A lesson in fighting temptation

Reviewed by Tony Cummings

"Knock, knock, who's there. Just a pretty little apple with some time to spare," sings the embodiment of Temptation in best slinky, vamp style. And first the mayor of Bumblyburg succumbs to the Bad Apple's offer of new, improved beauty treatments and Reporter Petunia finds that her new fangled video game is player her. Worse is to follow. The town's very own Spiderman-like superhero Larry Boy succumbs to his craving for chocolate. But just when the dastardly tempter, who rather confusingly has developed un-apple-like mechanical spider legs, is set to ensnare the whole town with a Fun complex from which no one would ever escape, Larry Boy's trusty butler Alfred Asparagus (whose British toff accent seems to get phonier with every Veggie Tale episode) comes to the rescue. All in all, Larry Boy And The Band Apple' is up to standard though some might suggest the story line is unnecessarily complicated for the really young ones. But then, overcoming temptation was never going to be an easy theme to dramatise. As well as the main story, you've got the evidence that Big Ideas/Veggie Tales have finally caught up with the age of rawk music. The anthem to hero Larry Boy is sung rock'n'roll style (though one does wonder how the veggie rock band could play those flash electric guitars with no hands. Yep, the Veggie franchise shows no sign of running out of steam yet.