VeggieTales: Moe and the Big Exit Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		3.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		2.5
Overall		3.0

VeggieTales: Moe and the Big Exit Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman February 28, 2021

VeggieTales: Moe and the Big Exit is a sequel to The Ballad of Little Joe (not currently available on Blu-ray) which told the story of Joseph as found in the Book of Genesis. This film, as becomes evident when one reads between the title's lines, follows the story of Moses as told in the Book of Exodus and, with animated talking vegetables in a Western setting, recreates the story of the Hebrew baby's adoption into royalty, flight from the scene of a crime, exile for some time, and return to free his people under God's command. It's a fun and free spirited retelling that children will love and Christian parents should find completely safe for their children's consumption.

Taskmasters have burdened the descendants of Little Joe, essentially enslaving them, forcing them to engage in sweaty, back-breaking manual labor. To ensure that there is no future rebellion when the slave numbers swell, all baby boys are ordered rounded up and sent down the river. However, the mayor’s daughter rescues one baby she names “Moe.” Years later, when Moe throws a dodgeball (his particular skill) and knocks one of his adoptive brothers off a cliff and into the river, he flees into the Rocky Mountains. Some time later, Moe encounters God, presenting as a burning tumbleweed, telling Moe that he is to return to Dodgeball City and free the oppressed people. Unfortunately, the town’s mayor has a hard heart inside of him and refuses to obey.

The film is cute and simple. It’s a very good reworked retelling of one of the most prominent stories in the Bible, replacing humans with vegetables (don’t read into that what’s not true about the movie) and upping the fun factor and playing down, but not eliminating, the awesome power of the plagues that befell Egypt. The film plays it safe as it captures the essence of the Biblical story while removing some of the denser narrative points and the quote-unquote gruesome scenes. Through the film, children will learn the story’s essentials in a somewhat more approachable form, perfect for those who are not quite ready to digest the story as it is written in the Word.

VeggieTales: Moe and the Big Exit Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

VeggieTales: Moe and the Big Exit arrives on Blu-ray with a colorful, and largely stable, 1080p transfer. The picture is hardly so exacting as the latest from Disney or Pixar or any other big animation production, but for a lower budget film, which is also now about 14 years old, it certainly holds its own. Core detail is fine and Blu-ray allows the digital source animation to be revealed practically to its fullest. Sure there are some drawbacks, both from the encode process and at the source itself, but the Blu-ray reveals the image's innate complexities practically for all they are worth, which is sometimes not much but usually to a modest level of animation detail. But character models, environments, and various support elements sport satisfactory clarity and allow the Blu-ray viewer to see the finer point intricacies the animators have painstakingly assembled. Colors appear in abundance. Bright red and greens and all variety of loud tones contrast nicely against the sandy, desert background which is prevalent throughout the film. Granted these bolder tones don't exactly define color nuance, favoring large-splotch coloring rather than comprised of fine gradations or more exacting shading, but there's something to be said for the general richness on display. The image suffers from a few drawbacks, namely banding and aliasing, the latter a bit more frequent in occurrence and visually disturbing than the former, which is not particularly egregious (a welcome comment considering lower grade and aging animation often suffers from copious amounts of banding). This is certainly not first-class stuff, but it's commendable for its display of source without significant encoding malfunctions.

VeggieTales: Moe and the Big Exit Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

VeggieTales: Moe and the Big Exit sings and dances its way onto Blu-ray with a good all-around DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack. Much like the video, this is not the pinnacle of audio engineering or delivery. The source is fairly rich as-is and the track is pleasantly open and engaging, vital for not jut an animation but also for a Western setting where atmosphere can be, and so often is, vital to any audio accompaniment. It is well versed in spatial awareness and detail. It's wide and deep, finding good balance between main content cues along the front and a healthy surround engagement, whether in music or atmosphere around the desert areas. Music plays with the appropriate level of vitality for the cheerful tunes heard throughout. A handful of action effects are hardly noteworthy but present the various light duty supports with a proper level of vigor and stage intensity. Dialogue is clear and center focused for the duration, allowing audiences to enjoy all of the silly vocalizations and never a miss an important story beat.

VeggieTales: Moe and the Big Exit Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

VeggieTales: Moe and the Big Exit includes several extras: making-ofs, drawing tutorials, art galleries, and an audio commentary. A DVD copy of the film is included with purchase but a digital code is not. This release does not ship with a slipcover.

• Making a Western Moe (1080i, 7:54): Writer/Co-Founder Mike Nawrocki and Director Brian Roberts answer kids' questions about the making of the show.
• Real Western Cowboy (1080i, 3:52): Giving authentic voice and cowboy vibes to the show.
• Why We Do It (1080i, 3:59): Exploring the film's theme about sticking to God's plan for one's life in the structure of a "Biblical Western" that mirrors the story of Moses in the Bible.
• Boyz SingAlong (1080i): Karaoke presentations of a song from the film, the first with vocal accompaniment, the second without. Included are Sing Along with the Veggies (2:14) and Sing By Yourself (2:14).
• How to Draw Moe (1080i, 5:53): Big Idea Artist Greg shows the process of drawing Moe.
• How to Draw Zippy (1080i, 8:47): Another Big Idea artist draws Zippy.
• The Ballad of Little Joe Storybook (1080p, 2:46): Reading a short story from the VeggieTales world based on the story of Joseph as found in the Book of Genesis.
• Art Gallery (1080i, 15:32): Big Idea Concept Artists Joe Spadaford and Chuck Vollmer discuss the production atop a series of colorful renderings.
• Audio Commentary: Writer/Co-Founder Mike Nawrocki and Director Brian Roberts discuss story origins, its Biblical parallel, technical details, and more in a likeable, well delivered track.

VeggieTales: Moe and the Big Exit Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Can the VeggieTales team follow up its stories from Genesis and Exodus with animated films sourced from Leviticus and Numbers next? Probably not, but VeggieTales: Moe and the Big Exit is a fun and fundamentally faithful (vegetables replacing humans aside) if not simplified retelling of the story of Moses, Pharaoh, Hebrew slaves, plagues, and of course God's direction for Moses (Moe) in the story. Catchy music, fun characters, and a thematic resonance make this one fit for the whole family. The Blu-ray includes quality video and audio presentations as well as a handful of extras. Recommended.