One for the Dust Bunnies: "Who is In Charge Anyway?"

"Who is in Charge Anyway" is the newest installment in the Hermie and Friends video series. In this episode, Freddie the Flea asks God why He isn't special like the other garden characters. The bulk of the film shows outtakes from other Hermie and Friends' videos plus three new flashbacks of Flo, Hermie, and Buzby in their youth.

In the end, Freddie learns that God made everyone special, but it takes time and patience for a bug's special talents to be put to use. God tells Freddie he can make a difference in small ways by sharing with others the "good news" because not every bug knows about God.

I can't tell you how excited I was to receive this DVD in the mail. My children love Hermie & Friends, and I didn't have to fork over $10.

And that's where the good review ends.

My three-year old requests several of the Hermie episodes over and over because of their memorable musical numbers he can sing along with (watch Milo the Mantis who Wouldn't Pray or Webster the Scaredy Spider) or slapstick humor that makes him giggle (like the golf balls falling from the sky to bean poor Hermie throughout Antonio Meets His Match or the rude behavior of a certain Elvis-sounding bee in Buzby the Misbehaving Bee).

This episode will likely collect dust on the shelf.

To be fair, my 3 1/2 year-old enjoyed seeing scenes he was familiar with from the other episodes, but he was unable to put the pieces together and understand this episode's point, which didn't surprise me.

Overall, the episode felt disjointed, the flashbacks to the characters' childhood weren't as interesting or funny as I anticipated, and even the "bonus material" sing-along (which is usually popular) was just a song from an earlier episode. The other bonus features included an enjoyable "To Share or Nut to Share" read-along and a behind the scenes short film that was only mildly interesting to an adult, and so boring to my son that he left the room.

The bottom line? Unless you need another place for your dust bunnies to collect, keep enjoying the old episodes and skip this one.


**I receive no compensation for this review other than a free copy of the video...and I'm still in shock that they keep sending me material when I submit reviews like this one.