For Seuss...

I am still alive. Work, work, work, I'm sorry to have to say. And a creative lull after the scramble to get that first draft of the play off my hands. Anyway, time for some retrospection to fill the blogging gap. I dunno when I wrote this but, once upon a much more artistically free time, a commissioning editor asked me to write a review in rhyming couplets and it wasn't until I'd submitted it that he told me he was joking. It was, however, published as written. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you my rhyming review of a Dr Seuss DVD collection:


Dr Seuss DVD Box Set, (U) Universal ****
Some stories stay with you, others you lose but you'll never forget your first Dr Seuss. Everybody has read at least one tale from the man - The Grinch or The Sneetches or Green Eggs and Ham. And here in these modern times when books seem so dated, a DVD box set is sure to be feted. And after the film that stars Mike Myers as the cat, it's time for Universal to cash in on all that.

1960s cartoons inspired by a book may not seem too thrilling but just take a look. The footage is scratchy, some titles obscure, but The Lorax and extras leave you wanting more. The importance of rhyme? As a tool for education, that's obvious once you've seen these animations. Chuck Jones, the cartoonist, didn't reinvent the wheel and preferred to retain the Dr Seuss feel.

They are fun, they are funny and still seem unique and inspire some anapestic tetrameter speak. He sold millions of books then died in 1991 but his words and his wisdom just live on and on. If your love of words is important to ye then I'd urge you to nip out for this DVD. It may not be fancy, nor full of effects but as original wit it's up there with the best.

You may even find that you've learnt to read - as a result of a cashing-in studio's greed. So go for that glimpse of Dr Seuss wit, as I've heard that Myers "cat" is alarmingly...not very good.