VeggieTales: Rack, Shack & Benny

I have loved Veggie Tales since birth, and this one is my favorite with Where's God When I'm S-Scared.

It's a Christian show, but even other people love it, and all ages. I'm 19 and I still watch them!

As my title states, this is my favorite! I feel that Big Idea has not topped themselves in the last 23 years!

The episode retells the story of the Firey Furnace found in Daniel 3 of the Bible and teaches you to stand up for your beliefs, even when everyone else is doing the opposite.

There are intense scenes with the fire aspect but it's worth watching if your child isn't easily scared. (And they shouldn't be- God is bigger than the boogieman!-that's from the first show.)

If you love this, and I'm shocked if you don't, then watch every other one! You can thank me by watching them repeatedly!

This is Larry and Bob's delightfully funny adaptation of the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego from the Book of Daniel. Larry the Cucumber, Bob the Tomato, and Junior Asparagus play employees at the Nezzer Chocolate Factory, run by Nebby K. Nezzer (a take-off on King Nebuchudnezzer), a big pickle. Nezzer is a slave driver, working his employees ungodly hours in making chocolate bunnies. One day, however, feeling unusually charitable on the day they sell their 1000th bunny, Nezzer lets the employees eat as many chocolate bunnies as they want (obviously these are not union workers, or someone would have mentioned time off as a better option). Junior, Bob, and Larry (as Rack, Shack, and Benny, take-offs of the three friends of Daniel) elect not to eat any bunnies, since their moms told them when they were very young that eating a lot of chocolate is not healthy. As a result, most of the other factory employees fall asleep on the job, but Rack, Shack, and Benny stay alert and awake. Nezzer notices this and makes the threesome his junior executives. Once in the front office, they learn that Mr. Nezzer has built a chocolate bunny shrine and plans to require his employees to bow down to a giant iron bunny and sing "The Bunny Song" once a day to show their worship to him. Rack, Shack, and Benny refuse to sing the song (because or bow down and Nezzer banishes them to the furnace. In the true spirit of the Scripture, Nezzer finds that, because of their conviction, God protects the three from burning up. He even observes a fourth "person" in the furnace with them, quite possibly an angel protecting them because they had the courage to stand up for their convictions. Nezzer is impressed and asks for their forgiveness.

This is a wonderful adaptation of the Bible story, teaching kids and adults that God is pleased when we choose to follow His ways, rather that follow the crowd, even if it means losing something such as friends, a job, or even your life. He promises to protect us and lead us through any trials that may arise as a result.

Children and adults alike will like this movie. It contains elements that both will understand, like when Mr. Lunt, Nezzer's assistant, observes Rack, Shack, and Benny still standing after all the other employees have conked out and says, "Actually, boss, I think the tomato is sitting." implying that it is difficult to tell if a talking tomato is sitting or standing, especially when it has no arms or legs.

What I like best is the songs. "Stand Up" at the end is the best "Veggie Tales" song ever. I also liked Larry and Bob's exchange during the "Silly Songs with Larry" segment, where Larry sings in Spanish and Bob interprets.

While this one had a big animation improvement,it also had a better moral and new good characters. However it is so dark as Mr.Nezzer try's to cook some veggies for dinner. But he realizes that he should have been doing the right thing.

Veggietales has come a long way. since 1993, they have made computer animated cartoons with none other than...Vegetables...no i'm not talking about people who can't move but still live on life support. these are computer animated Vegetables that hop around and lift objects with telepathic powers (ok, they have invisible arms) And they get a letter from a fictional boy or girl who asks a question that is simple for children to understand, but also for adults to understand, and recall from their younger days.

Anyways, this particular episode takes place in Nezzar's chocolate factory, and thats a sugar coated idea if i ever saw one! anyways, these young characters are working in the factories, making chocolate bunnies for little to nothing. (No some of you might think these characters might think of running away, but in the original story, if they ran, they got the gallows) anyways, one day, Mr. nezzar announces that the company has shipped their 2 millionth chocolate bunny, and decides to let the workers eat as many chocolate bunnies for the next half hour...of course when he finds them, they're all sick from the huge intake of chocolate...except for Rack, Shack, and Benny. so, while Mr. nezzar sees them still standing, he decides to make them all "junior executives". Along this time, Mr. nezzar has also built a 90 foot tall bunny, because he's obsessed with "the bunny" and he also writes a song and tells rack, shack, and Benny that he's going to make everyone sing the bunny song, and if they defy him, they get thrown into the burning furnace. Now how does some cooked asparagus, tomato, and cucumber sound?

The moral of this story is "standing up for what you believe in" and even if you're not a Christian, thats a good thing to remember. for example, you might find your best friend smoking crack with a multitude of people. of course, you can say no. thats standing up for what you believe in.

What also contributed to this one videos good moral, is when it was released...it was released only 2 or 3 years before the Pokémon craze. many Strong Christian families didn't like the idea of their children capturing Pokemon animals and telling them to battle (in a way, it's somewhat like Dungeons and Dragons, and that just got a bad rep because most of the stuff marketed towards that is satanic, and that a lot of stupid people were committing suicide after playing it. plus, you could use your imagination and make a totally Christian DnD game, only it's because of the stupid marketing.) either way, this video was still pretty popular around the Pokémon craze, so many families stood up against Pokémon and stood with god, just like Radshack, Meshack, and Abendigo did against Nebuchadnezzar in the original Bible story from the book of Daniel.

i suggest you watch this, big-time.

Computer animated veggies...who would think of something kids hate to eat and apply morals to them, to make the best Christian videos ever? BigIdea productions. I think we all need to salute these guys. They take the same technique as the Simpsons (few people do all the voices, great humor, etc.) and apply, as I said before, morals. Great for kids, and even fun for us adults.

5/5 STARS

John Ulmer