Mom's Movie Blog

Disney’s telling of the Edgar Rice Burrows “Princess of Mars” story hit theaters last week to mediocre attendance and reviews. The week before it’s release I  received an email from Disney to my yahoo account proudly proclaiming “COME SEE THE YEAR’S FIRST BLOCKBUSTER!!!”… it would seem public opinion of their “blockbuster” has been rather underwhelming.  Perhaps Disney fancied “John Carter” to be the next “Avatar”? (Personally, I didn’t then, and still don’t see what all the hoopla was about Avatar, it was pretty “meh” to me, but that’s for another review)

The history of Burroughs’ writings is extensive, and if you’re a sci-fi fan I highly recommend taking a long look at his works. Most are available free for any eReader thanks to the wonderful Project Gutenberg. Like most book-to-movie experiences, no the movie is not 100% true to the book.  They never are, and to expect it to be so is a massive flaw on the part of any movie-goer.  Accept that there WILL be differences, and deal with it, or you’ll be unhappy with the theatrical result, no matter what.  The movie adaptation has been “in the works” for decades, and passed around & sold from company to company for some time before seeing the final result that we see from Disney.

“John Carter” starts out with Carter’s nephew (Edgar Rice Burroughs) rushing off to tend to his uncle’s estate, after his death. The nephew is given Carter’s personal journal, and as he reads the journal we are transported to when Carter was a Confederate Civil War veteran gold speculating in Arizona. He stumbles upon a cave in the desert where he finds a gateway and accidentally transports himself to Mars. We follow his adventures as he is taken prisoner by native creatures and becomes involved in the planetary conflicts of Barsoom (the Martian name for Mars).

Disney has the financial ability to afford the very best in animation and CGI, and it shows. It’s made to be visually stunning, and is, but it seems we’ve become accustomed to such things, and it just isn’t as “Glorious” to us now, as “Star Wars” was with it’s groundbreaking effects. The story was well told and well acted, with enough humor to be funny and enough seriousness to be strong.

I didn’t take my kids to see this, not because of the story, or worries of violence or anything inappropriate, but because of the runtime of the movie.  At 2 hours 12 minutes I didn’t think my kids would have the patience to sit through it.  To watch at home on blu-ray, I’m sure they’ll be fine with it, but it would have been asking too much of them to sit still & quiet for that duration for a movie that I don’t think would have fully captured & engaged them.  A lot of negative reviews include the bloated runtime as part of it’s problem, but I’m not sure that the full story could have been told had there been a half hour chopped out. There is a fair amount of low-grade violence in John Carter, sword fights, fistfights, gunshots.. but nothing gruesome or overtly scary. I would not say that this movie is inappropriate for kids at all, just make sure that a young audience you may share it with is into sci-fi action flicks, or they’ll be bored. Any kid under 7-ish probably won’t be able to follow the storyline, but again there’s nothing in it that I would call necessarily inappropriate for any age.

I am only about 1/3 of the way through the first “Barsoom” series book (A Princess of Mars), and am looking forward to finishing it and to reading the rest of the series. It would be nice to see this movie bring about renewed interest in Burroughs’ writing, his work is very good. I liked the Disney version of this story, I wouldn’t call it a Blockbuster, as they so proudly declared in their email, but it’s not bad.  (ps. ignore the “click to look inside” arrow on the artwork in the upper left corner.. it was the best I could find.)

Yes, I’m a bit late with the review of Lorax, I know. My bad. “The Lorax” has been a very, very highly anticipated and marketed film for some time now, so of course I was excited to get to see it. I went in with great hopes, and had probably bought in too much to the hubbub surrounding it… Dr. Seuss’ “The Lorax” was published in 1971, and is an environmental warning tale of what happens to the environment and our natural resources when corporate greed runs amok.

It is visually very stunning, featuring the typical bright primary colors of Dr. Seuss’ books.  The vocal talents of Taylor Swift, Zac Effron, Betty White and Danny DeVito are perfect matches to their characters.  It was well-paced, not too fast, not too slow, and would entertain anyone of any age. I think toddlers, preschoolers and school-age kids will all be engaged throughout.

Personally, I felt there were WAY too many very over-done musical numbers… though admittedly I’m not a big “Musical” fan at all. It also seemed excessively loud in the theater, though that was probably more the specific theater’s issue than the movie itself.  We did the full-bore 3D IMAX viewing, which may feature overall louder volume than standard screens. I wasn’t impressed with the 3D or IMAX… and should have saved the money and just seen it in 2D, as my 7 year old wouldn’t keep his glasses on anyway.

