The Stupids step out

We've met them in folklore as sillies or dumkopfs but, in truth, survival as folklore would require more of a story than Allard provides to link his string of moron jokes. Some of the behavior of Stanley Q. Stupid and family has the logical sort of absurdity found in traditional foolishness -- the children climb onto the lower end of the banister and wonder why they don't slide up, and they take a dry bath together fully dressed (""if we fill up the tub, our clothes will get wet""), but much of this is indeed on the level of kids' top-of-the-head humor that they themselves call stupid -- Mrs. Stupid wears the cat for a hat, Mr Stupid wears his new socks on his ears, and they all eat mashed potato sundaes. Even Marshall seems at a loss for his own organic kind of whimsy or any interesting variety, but he does make the best of it by putting Grandfather in a little boy's sailor suit, mislabeled pictures on the wall, etc. And then that last shot of the Supids ""all tucked into bed"" with five pairs of feet (one pair is the dog's) sticking out from the top end of the blanket should send children off laughing. In short, though one feels that the Stupids are not performing up to their potential, they deserve a chance. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.