Baby Einstein: Baby Neptune Discovering Water (DVD, 2002)

This was a gift upon the birth of our baby - it became the first of many Baby Einstein DVD's but I can safely say for us, this one was the best.
The Baby Einstein series are promoted as almost an educational product, and while I do not doubt that they help babies development to some extent, I would not say this should be the foremost reason to purchase this series. Parents are the first step in a childs development and televsion should never be relied upon for that purpose.
That said, these can be the perfect introduction to movie media with their calming melodic music and providing concepts such as shape, color and numbers through good use of repetition and visuals.
Baby Neptune will always be our favorite - the music features such classical artists as Beethoven and Handel, that become very recognisable to your baby. At a trip to the Zoo one day they had this DVD playing and our baby went lloking for it just on the basis of hearing the music. It runs 50 minutes long which is just about the right time.
Babies and toddlers typically love water, and this movie captures that interest through visuals such as children playing in the sprinklers, or at the beach. Children are most captivated when ideas are brought to their level so showing water play from the perspective of a child will help your infant relate.
It features creatures we would typically associate with the water - both the real thing and annimated. Funny little skits involving puppets also make up a part of this presentation.
For me, my absolute favorite wasthe aquarium scene - this made up part of the movie but was also a bonus feature where you could set this to play and turn your TV into one giant aquarium. This feature was very relaxing for all household members.
The thing I would disagree on is the age for this product , it is sold as for 9 months and up but I think it is more suited for smaller infants as a nice relaxing background distraction. Once your child is past 18 months, this is so soothing and I feel at that point, though they are more capable of learning from this, the visuals and music will do little to capture a toddler who is looking ofr noise, brightness and perhaps the lessons that a mroe colorful character such as Elmo has to offer!