Handy Manny is the newest show on Playhouse Disney for preschoolers. This 30 minute show is broken down into two 15 minute episodes to capture your child's attention.
This show is about a handy man named Manny who is bilingual; speaking both English and Spanish. Each story incorporates both languages, including counting to eight in Spanish, and several other words done in both languages. Handy Manny is a great way to introduce your English or Spanish speaking child to another language in a fun way.
During each story Manny and his talking tools will fix a problem in their community while giving an easy lesson for children to understand.
Regular characters include the eight tools, among them Philippe the Phillips head screwdriver, Pat the hammer and more. Also in each story is Mr. Lobart and his cat Fluffy. Mr. Lobart is the one person on the show who never wants any help. Because he won't accept Manny's help he provides comic relief when he has problems doing things. This also teaches children that it is okay to ask for help.
Premiering this week on the Disney Channel, Handy Manny quickly captured my 4 year olds attention and has become one of his favorite television shows. I love having him watch this program because of the multicultural lessons he learns in each episode.
Handy Manny a racist (Review 1 of 194)
Reviewed by Gary on 6/30/2009 Rating: (4498)
How is it that the only two people shown in a negative light as ignorant selfish and weak of mind and body. Is clearly white males. the the white male is under a attack with negative stereotype's I have two young boys that I fear are going to be ashamed of thier self with this type of early indoctrination similar to something akin to the Hitlers youth programs. on a another note after my three year old watch a episodes while Manny works on a lamp I caught my son trying to work on a electric light. showing young children to play with electric appliance and outlets is just plan reckless Disney should be ashamed
My family loves Handy Manny! (Review 2 of 194)
Reviewed by Danielle on 6/7/2009 Rating: (4478)
I think this is a wonderful show and it really captures my daughter's attention, especially when the tools sing and dance. I CANNOT believe that some of you have actually made negative comments about Manny being Hispanic, Spanish being spoken in the show, and the way white characters are portrayed. I think the show does an excellent job of portraying all kinds of different people and that's what we should be teaching our children!! I am white and I want my daughter to be exposed to people of different races and cultures, because that's what this world is all about! Why raise intolerate children???
toys (Review 3 of 194)
Reviewed by toys on 5/18/2009 Rating: (4453)
There's toys at Walmart! Probably cheaper than Disney Store!
VERY NEGATIVE TO NON-HIPANICS (Review 4 of 194)
Reviewed by A mom on 5/4/2009 Rating: (4442)
The show should be cancelled. The only white people aside from Kelly, are made to look less than intelligent. I think the show should be boycotted and removed from the Disney channel. Don't hispanics have their own television channels like el telemundo or something they can show it on? I wonder what the reaction would be IF white people had a show on the disney channal where the mexicans were all portrayed as farm workers in a strawberry field with five kids in diapers. Just Curious.
Mr lopart a latino? LOL! (Review 5 of 194)
Reviewed by Mitchell on 4/25/2009 Rating: (4435)
Mr Lopart is obviously white, never speaks a word of Spanish.
Mr Lopart is dumber than a rock and if I dare say it not exactly the manly type. One poster asked what about the white girl that owns the hardware store? well she is FEMALE and fits into the politically correct category. A young attractive women running a hardware store? real typical.
I love every single thing about this show except the obvious put downs of the mr lopart character. In every single show he is doing something dumb. In every episode many tries to tell him he is doing something dumb and he does it anyway.
And please don't lecture me about the benefits of depicting latinos in a positive way or teaching kids spanish. I know! I agree!
I just don't like the way the way mr. lopart is depicted and it is too obvious to be an accident.
One more minor point for the politically correct crowd. Manny and most of the latinos in this show almost look white and have brown hair. Nobody looks remotely indian or native.
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America's language is English (Review 6 of 194)
Reviewed by eds on 4/1/2009 Rating: (4410)
Great graphics But the spanish speaking part annoys me Is this pro-latino multiethnic propaganda trying to replace Bobs? Doesn't it feel like Mexico in enough parts of America already? Pathetic. English only please
flicker (Review 7 of 194)
Reviewed by Danielle on 3/11/2009 Rating: (4378)
is there any flicker toys out yet my daughter loves handy manny i have to have it recorded for her..
flicker is totally cute
Handy Manny is a cute show. (Review 8 of 194)
Reviewed by Mom of one on 2/25/2009 Rating: (4364)
My son loves this show. He is only 2 1/2 and can count to 10 in Spanish by himself. He also knows all the tools by name and what kind of tool they are. Are there any Flicker toys out yet? I know people have put down the show b/c of minority etc. But over all my son has learned from this show. He dances around to You Break it We Fix IT song!
Handy Manny (Review 9 of 194)
Reviewed by Mother on 2/20/2009 Rating: (4357)
Handy Manny is a wonderful show to bad there isn't new shows.
fliker (Review 10 of 194)
Reviewed by sal on 2/16/2009 Rating: (4349)
soyoudon'tknowaboutflikerhesaflashligt
SHOW MORE MANNY (Review 11 of 194)
Reviewed by NICOLE on 2/12/2009 Rating: (4342)
my son loves handy manny he starts dancing as soon as it comes on he gets so excited!It really is a great show I dont mind watching it either.
