Barney's Great Adventure MPAA Rating: G Entertainment: +3 1/2 Content: +4

Barney, the popular purple dinosaur of television fame, stars in his first feature film. He joins 9-year-old Cody ( ), and Cody's younger sister, Abigail ( ) in a fantasy adventure starring live actors. On a visit to their grandparents for a week in the summer, Cody, Abigail and her friend Marcella learn how to use their imaginations. Being older, Cody has a harder time using his imagination, but when he wishes for an adventure, one definitely comes his way. Barney, a dinosaur doll, comes to life when a child makes a wish while rubbing his back. When an egg falls from the sky, the children discover that it has a dream-maker inside. But when they egg gets away from them, they are off on a big adventure to get it back. With Barney, the children chase the egg through a parade, a circus, a restaurant and up into a hot air balloon. When they recover it, they find out they can see their dreams more clearly because of the dream-maker inside. Especially entertaining is the characters talking to the kids in the audience, who then talk back to the screen. While Baby Bop, a character familiar to Barney fans, is searching for her blankie (blanket), she asks the kids if they have seen it. In the background a little dog is seen carrying Baby Bop's blankie back and forth. The children just howled with laughter at the press screening. Plenty of sing-a-longs add to the merriment. Barney is kind to the children and even diapers and sings to the baby.

The only objectionable scene occurs in a restaurant called Chez Snob in which adults drink wine and champagne. The waiters dance with wine bottles in their hands and couples toast one another. It's too bad they included alcohol drinking in a G-rated film, as it could have just as easily been left out. In another scene, Cody falls off the porch and steps in a cow pie (manure), but he is not hurt. BARNEY'S GREAT ADVENTURE sparks the imagination of young children who, hopefully, will understand that the dream-maker concept is pure make believe.

Preview Reviewer: Sherry Oswald
Distributor: Polygram Filmed Entertainment with Lyrick Studios, 9333 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills CA 90210