I do like the overall message of “Lorax”, that environmental responsibility is important.  But what I wonder is, if the Once-ler had the last seed all along, why the hell didn’t he plant it himself sooner?!

Yeah, “Lorax” isn’t as good as the hype would lead one to believe, but it’s not bad… if you haven’t seen it already, you can probably wait to catch it on DVD. I don’t really have much to say about it, if you’ve read the book you already know the story.  It’s neither superbly amazing nor utterly sucky.

The story of “The Borrowers” is retold and released in the U.S. by Studio Ghibli & Disney as “The Secret World of Arrietty”.  It has several other names, depending on country of release, I believe the Japanese language version is already available on DVD, with English subtitles.  I’m always curious how accurate the translations are when they do that!  Alas, translation or not, it still a sweet movie that is typical of Ghibli and Miyazaki.

It is a typical Miyazaki film, with the big-eyed, fluffy-haired characters and casually-paced storyline.  The story of the ‘Borrowers’ has been told many times, little people who live in the walls & under the floors in houses, living off of borrowing things from the humans in the house.  The do not “steal”, only “borrow” what they need; things that are undetected and unmissed, like sugar cubes, kleenex, thread, pins, etc. If discovered by humans they must move as the human’s curiosity will not rest until the Borrowers are discovered and they live in fear of being eaten by pets or killed by humans.  It is a story of learning to trust, and learning to believe, as the Borrowers must trust the newest young human who comes to live in the house, and his believing in the Borrowers teaches his grandmother to believe in them too. I do love how the ending isn’t the quintessential “Happy Ending”, it’s not a *bad* ending, but not what we’re conditioned to expect from kids’ movies… and I loved it!

“Arrietty” is rated G, and it is fully deserving of the G rating. At one point the Borrower’s house ‘roof’ gets ripped off as the nosy housekeeper goes prying up the floor in the closet [that is the 'roof' of the Borrower's house], but that’s about the scariest moment in the movie, and even that is mild and doesn’t rank very high on the ‘scare’ meter.  So no worries about anything scary.  It is not a action-packed, loud, fast-paced film, it’s a nice, strolling story, so relax & enjoy the calm pace.

I remember this story from when I was young, and enjoyed sharing it with my kids.

“Journey 2″, a sequel to 2008′s “Journey to the Center of the Earth”, was released just in time for my little guy’s 7th birthday. Being that he adores animals, dinosaurs and adventures it was a given that this is the movie we were going to see on his birthday.  I don’t think I really had much of a choice in the matter, but that’s okay.

Journey starts off with Josh Hutcherson revisiting his role as Sean Anderson, an irritated teenager who doesn’t let a little thing like breaking and entering or evading arrest stop him from getting the radio signal transcript broadcast by his grandfather.  His new step-dad (eye candy replacement for Brendan Frasier from the first movie, Dwayne Johnson) desperately wants to connect with the teen, and utilizes his convenient military experience as a code breaker to help Sean read the message and discover the lat/long coordinates of the fabled “Mysterious Island”.  A chartered helicopter takes the pair to the island, where they meet up with the grandfather and can only escape the island by means of an ancient sea-faring vessel left dormant for 140 years.

Fairly predictable, this movie is, however charming enough to maintain interest. Johnson’s character, Hank, and the grandfather, played by the almost-as-magnificant-as-Sean-Connery Michael Caine trade amusing alpha-male-ish bantering and jabs, predictably ending in mutual admiration and respect. The special effects are well-done, the actors, young & old, do a fine job. It’s not going to win any Oscars but it’s a delightful way to spend a couple hours this winter out of the cold.

There are some gratuitous 3D effects usage, like bouncing berries off of Hank’s dueling pec muscles. Juvenile, silly humor? Sure. But come on, this isn’t “King’s Speech”, it’s just fun entertainment. Go with it.

The helicopter crash scene is on the scary side, and could be VERY scary for a kid. They show a lot of close-ups of the characters’ faces, screaming and terror is well-shown in their expressions, and they show the helicopter ripping apart and pieces flying all around.  Being in aviation myself, I know a ‘real’ crash like that would be completely unsurvivable… but this isn’t real life, it’s science fiction. So they all wake up on the beach, without a scratch.

The are many animals and bugs, what we know as BIG animals are tiny (like a small cat-sized elephant) and what we know as small are BIG, like big bugs, insects and lizards. If a kid is afraid of bugs or lizards, it could be a little scary.  Both my kids did fine with the critters and the helo crash, but be advised (especially the crash scene) COULD possibly scare kids. As always, you know your kid, use your own judgement.

