This DVD collection, titled Caillou: Caillou's Family Favorites, contains four episodes. Caillou's Surprise features Caillou working with pottery and having some adventures in the dark. People I Love is about Caillou taking a "star" turn on his Dad's baseball team, and in Captain Caillou he gets to play with R/C boats in the park. The final episode Knowing How, is classic Caillou since it deals with that all important Pre-K theme of trying, failing, and trying again. Caillou has a lot of these experiences in the show and parents will appreciate how he is accurately portrayed as frustrated but diligent. Not many four year-olds have excess patience, plus the world is pretty frustrating when there are so many things unknown and untested. Caillou does a great job of capturing the imagination and emotions of a little boy that has a positive outlook on all his "adventures" and a supportive family to help him. Each episode features some friends or extended family, including Gilbert the Cat. The visual presentation of Caillou looks much like a kid's storybook, with whitespace on the borders and lots of primary colors. It can look a bit simple compared to some of the fancier animation on television today, but most children will find the simplicity endearing.
Once you've watched all the episodes, you'll find some nice extra features for both DVD and PC. The DVD features include animated "bios" of Caillou and his family, along with information for parents to help cement the learning lessons from the show. The real bonanza comes with the DVD-ROM features that include some simple and age-appropriate games plus a series of coloring-book printouts. Young fans of the show will certainly get their Caillou fix and parents will feel they got their money's worth. It's a shame that full-screen viewing is the only option, but since there aren't a lot of dramatic camera angles or sophisticated graphics, it's not like you're missing out on much. The other limiting feature is that the DVD-ROM features aren't available on Mac. Otherwise, Caillou: Caillou's Family Favorites is highly recommended for fans of the PBS Kids show.
