Quest for Zhu DVD {Review & Giveaway}

{This giveaway is now closed. Congratulations, AEKZ2!}

If you have made it to today and have never heard of ZhuZhu Pets, you clearly don't have children. Or talk to them. Or are ever around them.

This collection of cute, furry, interactive hamsters burst onto the scene in the summer of 2009 and almost instantly captured the hearts and imaginations of children all over the world. By Christmas, they were the must-have toy of the season and, two years later, the Zhu phenomenon has yet to be replaced.

To add to the hype and love of these personality-filled hamsters, this year Zhu-natics everywhere have been counting down to a very important date: the release of the Quest for Zhu, the first feature-length animated movie from ZhuZhu Pets that will officially be available on September 27th.

This highly anticipated DVD brings the magical Zhu-niverse to life in 3-D stereoscopic animation. Starring the four original ZhuZhu Pets characters (Pipsqueak, Mr. Squiggles, NumNums and Chunk), the Quest for Zhu is an adventurous, heartwarming and heroic tale that Zhu-natics of all ages are sure to love.

Even though Big Sister E and Little Sister B are younger than the intended age range for this movie (early elementary school-ish), when our Quest for Zhu movie pack arrived, they were thrilled to tune in for the action, adventure, suspense and humor that we knew the ZhuZhu Pets would provide.

This heartwarming tale of four young teenage hamsters follows them on their journey to find the Palace of Zhu, where they believe all of their dreams will come true. Beginning with the fiesty and lovable Pipsqueak, as she gets swept away to the other side of the Zhu-niverse she befriends Chuck, Num Nums and Mr. Squiggles. When they arrive at the Palace of Zhu, they realize it is just the beginning of their remarkable journey.

A mean-spirited and controlling reptilian created named Mezhula tries to stand in the way of making all of their dreams come true, but by working together these Zhu heroes are able to succeed and save the day! In the end, Pipsqueak realizes she already have everything she ever dreamed of and all she really wants is to find a way back home.

With a 73-minute running time, Big Sister E and Little Sister B started off quite riveted to this movie and were excited about the computer animation and getting to hear the Zhu Zhu Pets speak and be brought to life. However, due to my girls' shorter attention span, their interest did start to wane a bit, even though the catchy songs in the story did have them dancing and moving and doing their best to sing along!

I have to admit that I found myself pretty interested in this movie and really appreciated that it was teaching my children about love, friendship, teamwork, forgiveness, following your dreams and more. Who knew that talking hamsters could be a big part of learning life lessons?

The only aspect that we weren't so crazy over was the villain of the movie, Mezhula, as Big Sister E and Little Sister B (especially Little Sister B) were a bit scared by her. They weren't quite sure what she was supposed to be and varied between calling her a snake, dragon or dinosaur, but stayed fairly anxious during the portion of the movie when she was featured.

All in all, however, we enjoyed Quest for Zhu (there are even bonus ZhuZhu music videos on the DVD for kids to enjoy) and I have no doubt that we'll be watching it more in the future.

Big Sister E was kind enough to share her thoughts with me about the movie, although I waited a few days to ask her some questions and it's clear that the adventures that the ZhuZhu Pets had been on had faded from her memory a bit...

If you are reading this post in your email, come visit the website to see the video!

Whether or not your kids are Zhu-crazy or not, I think that this movie is going to be a big hit, particularly for around ages 6 and up. As this is the first ZhuZhu Pets movie ever released (the sequel, Power of Zhu, is due out in 2012), I'm sure that Quest for Zhu is going to appear on quite a few upcoming wishlists.

Available for pre-order on Amazon now, keep an eye out for this entertaining movie to hit the shelves on September 27th. And, thanks to the ZhuZhu Pets' generosity, one person will be able to partake in the fun as well, because...

One lucky person will win a DVD copy of Quest for Zhu!

To enter to win: Visit the Quest for Zhu website and tell me something fun you found there OR tell me which ZhuZhu Pet is your child's favorite.

Extra Entries (available after the mandatory entry above is completed; please leave a separate comment for each entry in order for them to be counted).

1 Extra Entry (per method) if you follow ZhuZhu Pets on Twitter and/or Like Quest for Zhu on Facebook.
1 Extra Entry (per giveaway entered) - Enter any (or all) of the giveaways running on Thanks, Mail Carrier for the duration of this giveaway.
1 Extra Entry if you follow me on Twitter and tweet about this giveaway by copying and pasting the tweet below and leaving me the link. Tweet daily for an extra entry every day!

WIN a copy of Quest for Zhu on DVD to bring the ZhuZhu Pets fun to the screen! http://bit.ly/mPpDNr @thxmailcarrier #giveaway #win

2 Extra Entries (per follow method) if you follow me publicly with Google Friend Connect, subscribe to my RSS feed, subscribe to Thanks, Mail Carrier by email, become a fan on Facebook or add Thanks, Mail Carrier to your blogroll.
3 Extra Entries if you put my cute button up on your blog. Please leave an address where it can be found.
3 Extra Entries if you blog about this giveaway linking back to this post. Please leave an address where it can be found.

Giveaway will end on October 14th at 11:59pm CST. Do me the favor of leaving an email address or making absolutely sure it is visible in your profile, I have to have a way to contact the winner. The winner will be chosen by random.org and announced here as well as emailed and will have 48 hours to contact me or respond to notification or a new winner will be chosen. This giveaway is open to U.S. residents only.

A big thank you to ZhuZhu Pets and MomSelect for providing free products as a part of a promotional program for me as well as a DVD for one lucky giveaway winner. The opinions shared are my own and honest and if you really need to see more, click here to see how I roll.