.
dPASSOVER
Pharoah is attacked by beasts,
one of the ten plagues, as depicted
in the video for children.
An Animated
Look At
Passover
A whimsical telling of The Exodus
has been produced for kids on video
cassette.
It was inevitable: the first full
color video cassette version of the
Passover story is now on the market
and, judging by the reaction of my
kids, ages 4, 9 and 13, it should be a
hit.
•
The 24-minute film, called "The
Animated Haggadah," was produced
by Scopus Films of London and
Jerusalem in association with the
Gesher Foundation of Israel and the
U.S. It features charming soft clay
animations to bring the Passover
story to life, blending humOr and
sophistication in style reminiscent of
"Sesame Street." (Indeed, the anima-
tion is the work of Rony Oren, who
has animated more than 70 Israeli
Sesame Street programs.)
The film opens with an Ameri-
can family seated around a Seder
table with Grandpa Sam recounting
the Exodus story while 12-year-old
Danny tries to figure out what's
going on. "Check this out," he says
to us. "Roasted egg, bitter herb .
not one. normal piece of food and
Twelve-year-old Danny narrates the Passover story
in "The Animated Hagaddah."
here I am wondering how long until
we eat."
But as Grandpa Sam begins to
recount the events of the exodus
from Egypt, the film brings them to
life, from Abraham's destruction of
his father's idols to Moses and Aaron
visiting Pharoah and bringing the
ten plagues down on him.
One of the highlights of the film
is the recounting of the Four Sons,
shown here as one animated char-
acter with four faces. Another is
having Jacob and his sons arriving
in Egypt via jumbo jet.
In general, the tone of the film
is whimsical and light, which my
family found appealing. The lan-
guage is simple, the visuals are
pleasing and the overall effect is to
entertain while educating.
There is also a book being pub-
lished as a spin-off of the video,
under the same name and using
stills from the video, co-published in
the U.S. by Shapolsky/Steimatzky.
.
— Gary Rosenblatt
A family is seated at the Seder table.
As
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