“Journey 2″ is a good story, good effects, good acting… and we all liked it a lot. Don’t go expecting any work of cinematic wonder, lest ye be disappointed, but go expecting a fun entertaining tale.

I was a bit on the fence about taking my kids (almost-7 and 8 ) to see this, as it’s not really a “kids” movie, and is significantly more story than action. It is, however, a true story and an engaging story and it has whales and a great big Russian boat so I thought what the heck I’ll give it a try.

I’m very glad I did. “Big Miracle” proved to be a well-told presentation of a true story from 1988 of 3 whales trapped in the ice near Barrow, AK, unable to get to the open ocean.  It’s kind of like “Apollo 13″, yeah, we all know how it ends, but it’s still an engaging movie to watch.  I was 13 when the event happened, and I don’t remember much about it. It’s a story about caring about what happens to others, and that even supposed enemies can work together sometimes and make good things happen.  Yes, the 2 adult whales do get freed, but it takes a massive combined effort to make it happen.

A spoiler (well, I don’t know how much of a spoiler, as being a true story the details are already known) is that the baby whale dies, and doesn’t make it to the ocean. This could be quite upsetting to some kids, mine dealt okay with that part of it, but it is pretty sad and the actors do a spectacular job of portraying the sadness felt when that happened.  At the end when the massive Russian/Soviet ice breaker rams the ice shelf, it’s an impressive sight. My 8 year old was gasping at the magnitude and power that was very well conveyed in the film.

I absolutely loved the use of real news footage. Hours must have been spent pouring over archived newsreels to find the TV coverage that was used! Impressive attention to detail there. At the end, real pictures of the real people were shown side-by-side with the actors so you could see the ‘real’ people.

Any kids under 6 or so won’t be impressed with it, nor will they be able to follow the story as it’s not a quick-paced, action-packed kind of movie.  There’s nothing inappropriate for any age, but make sure your kid will be able to sit for a 2-hour long story before taking them, or they probably just won’t get a lot out of it.

“The Adventures of Tintin” is fresh off it’s victory of  being awarded “Best Animated Feature Film” at the Golden Globes, and I will agree that it is deserving of the award. Don’t let “Animated” make you think it’s a “Kiddie” movie though, not at all. This isn’t “Kung Fu Panda” or “Toy Story”, this is an adventure/action movie that little kids (under 6 or so) simply won’t “get”.  There’s gunfire, abduction, a plane crash, sword fights, cannonballs, alcoholism, and a creepy old mansion that could be quite scary to a little kid. As always, every kid is different in their “scare factor” and ability to follow plot, but my best recommendation is for about age 5-6-ish and over. My almost-7 year old and 8 1/2 year old were totally fine with it, and LOVED it.

The plane crash scene was even more unrealistic than the plane crash in “Castaway” (turbine blades still spinning after hitting the water?! Really?) but again I reminded myself it’s just a movie and to put my pilot certificate back in my wallet and just shut up and enjoy the movie. The topic of alcoholism was a surprising (and actually fairly integral) part of the plot. It wasn’t “in your face” or anything, but noticeable, and can be a conversation starter with kids about drinking.

“Tintin” hold viewers’ attention, is visually pleasing and pays homage to the Tintin cartoons with a artist’s drawing in the opening scene (very cute).  The actors were well-matched to their vocal parts, the voices fit perfectly with the characters. The animation was superb, “real” enough to tell the story and yet “cartoony” enough that you remember the “Tintin” history.  Enjoy the jaunt around the world with Tintin & Snowy, it’s an adventure that is worth watching, even if you don’t have kids to take with you!

I had been waiting quite impatiently for “The Muppets” to make it’s way to theaters since I saw the first trailer for it. The original 1978 “Muppet Movie” was the first movie I remember going to a theater to see, and as a kid I remember watching The Muppet Show on TV. The new “Muppets” was very obviously targeted towards my demographic (and that’s actually pretty rare, to find something targeted towards my forgotten 30/40-something GenX group.. we’re very often cast aside in marketing which seems to favor either the aging Boomers or the young GenYs/Millenials.)  Yes, my age group was exactly who this movie is reaching out towards: People who remember the originals as kids, and have kids of their own to take to a theater. Yes, it worked!

The entire Muppet cast was reunited for this movie, and when I say “entire” I mean ENTIRE. If you watch closely, you will see every Muppet character is present. Some of the Muppet puppets are the original puppet, and some that had been lost or destroyed had to be remade, but they were all there. Sam the Eagle, Statler & Waldorf (my personal favorite Muppets, as they remind me of my Grandpa R), Beaker & Bunsen.. they’re all back and voiced perfectly. Watching this was like being wrapped in a pre-warmed down blanket and time-warped back to the 70′s. (In a good way, not in a foil wallpaper, avocado green bathroom fixture kind of way.)  Sure, it’s gooey-feel-good and more than a bit cheesy but it’s a GOOD cheese. Like a bag of cheese curds bought still warm from the cheese factory and they still squeak when you chew them.

