This episode is not only funny, but it focuses on overcoming one’s fears and trying new things. Joe Croaker, the bullfrog, wants to try bungee jumping for the first time. This is after he first wakes up and declares he’s hungry. Joe is always hungry. “My belly’s going to need something to fill it all up!” he says. He searches through tall, green blades of grass and spots flowers. “That looks great!” he exclaims. “Nectar! Wonderfully amazing!” After tasting it, he declares, “That’s delicious!”
When Joe spots a lady spider drop down on her web and grab a bud to eat, and then she springs back upwards, he is amazed. Joe’s silly laugh obviously means he is impressed and wants to do what the spider does. He sees it as bungee jumping. He searches through a dumpster and finds some yarn. “Ew, that could be useful!” he says.
But there’s one problem. Joe is terrified of heights and will have to overcome his fear of high places. He wraps a yard string around himself and gets up on a tree limb, and then says, “It’s high … so high!” His whimper is funny. But Joe decides if the lady spider can do it, so can he!
But then he tries to talk himself into trying it another day. Poor Joe accidentally slips and falls and does not have a smooth landing. “Bungee jumping isn’t for me!” he says. He also warns any child watching to not try this at home.
But soon Joe regains his courage and finds a better cord in another dumpster. When he goes down, with the cord wrapped around him, and lands on a flower bud before hitting the ground, he decides that maybe this isn’t so bad after all. When the cord starts pulling him up and down he likes it but after a while he wants to get off. A funny delicious moment occurs when the lady spider starts singing the old, animated Spider-man theme song: “Life’s a great big hang-up, wherever there’s a hang up!” Joe is hung up for sure.
Joe attempts to grab a mushroom and a flower to hold up from bouncing around. We won’t tell you how it winds up but we will tell you that Joe declares, “Now I know why it’s called the extreme sport!”
This wholesome family episode is fun to watch and easily merits our Dove seal for All Ages.
The Dove Take:
Joe Croaker just might have you hopping with laughter in this terrific episode that is about trying something new, and not quitting.
