Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)I had the privilege to see the "Hola! Sandybell" series in Mexico City back when I was 11 years old in the mid 80's. Although I was not a fan of the introductory music, the first few episodes captured my attention. Given a time conflict between the Televisa's channel 5 programing and my own extracurricular activities, I was unable to watch all of the episodes and even missed the end of the series. This sort of hunted me back then since this show grew up to become my favorite animation of all time.
The episodes surfaced again somewhere on-line, but some of them were partially missing, and finally decided to get a copy of it through Amazon.
Content:
I personally had to overcome the cheesiness of the introductory music (Spanish). However, as I became more attached to the story, even the music didn't seem to be so bad! The developments of Sandybell's and father's character are well above anything I've seen in a cartoon. This story is based on an orphaned girl following the recipe of stories like Candy Candy, Remi, Tom Sayer, Oliver, and even the 1500's Lazarillo de Tormes. The Lazarillo is a picaresque story though, and like Oliver, Tom Sayer, and Remi it deals more with the hardships of growing up without parents. Candy Candy introduces romance and better foster families into the story. Sandybell furthermore introduces stability in the foster family. I find it impressive that Sandybell's character can manage being interesting even if she was not an orphan or her romantic interest was not a noble man (with some mayor changes as the story develops though).
The story is not perfect: I'm not sure I would call myself I great tutor if I send a 15-16 year old girl on her own as a reporter through out the world, in the company of a 8-11 year old chaperon/photographer. Specially when they have a tendency to get themselves in trouble with organize crime and police. The character Alex only needs to fly to become Superman. Kitty's photographer Skapan introduces some humor, but IMHO is completely irrelevant and distracting. There are more than one instances where both Sandybell and Ricky almost get killed and are saved against all odds. Ronwood seems to be OK with it because it's all part of Sandybell's process of becoming a great reporter? No need to get a formal education for Sandybell? Eduardo's unlikely and coincidental appearances are annoying in that they subtract credibility. In the same lines, there are also a fair share of unlikely scenarios that could have been side stepped by the script writers have they considered a few more episodes to credibly resolve some of the problems in which Sandybell managed to get into. Furthermore, I'm not sure why having the "SandyMobile" inexplicably fly at the end of the series was such a great idea. HOWEVER, this series by far exceeded my expectations in some episodes as to how Sandybell deals with loss and goes forward with courage and strength, inspiring people that have the fortune to meet her. Hell, it even inspired me, to the point that even with all it's flaws I'm giving it 5 stars based on content!!! I must have liked it :)
Sound/Video Quality: Well folks I guess this is a good as it gets. This is not a remastered copy, and it definitively needs some touch up. The cover and the presentation is noting short of impressive though. Only the first episode is widescreen, the rest are letterbox. The content should have been widescreen or letterbox, stick to one. The sound required remastering, but it was OK with the exception of two episodes in disc 4. Man did I have a hard time understanding what was going on in those two episodes. The video is good for a 27" TV, but if you have an > 37" HDTV be prepared to see some compression noise. It is not terrible, but one would expect better for a $50 copy. I personally own the Robotech Macross series (remastered), and it kills this copy in terms of sound and video quality. Nonetheless, compared to a copy I obtained from the web, this is by far better hands down (worth it).
Since this is the best copy of Sandybell I know, and I really like the story, I will give it 5 stars overall.
Before you buy this note that this series only contains Spanish and Japanese audio tracks. There are no subtitles, and audio tracks are stereo. One possible reason the video does not have English audio tracks is that to my knowledge it was not released in the US or Britain. It was released in Egypt, Romania, France, Italy, Latin America, Scandinavia, and obviously Japan.
Click Here to see more reviews about: Hola Sandy Bell - La Serie Completa (1981)
HOLA SANDY BELL ORIGINAL DVD from Mexico listo para tu DVD. Comenzaba la decada de 1980 y una simpatica ni?a rubia de tierna sonrisa y sentimientos nobles cautivo los corazones de toda una generacion. Se trataba de la obra del escritor Japones Shiro Jinbo: HOLA SANDY BELL! 47 capitulos originales tal como los viste en TV y con las voces que hicieron epoca. Este paquete especial con 6 DVD's originales incluye la historia completa. Revive la magia infantil de aventuras y emociones que volveran a vivir con esta grata historia.
Click here for more information about Hola Sandy Bell - La Serie Completa (1981)
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