| Weiss comes highly recommended in homeschooling circles. Unlike one reviewer, I don't consider his voice to be "liquid gold" (for example, I prefer the sound of James Earl Jones) but it really is pleasant to listen to. I've heard samples of his voice before and wasn't overly impressed, given the glowing recommendations, but I found that his voice actually grew on me in this production. He voices characters pretty well, including women, but does not go really into character -- compared to his Prince & The Pauper (the only other complete recording of his that I've heard). And this truly is a recording that 5 year olds can comprehend and enjoy. The reason I gave this only four stars, though, is that I found his turn of phrase to be a bit awkward or not to my liking in certain parts. Still, he uses beautiful fluid language for the most part, enunciated clearly and powerfully. Plus, this is definitely much better than a lot of contemporary garbage that's out there (I couldn't help picturing Robin Hood as a fox, hearkening back to the Disney version I saw as a child). I happen to think his Prince & The Pauper was done better. As a side note: if you have your children listen to this, you'll probably end up having to discuss the right/wrong of stealing (even if to give back to the poor) in Robin Hood and the clandestine meeting between the Queen and the Duke (and whether that was a worthy cause to risk one's life for) in The Three Musketeers, plus the concept of falling "madly and hopelessly in love." These are all worthy discussions but you might want to be prepared in advance. |
The Three Musketeers: Robin Hood Books In Print, Audio Books.