VHS Review (Posted on 01-27-2014)

Maggie And The Ferocious Beast is a unique children's animated show backed with simple messages behind them. Although the episodes are rather short, there's a lot of room for good fun from Maggie and the gang. I actually found this series to be rather enjoyable, and I'm sure kids will get a kick out of it. I'm not sure if it was due to low network demands, low ratings or small budget, but this series worked well, as the characters were lovable and the animation/storyline was simple.

The tape starts with the following promos: Stuart Little 2, Kermit's Swamp Years, JayJay the Jet Plane, Bear and The Big Blue House and Dragon Tales. The feature presentation then begins and as the intro and the soundtrack was quite short. This might sit well with those with little patience.

Episode 1: Beastly Picture: While Maggie paints a picture of Beast, Hamilton comes in to serve pumpkin cupcakes (looks like chocolate cupcakes to me). After finishing the painting, Maggie sees the Dream Sheep and decides to ride on the clouds to pass time. Meanwhile, while Beast and Hamilton are eating, Beast knocks the paint bucket over, spilling the painting Maggie whipped up. Panicking, Beast immediately tries to make up a painting like Maggie's as Hamilton offers to help. As Maggie arrives back, she talks about everything new she saw and wants to make a painting out of everything she saw. Ashamed, Beast unveils the painting he ripped and tried to paint his own. Maggie actually became proud of the work Beast did in drawing up his own self-portrait. Maggie kindly offers to paint another and decides to keep Beast's painting.

Episode 2: The Big Duck: As the trio—Maggie, Hamilton and Beast—stroll on, they decide to cross the river. They suddenly run into a huge, big duck. Beast runs away in fear not knowing what the huge animal is. The trio then find another area where they can cross without running into the nice duck, but not to be. Being a ferocious beast yet running away, Beast tries to stand his ground and confront the duck but still runs away.

"You shouldn't be ferocious to someone you don't know."
- Maggie

Well Maggie, that's tough to do when you're having a bad day; Beast wasn't, however. Maggie decides to drag the other two to talk and introduce themselves to the nice duck. The Jelly Bean Team call on the duck to ask for a ride across the river, and does just that. Maggie gets Beast to cross the river with the duck, and Hamilton was chosen to ride on the duck. Playfully competing, Maggie and Beast made it across the river, while Hamilton....is sound asleep on the duck's back.

Episode 3: Hamilton's Pet: This might just be the most solemn, sentimental episode on the tape. Maggie looks to head to The River of Dreams to catch fish. They all do, and chose strawberries as bait (was the usage of worms too inhumane?). Having to sit for long and not catching a bite, a fish pops out from Hamilton's reel as it waves hello and eats the strawberry. Hamilton decides to catch the fish and name it "Fishy." Maggie and Beast looking so pensive, doesn't know when Hamilton will stop obsessing over Fishy—after Hamilton gave Fishy a bonnet, it's own fish bowl on a stroller and treating it like human baby. Fishy gradually gets depressed, as Beast looks to have a pet of his own. Maggie helps out by blowing up balloons for them two, treating them like pets and giving it names (something people do to their cars). Hamilton then feels the sorrow thinking Fishy dislikes him, when Maggie and Beast wake Hamilton to reality: fish don't wear bonnets and don't drink milk. Fishy was also homesick and Hamilton, with tears in his eyes, says his goodbyes to Fishy. Both became happy, and Maggie cheers Hamilton up by blowing up his own balloon pet as the trio run away with their new 'pets.'

Episode 4: My One and Only Box: Walking through the cold weather, Maggie looks to build a snow castle while Beast builds a snow cone. Hamilton kindly gets Beast to gear up for the cold weather with a scarf and a beanie. While working on the snow castle, Maggie gets a polka dot from Beast to "tape" her scarf. The fun begins as the trio make angels on the snow floor and throw snowballs at each other. Beast went as far as to create a huge snowball, similar to the giant ball from the hit film Indiana Jones. Continuing the fun, Maggie and Beast sled down the hill waiting for Hamilton to slide down. Not wanting to get his sweater dirty, he uses his box to slide down. Running into a rock, Hamilton is safely caught by Beast having flown in the air. Seeing his box damaged, Hamilton gets emotional, then sings why his box is his "home." Understanding his sentiments, Maggie and Beast help fix Hamilton's cardboard box using Beast's polka dots and is good as new.

Episode 5: Mr. Shivers: Beast tries to find shade as he and Hamilton roast under the hot weather. Maggie brings in a snow globe, as Hamilton and Beast both wish they were in colder climates. Maggie shakes the globe, but not only does the snow flakes fly inside the globe, snow also falls from the sky. Beast decides to shake the globe as hard as he could that the area they're in is suddenly full of snow. The trio then get together to build a snowman. Hamilton shows off a bowl of carrots he wanted to use for hot soup but uses one of them for the snowman's nose. Out of the blue, the snowman comes to life and introduces himself as Mr. Shivers. He's always sneezing because he doesn't have a scarf and is always out in the cold weather. Like a human, Hamilton serves Shivers hot soup to cool off when they all realize that the snow and Shivers are melting! Beast finds that the best place for Shivers is high atop the mountain in which they all see over yonder. Leaving the warm weather of the oasis, the quadruple walk and climb atop the mountain where it is at freezing temperatures. Mr. Shivers feels that is the perfect place for him and promises to visit the trio whenever he can.

I did not find a single flaw out of this fantastic volume. Only reason for the 0.5 deduction was hoping the episodes were a little longer, despite being such a short-lived series. Then again, Hollywood and the television industry continue to run out of ideas so don't act surprised if top-notched producers and animators decide to extend this series in continuation to entertain the present and the future children (I remembered television/movie producers saying that YouTube, and other video-sharing websites, are for the non-talented nobodies—guess again).

With an open mind, one will realize that there's no harm in trying. Accidents happen but your potential cannot take off unless you try (episode one). Secondly, no matter how big or small another might be, don't sell someone short. What you think of them may not what you think (episode two). As mentioned in another review, that's difficult to do considering what we generally think of another person. If you don't believe me, search "Ted Bundy"—a good-looking successful man who turns out to be a 'monster.' Topics like that are extremely tough to debate, as is finding a solid stance on abortion, but the message is out there, nevertheless. I was never a fan of PETA, nor will I ever be, but animals are more comfortable in their habitat. Although there isn't an animal government that takes action in prosecuting a human for kidnapping an animal from their home (there is, however, for domestic pets like dogs) but animals are better off where they originally belong. It isn't the case with dogs, but like us humans, there's no place like home (episode three). Another is not being ashamed if people think you're strange or weird. If something holds a sentimental value to you, then it's okay to hang on to it without shame. Items left behind from those who passed away are perfect examples; They're the only item(s) that emit vibration, which shows that you're still in touch with them after crossing over (I'm doing just that). Whether it's a box, t-shirt, a pen or a piece of paper, we as humans value items that we connect with—item(s) with a story to tell, how it got into its current condition, its history and what it means to us (episode four). As for snowmen or a sandcastle, such things we build are better well appropriate in their respective weather climates. Not only that, if there were a snow globe that would supercharge the weather pattern into getting it to snow, then I'd like to see that (cloudbusting?). Suppose it were, then that must mean 'someone' is behind the frigid polar vortex in the east coast, you think?

Other than that, I strongly recommend this series. Your kids will love the main characters and the story is straight and to the point. It's sad how the really nice, unique ones are always the shortest-lived (I still feel the same about The Three Little Kittens which I wished became an episodic series).
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© 2008-2019 written and reviewed personally by Kris Caballero.

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