Henry's Amazing Animals (1996–2000)
7/10
A Nice Nostalgic treat.
17 August 2013
Warning: Spoilers
It all began when I was just a child, and I was searching through the library, looking for a Nature video I have seen a long time ago, and when I thought I found it, I came into "Henry's Amazing Animals", and thus this is how I got introduced to the series.

Along the "Eyewitness" videos, I use to watch whatever episodes are available, it is hard to remember which ones but at least they were a nice treat to have (and a piece of entertainment too).

Now, Henry himself can get a little annoying at times with his slightly Naïve perspective of animal life, his repetitiveness per video and scrawny voice, but alas the point of the series is to introduce a younger audience to the concept of Animals and how they generally live to how things work, and in a way, Henry is kind of that audience as well, thus he is a relating little guy (plus if he is handled/written correctly, he can be entertaining and funny too).

Now Henry is animated by the use of CGI in a white setting/backdrop, now CGI as in it's infancy and was just beginning to be used (e.g. Toy Story and Beast Wars), now the CGI may look out-dated by most standards, but in context is is used not-too-badly and you can understand what it is meant to represent (from a setting to object to etc...) plus Henry's model is a cute little model, with big eyes and a big mouth which makes him adorable to look at, plus the fact that he is a Gecko means that the CGI does to look too dated on him (sort of like Jurassic park if you know what I mean).

As for the animal facts themselves, well they are simple which thus allows younger audiences to get the concept easily, plus the general format of Henry and the narrator talking to each other allows for a more relating presentation of information (plus the booming voice per narrator gives a feeling of a might all-knowing presence for Henry to talk to).

The episodes are roughly 25-30 Min long, which is decent enough for a TV presentation to a VHS/DVD release per episode, plus in that time, there is a variety of little "sketches" (either in 3D or 2D animation) to a few mock "shows" to a few moment (especially "Henry's Amazing Golden Gecko Awards" to "Henry's special report" being the most prolific examples).

Overall, while a little basic for adults, it is a sweet series to look back into and thus presenting to a younger audience to introduce them to Animals or entertaining them, plus while Henry can bet annoying at times (you got to have tolerance to taste to watch Henry in action), he is a cute and funny little character if you get down to it (and can provide laughs at times with how oblivious her is to Animal facts, to being over-the-top at times.

Highly recommended for a younger to nostalgic audience (even parents could get a kick/laugh out of it).
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