Main Description:
"This is my go-to sponge ball routine I’ve refined over the past few years. It’s my favorite warm-up routine…I perform it at almost every show because I know it’s a guaranteed hit with kids. The adults are flabbergasted as the kids go nuts during this silly routine with a little red ball. The magician keeps goofing up as he tries to show off his friend (the little red ball). The little red ball disappears, his cousin changes to a square, and his dad grows several times his size right in front of the kids!”
- Presto!"
TEASER TRAILER--> http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... 6nSKEt9rQ0

where to buy it:
directly from presto http://www.prestomagicproducts.com/ for $40 or $20 for just the DVD.

Why I bought it:
I originally bought this because I wanted to get some ideas for a new sponge ball routine to be used for children shows. I figured this would be a good place to start and then I could branch off from there. My plan worked, but it took a while to discover that.


First thoughts after watching the DVD (PLEASE DO NOT BASE YOUR OPINION OFF OF THIS PARAGRAPH. KEEP READING FURTHER):
If you watched the teaser trailer above you will notice that a lot of information is given about what happens in the routine, but he does not show it to you. I watched the DVD and was VERY UPSET upon the first 5 seconds.

His routine is not that magical, and is honestly just a bunch of nonsense. HOWEVER, that is exactly what he said. The name of the routine is Presto's SUPER-SILLY sponge ball routine. I should have planned more accordingly.

Further thinking:
For the next few days I was bummed that I spent $40 on a DVD without that much magic. But I decided to give it a try anyway. I performed his basic "silly presentation" for a friend's child (aged 4). The child was laughing hysterically! That is when I decided to continue my original plan, I took his routine's premise and tweaked it to fit my personality and added more "magic" so that it would fit my style.

I experimented the routine yesterday at a camp magic show with children ages 3-7. They loved it, SUCCESS!


Scoring
Technical ability - if you know a retention vanish you can do the entire routine.
Audience - ONLY SMALL CHILDREN - age 8 and 9 is questionable due to the silly nature, below that is perfect!
DVD teaching - superb! He must explain the routine 3 or so times. once in front of an audience, once as he teaches you, and once without an audience. He has great tips, and includes general sponge knowledge such as how to make them brighter, larger, and cleaner.
Magic value - For actual MAGIC, very little, BUT remember, this is aimed for small children. I am not going to get into it here, but children's magic has very little to do with magic and much more with pure entertainment and comedy.
Entertainment value - HILARIOUSLY ENTERTAINING....for the proper target audience.


In conclusion:
I will not call this a must have for all magicians. His routine helped me, and I am very thankful that it did, yet, I do not believe that this "Super-silly" would fit most people's personalities. If you do children's shows and have a "silly" personality than hands down, buy this video. But without this "silly" already in your nature, this routine will not work for you.

Awesome review, thanks!

No problem!