School Library Journal Review
K Up-Waldo travels to movie sets in this latest adventure, and each one (e.g., The Wild, Wild West and Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves) is cleverly illustrated-the silent movie is in black and white, but the stagehands and areas not being filmed appear in color. For the Nottingham Castle scene in Robin Hood's Merry Mess-Up, there are enough striped shirts and tents and banners to make readers dizzy. And the Where's Waldo-the Musical set will result in astigmatism for anyone looking for longer than a minute. Guaranteed to please Waldo's fans and a clever production all around.-Christine A. Moesch, Buffalo and Erie County Public Library, NY (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
He's back--and as enticingly elusive as ever. Here the bespectacled wanderer travels to Tinseltown to hide out on 12 actor- and crew-packed movie sets. Among the epic productions he witnesses are a reenactment of a battle between the Trojans and the Greeks; the tale of Ali Baba and the 40-plus thieves; the adventures of the (many more than three) musketeers; and a grand skirmish between Robin Hood's myriad merry men and the soldiers of Nottingham Castle. In addition to Waldo (who is usually visible only from the neck up), Wenda, Wizard Whitebeard, bad-guy Odlaw and Woof (``Remember, all you can see is his tail!'') are also artfully camouflaged on each riotous spread--as are a minuscule scroll, bone, key and can of film. Handford outdoes himself in the oversize volume's final scene, depicting the filming of ``Where's Waldo? The Musical,'' which entails a stageful of one genuine--and countless impostors of--Waldo and each of his colleagues. Filled with witty puns and plays on Hollywood cliches, Handford's trademark checklists of ``lots more things for Waldo-watchers to look for'' conclude this clever book. Allegedly three years in the making, this production was worth waiting for. Ages 5-up. (Nov.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Horn Book Review
Waldo and a cast of thousands are on location in Tinseltown. Obsessively determined readers can find him and his friends on a silent movie set, an Ali Baba set, and other action- and people-packed pages. From HORN BOOK 1993, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Booklist Review
Gr. 3-6. The maniacal amount of activity present in Waldo's Hollywood jaunt is alter~nately daunting and dazzling. Waldo and friends meander through sets of movie spectaculars: a silent movie, a Busby-Berkeley-style musical, a western--even an epic about Robin Hood. Each teeming, double-page spread shows moviemakers, actors, tourists, and spectators taking part in what appears to be cleverly staged mayhem. Younger Waldo fans will be successfully entertained; older ones will appreciate the sly humor of the "caught in the act" illustrations. ~--Janice Del Negro
