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Written by Maggie Storm
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Thursday, 01 April 2010 20:32 |
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 Well they did it again! Dreamworks, thank you so much. How to Train Your Dragon captured my heart, my twins' hearts, and our friend Cameron who came along with us to see it. I'm very grateful for the second adult to help tag team the comfort-zone as the movie is as intense as the posters imply. But with such love and care. I had prepped the twins beforehand, this was about a village who thought that the right thing to do was to kill dragons. But it took one curious boy to discover that dragons could be pets, and he helped teach his village that same thing.
Mind you we didn't see it in 3D. No, these kids are far from seeing a movie in 3D - not since Jack saw Shrek 4D at Universal Studios, had a spider "jump" out at us, which left us summarily exiting the theatre before anything else could happen. So we saw it in standard, not 3D. There were clear moments when I wished that I could be seeing this in IMAX, and I am considering going again by myself to feed that wish. But oh, really, standard or 3D, How to Train Your Dragon was a treasure. It is a treasure!
With a message of compassion, keeping an open mind, and being patient and loving to all creatures great and small, how could I say anything bad about this movie? Ella had a very hard time when the hero dragon "Toothless" was being attacked by the vikings, but she recovered. We rooted for the vikings as they changed their mind about dragons and saved the day together.
There is another message in How to Train Your Dragon, probably missed by most but it stood out to me. There is a wonderful message about prosthetics in this film, about how they are these wonderful tools to help creatures of all walks of life have fully uninhibited lives. It was absolutely the first time my kids had been introduced to that idea at all, and it was always in such a loving, accepting and interesting way. I'm very grateful for that inclusion in How to Train Your Dragon.
The hero, Hiccup, is the son of the chief of the vikings, and has been a disappointment to his father while he fails at being a "true viking" and dragon killer. It was extremely hard for my kids to understand a father saying, "you aren't my son" to his son. This was way above their heads and close to causing them some heartbreak. But they recovered quickly as the redeeming moment of pride came shortly thereafter.
My advice to you, take your kids! My 5 year olds loved it, and my little ones are far more sensitive than their peers. However, make sure you are a 1:1 adult:kid ratio so that there is always someone to talk the kids through the parts that may go above their heads, or scare them into your lap.
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Written by Maggie Storm
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Tuesday, 09 March 2010 19:09 |
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 The kids and I climbed into my bed to have an afternoon screening of our Netflix'd DVD for Planet 51. The movie starts with a movie-within-a-movie of a scary horror "alien" flic, which was a little initimidating for my 5-year-olds. Once we realized there was nothing to fear, we sat back and relaxed. Definitely over my twins' heads, this movie still had them laughing and rooting for the astronaut Chuck's sidekick robot, Rover. Rover, who was as close to a fetch-happy puppy as a robot could get, was enchanting and adorable. As I thought to myself how much it resembled Wall-E, my daughter mentioned the same thing out loud. You can't help but love a people or alien-pleasing robot, right?
With many moments that were intended for an audience of adults (the flag planting of the astronaut, for example) it kept my attention as well as the kids'. Although I thought that this movie would be a dead-end, non repeated DVD, as soon as it was over Jack was asking to see it again.
Now it is a little gun-heavy. This isn't my favorite feature of any movie. But nobody ever bled or even got hurt by any weapon which really helped my anxiety in having to explain that potential life cycle to my kids. The overall theme of these alien creatures living in the '50s, the emergence of the hippies (who's idea of a poster was "make like, not war", and the close-mindedness of the military (one with a helmet enscribed with "corn to mill") was remeniscent of those wonderful coming to age movies... with a twist. And the movie posed a nice way of introducing a very important message I have always had for my kids: just because a movie or book depicts a certain race, gender, species a certain way, doesn't mean that you have to believe it. Take the time to keep an open mind and learn for yourself what type of creature you are encountering. Not that I'd suggest my chld stick their hand out and pet a lion anytime soon... But I think you catch my drift.
This is definitely not a movie for kids to watch by themselves, I would highly recommend you take the time to sit and watch it with them, as there are some intense moments that you don't want them having to decipher themselves.
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Written by Maggie Storm
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Friday, 02 October 2009 18:50 |
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"It's time to carpe the diem"
 Just one of the many lines that had me laughing out loud... however there were so many gems for parents and adults that I eventually had to work on not laughing out loud so that I didn't have my 4-year-old twins, Jack and Ella, constantly asking, "why you laugh?"
This movie is top to bottom an absolute slam dunk, and warranted a first for Jack. He uttered these words as we left the theatre "can we watch this on DVD?"
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Read more... [Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs]
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Written by K Thompson
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Friday, 21 August 2009 16:36 |
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Decided to go see a Harry Potter movie on the big screen for once & not wait until it was on DVD. Don't get me wrong, I like the whole Harry Potter phenomenon, I'm just not "Uber-Fan". Everything is better on the big screen anyway, right?
Wednesday afternoon at 2:20pm and the theater is packed. Most age groups represented from about 10 to 80. Groups, families, singles (me) and couples. I have to admit I was surprised.
This movie is a little darker, a little tenser than the others in the series - I liked it. The characters are not really kids anymore and the threat seems more emanate. The evil Malfoy situation was handled differently than I expected, much more interesting actually (OK I admit it, I haven't read the books, I wait until I see it all in the movie and therefore it's all a surprise to me when it happens). There are a lot more boy/girl relationships being explored but it makes sense considering their ages.
It was well done and draws you further into the raging battle between good and evil that is Harry and Voldemort....and then it just drops you! Ahhhhhh! I somehow thought this was the last movie in the series and was sorely disappointed when the movie ended with nothing tied up, like I'm used to ya know? There might as well have been a big "TO BE CONTINUED" sign to start the end credits. Grumble, grumble.
Well, grab your favorite Harry Potter fan (not the very young ones though, this gets scary in places), be prepared that this is not the end for our Hogworts crew and go enjoy what is a fun and necessary piece of the Harry Potter saga - and don't forget the popcorn!
Kimberly Thompson Ramblingboomer - Twitter) |
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Written by Maggie Storm
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Friday, 21 August 2009 16:27 |
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So today I used Netflix to order The Tigger Movie - I wanted to see how my kids would respond to it at the age of 4. They love the Pooh ride at Disneyland so I thought, maybe now they'll be into it.
Boy was I right! We are at the "glorious" age of naps ending, but after they've been at camp all morning in the sun, I want them to unwind and just reset. And without a nap - wasn't sure how that was going to happen. I put on The Tigger Movie and Ella is just happy as a clam sitting and relaxing while watching this movie.
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Read more... [The Tigger Movie (2000)]
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