For Dinosaur Lovers of Any Age Group

Video

I Love Dinosaurs! National Geographic. Ages 6 to 10, $13; Dinosaur Giants: Found! National Geographic. Ages 6 to adult, $20.

These two very busy, information-laden videos are aimed at the most enthusiastic dino lovers. Don’t buy them both, though, because they deliberately duplicate each other in many respects; they are packaged differently to weight the appeal to child and adult viewers.

“I Love Dinosaurs!” includes two short documentaries: “Africa’s Dinosaur Giants,” about famed paleontologist Paul Sereno’s discovery of a new species of huge dinosaur called Jobaria; and “Sue the T-rex,” about the largest, most complete T. rex skeleton ever found and its $8.3-million price tag. Both are introduced with interviews with children who show off their dinosaur knowledge--and their ability to reel off those multisyllabic dinosaur names.

“Dinosaur Giants: Found!” dispenses with the cute kid-on-the-street interviews and presents those same two documentaries plus one more: “Dinosaur Egg Hunt,” a too-short but fascinating look at a National Geographic photographer’s remarkable eight-day trek around the world to photograph dinosaur embryos and eggs.

The Three Musketeers. Globalstage Productions. $27. Ages 10 and up. (888) 324-5623. https://www.globalstage.net/.

Globalstage Productions still occupies a unique niche in the home video market, offering a quality series of taped national and international performances of live theater productions for children and family audiences.

The latest in the series was taped at the Northwest Children’s Theatre in Portland, Ore., and it’s a fully staged, remarkably action-packed production of Alexandre Dumas’ “The Three Musketeers.”

David Richmond’s adaptation doesn’t stint in the swashbuckling department, offering sword-fighting, carousing, wenching and intrigue aplenty. Director John Monteverde serves it up in a straightforward presentation, enhanced by dynamic stage fighting choreographed by Geoffrey Alm (who also plays the villainous Rochefort).

King Louis XIII is regrettably over-the-top campy, but the rest of the cast, which includes stage professionals, does a satisfying job. Dana Young is believably passionate as the youthful, fearless d’Artagnan, and Deirdre Atkinson is convincingly dangerous as Cardinal Richelieu’s beautiful, cold-blooded conspirator, Lady DeWinter. Stage veteran Tobias Andersen brings notable depth to his role as the Cardinal.

As always, the video is hosted by earnest young Preston Blakely, now age 13, and Elizabeth McNamer, a learned professor, who conduct awkward conversational exchanges. And as always, McNamer, in her clipped, upper-crust English accent, with the prim delivery of a lecturing academic, dispenses voluminous information about the play’s author, content, stagecraft and historical context.

Discover Spot. Walt Disney Home Video. 70 minutes. $20. Ages 2 to 6.

Spot, the friendly little puppy created by best-selling children’s author Eric Hill, comes to life with all his gentle, good-natured playfulness intact in this compendium of new, direct-to-video adventures. Charmingly voiced by “The Sixth Sense” star Haley Joel Osment, Spot relates to his world the way a preschooler would: learning new skills, playing pretend and receiving guidance and encouragement from his affectionate parents and grandparents. The rounded characters, cheerful solid colors and simple shapes are picture-book cozy. Segments with real children at play end each segment and enhance the educational messages.