A new Dora DVD titled Dora's Big Birthday Adventure (released August 03, 2010) contains the 10th anniversary birthday episode aired on TV along with two other episodes. All three episodes feature the Wizzles and Wizzle World and form the Magic Storybook Trilogy.
"Dora's Big Birthday Adventure" - Dora is preparing to celebrate her birthday with her friends and family but a twisting wind blows Dora and Boots into the Magic Storybook and the Wizzle World. Dora ends up with a wishing crystal and must take it to the Wishing Wizzle before she can return home. Hmm, sounds a little familiar...what follows is a plot relatively similar to The Wizard of Oz. There's a mean witch (La Bruja) with flying monkey helpers, a nice Snow Princess, a star studded road, and even a scarecrow. To find to the Wishing Wizzle Dora must first find her way through Sea Snake Lake, The Dancing Forest and go over the RAINBOW. Along the way she looks into the wishing crystal and her memories of her family and friends (shown as hazy flash backs to previous episodes) help propel her over the obstacles. My children especially enjoyed the birthday celebration at the end of the show.
"Dora Helps the Birthday Wizzle" - In this episode about birthday wishes, the Birthday Wizzle is celebrating his own birthday. As he prepares to make his own birthday wish come true, a strong wind blows his wishing wand out of the storybook. Dora catches and works to return the wand to the Birthday Wizzle before the candles on his cake burn out. She goes through the Unicorn Forest and Dinosaur Caves and ends up on Wizzle Mountain. There's a Birthday Express train in this episode that appealed to my toddler son.
"Wizzle Wishes" - A little Wizzle happily holds a bag of four wishing stars, but a strong wind blows the wishes right out of his bag and the storybook. He follows them out of the book, and Dora helps him try to capture the wishing stars so that he can wish his way back home. They follow the path through a flowery garden and nutty forest all the way to the wishing well.
The new birthday episode is enjoyable to watch because it includes all the characters from previous Dora episodes. My daughter was happy to see the Piggies. The DVD cover we received includes a big pop up flap and a sticker sheet so that kids can actively join in the birthday fun. My kids also enjoyed counting the ten candles on the cake displayed on the cover. (Review copy received from Nickelodeon)
