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When I was a little girl, I used to love playing with my sweet-scented Strawberry Shortcake dolls. Though the dolls and their various accessories eventually moved on to the loving home of another little girl, I’ll still be able introduce my own little girl to Strawberry and her friends, thanks to video releases like Berry Brick Road.
In this 44-minute feature, Strawberry Shortcake (voiced by Sarah Heinke) introduces her four-legged friends, Custard and Pupcake (Anna Jordan and Nils Haaland), to one of her favorite books, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. In her version, Strawberry and Pupcake are caught up in a tornado and transported to a strange and magical land called Oz. After putting the wicked witch out of commission, they’re sent down the Berry Brick Road to the Emerald City, to seek the wizard, who can send them home.
On their way to the Emerald City, Strawberry and Pupcake meet all kinds of new friends—all of whom are in need of some assistance from the wizard. But when the wicked witch comes after them, they have to work together to defeat her.
With lovable characters like Strawberry Shortcake and Huckleberry Pie taking on familiar roles like Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz, Berry Brick Road is an adorably family-friendly way to introduce kids to a beloved classic.
Just like the fruity-scented dolls that once held a place of honor in my playroom, this animated tale is oh-so-sweet—though, admittedly, sometimes overpoweringly so. It’s upbeat and fun—bright and colorfully animated, with kind and thoughtful (and altogether admirable) characters. The first half even teaches an important (albeit sometimes agonizingly repetitive) message about positive thinking. While following along on Strawberry’s thrilling adventure, kids will learn that the skills they need to succeed—whether that means brains or heart or courage—are already inside them. They just need to dig deep and believe in themselves.
In the feature’s second half, though, the story takes a perplexing turn, as—driven by her pets’ wasteful attitude toward the last berries of the season—Strawberry once again returns to Oz for another story. This time, she’s called in to help when the Berrykins (i.e. Munchkins) take their beloved gemberries for granted—with disastrous results for all of Oz. Though the story’s environmental message is definitely an important one, it gets preachy and long-winded—and it just doesn’t fit with the feature’s classic first half.
Overflowing with goodness and sweetness, Berry Brick Road is still a lovable feature for kids, offering plenty of important lessons for young viewers to learn along the way. But while kids (especially little girls) will love the characters and their uplifting adventure, grown-ups will quickly tire of its repetition, its baffling second half, and its sugary sweetness. So once you sit down with your little one to watch it the first time, you may find yourself looking for excuses to avoid her second, third, fourth, and fifth viewings.