The Best (Review 12 of 194)
Reviewed by Cheezels on 1/30/2009 Rating: (4324)
I LOVE HANDY MANNY! It's such a great show for kids. I don't mind learning spanish. I think it's great to learn more than 1 languages. Show more manny.
hanny mannny (Review 13 of 194)
Reviewed by michelle on 1/23/2009 Rating: (4316)
M
handy manny (Review 14 of 194)
Reviewed by michelle on 1/23/2009 Rating: (4317)
my son is two and a half and he loves handy manny. i have sat and read your conments and some of them are really good,and some are really bad. i think it is a excellent show for kids.it teaches them to help others. it also teaches them how to fix things so when they get old enough they will be able to remember what they saw and apply it to life.for the guy who wrote a bad review on it telling people that it was band from his sons school you need to get a reallity check. you probably let you son watch shoes like teletubbies,barny or any thing like this.and you probably dont spend time w/your child.also what buisness is of yours who knows how to spell. what are you a know it all about english. i cant stand people like that. great to all of those who wrote good comments.
To "America" Re: Huh? (Review 15 of 194)
Reviewed by AWD on 12/30/2008 Rating: (4271)
To answer your "perfect episode" question....
It would involve Manny offering help to Mr Lopart and his refusing the assistance.
Later in the episode, Manny would stop by again to see how it went, only to find that Mr Lopart successfully completed the project.
It is not necessary to have Mr Lopart play the fool and come off as a bungling idiot incapable of fixing anything without Manny's help.
Huh? (Review 16 of 194)
Reviewed by america on 12/21/2008 Rating: (4265)
1. Maybe some of the posters here who find problems with the show could explain what the ideal episode would look like in your mind. Would Manny speak only English? Would Mr. Lopart be the wise-kindly mayor? Would we somehow pretend that the Spanish language and the people who speak it don't exist?
2. A stereotype is negative when there are few other examples in media to counter- act its message. When minorities began to complain about such instances, indeed when the entire notion of "stereotypes" was created, the problem is that there were only four or five minorities on television to begin with, and they ALL had the same negative qualities. An impressionable kid watching could only form one opinion about these people. Can any white person reasonably argue that Mr Lopart allows kids to form only ONE opinion about white people? Aren't there thousands of white characters on televisions demonstrating all levels of intelligence, buffoonery, and trustworthiness? If having a white character with negative qualities constitutes a negative stereotype, shouldn't we be complaining that the villians in Spider-Man are white? That the annoying bad guy kid in iCarly is white? It's almost impossible to have a real white stereotype, because there are millions of contradicting images of white people, ultimately offering the idea that white people are just PEOPLE. Latinos and African Americans and Asians and Native Americans complained about stereotypes because they didn't enjoy the same objective representations.
3. If there are any uncomfortable racial ideas in Handy Manny, it's that the Hispanic main character is in a blue-collar service role while the white characters seem to make up the white-collar class. ( I can hear some clown saying "well that's the way it is buddy, get used to it" Of course that's the way it is now, but it doesn't have to be that way forever. A child growing up in America deserves the chance to believe that all kinds of success are possible and likely for him or her) But anyway, even this complaint holds little water, because the creators and writers of the show (all white, by the way) have included characters of both backgrounds in a variety of roles...a hispanic mayor, a white-female hardware store owner, etc.
My conclusion: Anyone finding problems in this show, has problems with white or brown people already.
Manny's Subliminal Message (Review 17 of 194)
Reviewed by AWD on 12/11/2008 Rating: (4261)
Many here seem to miss the point regarding the message "Manny" seems to send....
For years the "minority" community has complained that the only images on tv were showing them in a negative light. Their complaints have changed the lineup and character base on many of the networks.
Now, in simple terms, here's the message "Manny" is putting into the minds of its young viewers...
White people (Mr Lopart) should accept the latino (Manny) because he is doing the work that white people cannot (as implied by Lopart's unsuccessful attempts) do.
If you don't accept this help, you look like an idiot.
This "subliminal" message is as clear as the one that a latino woman can be Mayor, a white woman can own a business, as well as the other "positive" character traits...
These kids are getting the PC indoctrination from the get go.
Handy Manny (Review 18 of 194)
Reviewed by Gary on 11/24/2008 Rating: (4258)
I think that this show is wondrful for children. For all of you that think this show is stereotyped you need to grow up. Our kids love cartoons and dont appreciate there parents making up such obsurd remarks about a harmless show. In other words growup and stop judging shows on the language. If anyone is stereotyping it is all of you who talk bad things about it!!!
We love this Show! (Review 19 of 194)
Reviewed by Chris on 11/1/2008 Rating: (4235)
My son and I absolutely love this show! Handy Manny is a very down to earth character that is willing to help everyone in town no matter what kind of task it is. People who dislike the show are very closed minded and this is what they will teach their children in return. This is 2008 wake up and smell the diversity! This might be the USA and English may be our first language, but knowing other languages makes you that
We love this Show! (Review 20 of 194)
Reviewed by Chris on 11/1/2008 Rating: (4236)
My son and I absolutely love this show! Handy Manny is a very down to earth character that is willing to help everyone in town no matter what kind of task it is. People who dislike the show are very closed minded and this is what they will teach their children in return. This is 2008 wake up and smell the diversity! This might be the USA and English may be our first language, but knowing other languages makes you that much more intelligent. Open your minds and stop acting so ignorant. This show shows how important a handy man is, not that it lacks intelligence so if you are offended by the message that this is sending, change the channel because then no one will know the importancew of any handy men out there.
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