Barney - Come on Over to Barney's House [VHS]
Barney has a new look to his old pad in this direct-to-video release.  Using Barney's favorite tool--imagination--we find that his house has many  surprises, including rooms filled with bubbles, butterflies, and beach balls.  This 45-minute tape is song-filled as kids meet up with Barney's pals BJ and  Baby Bop to discover lots of things, from making sour pickle faces to the  wonders of pumpernickel bread. Although this production is not as episodic as  the popular TV show, Barney has hardly changed in a dozen years, and in some  ways has been passed by other educational shows. When BJ starts a band, nothing  is taught about music or instruments as aBlues Cluesepisode might  teach. And the humor seems old, even when Barney tries to be up to date. When  Barney talks about a computer, it's with a surfboard-carrying mouse (computer  mouse, get it?) named Murray who sings about "surfin' on the World Wide Web"  without explaining anything about the Internet. Still, for youngsters who like  the appealing and colorful world, there is more here than the average show from  the purple dinosaur. (Ages 2 to 6)--Doug Thomas