Corduroy longs for someone to take him home, but he searches for his missing button around the department store first. When the zookeeper leaves the door open, the happy lion decides to walk through town to visit his friends. Big diesel engines threaten to run Mike Mulligan and his old steam shovel, Mary Anne, out of business. A mother's love and a baby's smile bond the two together. Silly Auntie will try anything to get Baby to smile. Two owls discover the secret to peace and happiness. A baby goose feels like an outcast until she discovers that she can fly.
Corduroy, the lovable, green overall-wearing stuffed bear, leads preschoolers through a lesson in caring in this sweet DVD that includes six additional stories. While Corduroy is a live action segment, the film closely follows the book and adds a new layer of life to the cute teddy bear that kids will simply adore. The other stories, which include "The Happy Lion," "Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel" and "I Love You Like Crazy Cakes" are animated with the illustrations from the book being heavily featured. The words accompany the storytelling in a read-along format to encourage young kids to follow along.
Fans of Corduroy will absolutely love watching his search for a missing button in live action, especially when he mistakes the toy railroad control knob for the button, turns the train on and takes it for a not-intended ride around the toy shop. "I Love You Like Crazy Cakes" brings up the topic of adoption, which is great for giving your child an early lesson in family diversity and unconditional love. Children can practice basic French in "The Happy Lion," including "bonjour" and "au revoir," as they watch the kind lion interact with the people of Paris both from the safety of his pen and from the streets when he escapes.
Emily, the three-year-old I nanny for, couldn't remove her eyes from the screen as she watched her beloved Corduroy. At the end of the clip, she turned to me and gushed, "He's so cute and cuddly! I liked this movie a lot!"
--Abby
This video is a live action version of the classic book and it also has six other stories on it narrated by Laura Dern, Mia Farrow and others. At first, I have to admit, I was a little scared of how they would pull off a "live action" version of Corduroy. In the book, Corduroy (the bear) comes to life and runs around the department store in search of his missing button. After Corduroy was over he demanded to watch it again even though I explained to him that there were six more stories on the DVD. Eventually, he got around to the remaining stories and decided that he also loves "Goose" and "The Happy Owls."
--Sarah, Brooklyn, NY