Product: The Worst Witch Collection - Set 1 (1999)
Rating: 4.0
BIG Difference between "English" and "UK English"
I can't resist mentioning something here. For reasons known only to the folks at Bfs Entertainment, these six @ 25-minute episodes have been dubbed into 'American English.' The dubbing performers are very "broad" in their handling of the material, so folks like E. Vasquez may be forgiven for thinking that Georgina Sherrington "needs acting lessons." In fact all the ORIGINAL performances are fine (given the material!) If you should happen to run across this DVD, do yourself a favor and switch from the "English" default setting to "UK English" (Set Up language #5) before playing the episodes.I suppose this collection had to be split into two @ 75-minute discs, but it seems like a waste of disk space! Of course they don't cost much in comparison to collections of 1-hour tv shows, but these six episodes are also far fewer than what would comprise a US tv season.The episodes are cute variations on a Harry-Potter-esque theme, with awkward young tween-witch Mildred getting in continuous hot potion with strict and severe but relatively fair Miss Hardbroom (Kate Duchene). Duchene, Clare Coulter, and Una Stubbs perform engaging variations on the Snape, Dumbledore, and McGonagall characters of the Harry Potter movies (it's hard to believe this series aired three years before "Sorcerer's Stone.") I'd recommend for pre-14 girls who like fantasy.