's being sold cheaply in stores right now (10/10/06). If you find it, grab it! Your child will love it.

I also hear that even more Frog and Toad episodes are on the Curious George collector's edition DVD, but I haven't seen that one myself - yet.