Dr. Donna's Review

About the Film

“Let’s Dance” opens with Strawberry Shortcake urging the viewing audience and her pets, Cupcake the dog and Custard the cat, to get up and dance along with her.  Dancing reminds Strawberry of some stories about dancing.  She proceeds to tell two charming stories that both feature dancing and teach important lessons. 

The first story opens with Strawberry Shortcake and her friends working in the strawberry patch where the strawberries are almost ready for picking.  Unbeknownst to the girls is that Pieman and his sister, Sour Grapes, are watching them and Pieman is making plans to steal the strawberries.  Pieman announces that Sour Grapes needs to distract the kids while he steals the strawberries.  So, Sour Grapes disguises herself as Madam Rita Rutabaga, opens a dance studio and invites all the kids in Strawberry Land to come to learn the Rutabaga Boogie.  Even Huckleberry Pie, the only boy in the group of friends, joins the dance class and has fun learning the dance. Much to the surprise of Sour Grapes (Madam Rita Rutabaga), she is enjoying how the kids are really learning the dance, having fun, and putting in extra practice time.  When Pieman tells her she needs to keep the kids busy for at least another week, she refuses saying that she is impressed by how hard the kids are working and doesn’t want to let them down. Pieman threatens to tell the kids that she has been fooling them into thinking that she is a dance teacher.  To avoid having Pieman tell on her and to keep the kids busy longer, Sour Grapes decides to have the kids put on a dance recital.  Again, she is impressed by how hard the kids work and how well they learn the dances.  Finally, she confesses to Strawberry Shortcake and her friends that she is really Sour Grapes disguised as Rita Rutabaga.  Instead of being angry, Strawberry Shortcake tells her that she’s a really good dance teacher and that they too are proud of what they’ve learned.  Strawberry suggests that she help them get the strawberry crop back from Pieman.  Together they devise a plan to exchange the baskets of strawberries for baskets of sunflowers.  The plan succeeds.  As Pieman huffs and puffs about losing the strawberry crop, Sour Grapes proudly watches the kids put on a spectacular dance recital.

The second story takes place during winter in Strawberry Land when the pond is frozen and Strawberry and her friends come together to practice ice dancing moves and make plans to put on a show.  As Strawberry, Angel Cake, Orange Blossom and Ginger Snap twirl, glide and leap through their ice dancing moves, they realize that they are being watched by a stranger – who can it be?  Soon they meet Apricot and learn that she is new to Strawberry Land.  The girls are happy to have a new friend and invite her to join in all of their activities, even to the star performer in the ice dancing show.  Over the next few days, Apricot tells them that she lives in a castle, they she is an expert ice dancer and that she can help prepare for the show because she is an expert carpenter.  And yet she won’t let Orange Blossom walk her home, doesn’t show up for practice and makes a mess doing carpentry.  Custard the cat is the first to become suspicious that she is not telling the truth.  She and Cupcake follow Apricot home and discover that she lives in a tiny little house – not a castle.  Custard and Cupcake tell Strawberry and urge her to confront Apricot.  Strawberry says “No, we have to let her tell us herself.”

On the day of the big show, Apricot arrives on crutches saying that she can’t perform because she hurt her foot.  The show goes on without her.  When Apricot slips up and walks leaving her crutches behind, the girls ask her what is going on.  She confesses that she hasn’t been telling the truth about a lot of things.  She tells them that “I wanted all of you to like me.”  The girls forgive her and tell her how important it is for friends to be honest.  They invite her to participate in the show’s encore.  Apricot joins the girls in a successful ice dancing performance to a song about being hones and being true.

About the Kids
This film’s primary appeal is to younger children, especially girls, up the age of 5.  Some younger boys may enjoy it also.  The film may continue to appeal to older girls up to the age of nine.  Those children who have collected and played with the “Strawberry Shortcake”characters will be pleased to see many familiar personalities and to meet some new characters.

All children will be able to relate to the themes that are developed through “Let’s Dance.” Themes such as hard work and practice enable one to do amazing things, people can be changed by their experiences, good friends help us learn and grow, and honesty among friends is important are relevant and important to children in the viewing age group.

Film content and features
“Let’s Dance” is a bright, happy film featuring several songs that highlight and enhance the film’s messages. The characters have unique personality traits that allow children to identify with their different strengths.  Apricot, the new character, shows that not all children are perfect all the time.  She resorts to dishonesty in an effort to be accepted into the group.  However, when she learns through experience that only honesty gets her the acceptance she craves, she is able to change and even to apologize for past behavior.  Pie Man is the type of classic villain that children love to hate yet he never resorts to violence to accomplish his nefarious goals. His sister, Sour Grapes is a whiny complainer who usually goes along with his plans but in this story she is so overwhelmed by the hard work and accomplishments of the dancing class, that she defies her brother and shows that even bad people can be changed by good experiences.

Things to talk about
Talking with children about the stories you share at Kidtoon Films can help to develop their language acquisition skills, their cognitive development and their “media literacy” skills.  Simple questions that encourage children to retell stories, remember details, recall new vocabulary words, etc. will build the language acquisition and cognitive skills that underscore reading. It is also important to talk with children about the stories and characters that they meet through media.  Such discussions help children understand that media stories not only give us pleasure but that they also teach us important lessons.  Talking with children about the fact that they are learning from story content helps children develop an important first step toward “media literacy” i.e. that all media contains content and information and that it is worthwhile to take the time to figure out what messages the creator of the content is giving us.

Questions, Themes and activites to follow-up to "Let's Dance"

• Help children recall sequence and details of the stories by asking such questions as:

Story #1:

• Who wanted to steal the strawberries and why?  (Pieman wanted to steal the strawberries so he could sell them.)
• How did Pieman want Sour Grapes to help him? (He wanted her to keep the kids distracted by getting them to go to the dance studio.)
• What happened to make Sour Grapes change her mind? (She came to like the kids and feel proud of how hard they were working.)
• How did the children feel when they learned that Sour Grapes had disguised herself as Madam Rita Rutabaga? (They forgave her and told her she was a good dance teacher.)

            Story #2:

• What was the name of the new kid in Strawberry Land? (Apricot)
• Apricot told some lies about herself.  What were they? (That she lived in a castle; that she was an expert ice dancer and carpenter, that she hurt her foot.)
• Who followed Apricot and learned the truth? (Cupcake and Custard)
• Why did Apricot tell lies about herself?  (She thought the kids would like her more if she lived in a castle and could do things like ice dancing and carpentry.)
• What happened that caused Apricot to tell the truth? (She faked having a hurt foot then walked on it and everyone saw that it wasn’t really hurt.)

• Have children engage in follow-up activities such as:
• Have children draw a picture of their favorite scene from each story.
• Have children draw a picture of Sour Grapes and a picture of Madam Rita Rutabaga.
• Ask children to tell you a new story about Apricot – a story that happens in the spring.  Write down the story and have the child illustrate it. Post it in the kitchen.