The movie starts out with a 70′s flashback and the “brothers” growing up together, and we go with them on their journey to LA to see the Muppet Theater. The fixing-up of the theater and travels to reunite the Muppet gang are predictable but still fun to see.  The villains are villainous, the good guys are good and while we all have a a pretty good inkling of how the movie is going to end, it’s not quite what we think it’s going to be!  Plenty of song & dance numbers and, just like the original Muppet Movie, lots of celebrity cameos throughout. The actors & Muppeteers are absolutely seamless in their interactions together, and I think they prove beyond doubt that yes, Muppets most certainly DO have a place in the modern world!  Welcome back, Muppets.

Zookeeper was.. well, one of those movies that I think was confused as to who its target audience is. Is it a silly talking animal movie for kids? Is it a romantic comedy date movie for adults? It tries to be both at the same time, and that’s just hard to do.

Zookeeper tells the story of zoo employee Griffen Keyes who’s heart was broken when his girlfriend rejects his marriage proposal. He still carries a torch for her, and after 5 years she comes back and wants him back, but wants him to change and get a high-dollar job at a luxury car dealership. The animals at the zoo don’t want him to leave, and they try to give him dating advice, at times that advice involves frat-boy-level biological function “humor” (peeing in a plant at a restaurant? Is that really something we want to show our kids? Really?) As Griffin changes to be who this girl wants to be, he is not happy with himself, and discovers who he really is and he finds his true love interest in another character.

The kids LOVED the talking animals, but had trouble with the adult theme and plot of the movie. My 8 year old had to ask a lot of questions as to why he was doing the things he was doing, and what the “point” was. It’s not a scary movie by any means, though there is a scene at the end where Griffen and a gorilla are dangling from and eventually fall from a NYC bridge, this high-altitude scene could bring about some gasps from some kids. It’s not a “bad” movie, it’s very well made, I love Kevin James, and he does play the part VERY well.. it’s just that it’s really confused as to who the movie was made for. If I was dating, I wouldn’t take a date to it, even though it has the romantic-comedy storyline. But while kids will love the talking animals, they may not grasp the storyline, so what’s the point in taking them?

It’s not a bad movie, it’s just a well-made movie with an identity crisis.

Surprisingly, other reviews have been very mixed regarding Cars 2. Some have really blasted it as being awful, a waste of time, how could Pixar have put this out, etc. To me, those trashing reviews are a surprise, I thoroughly enjoyed Cars 2. It’s perhaps not quite as good as the original, but making a sequel as good or better than a smashing original is not an easy task..

I was smitten from the opening scene. I love “Deadliest Catch”, and to see the Northwestern (a crab fishing boat) with the voice of Captain Sig Hansen getting a cameo was AWESOME. I think I may have been the only person in the theater to “get” it though.. Cameos abound, with Jeff Gordon, Brent Musburger, Darrell Waltrip, and Lewis Hamilton popping up here and there. John Ratzenberger has had a part in every Pixar production, he reprises his “Mack” character here. Michael Cane is perfect as the British Finn McMissile, all the vocal cast is splendid. I do have to admit that you CAN have too much Larry the Cable Guy… and the whole “redneck” accent did start to get a bit on my nerves by the end of the movie, but I was able to put the annoyance aside and enjoy everything else about the movie.

Some political outlets have labeled Cars 2 as being bad because it’s displaying a political message poisoning our childrens’ minds against Big Oil. WTF. Really? Politics have gone too far in our country, when someone actually thinks that an animated kids movie is trying to poison kids minds against oil companies.

The animation was Pixar-beautiful, the story easy enough for kids to follow. We follow the whole Cars gang as Mater gets Lightning McQueen involved in the World Grand Prix, and the resulting round-the-world adventure that finds Mater mistaken for an American spy. There weren’t any “OMG SCARY” moments, nothing that I think would cause any distress to any age group.

Like all things, don’t take it too seriously, and just enjoy it.

I haven’t read the “Judy Moody” book series, and I have boys so it’s doubtful that I’ll ever see them come through our house… so when we went to see the JM movie I went with no preconceived notions or expectations based on a book series (unlike when I saw the “Ramona & Beezus” movie last year).

It’s probably a good thing I had no preconceived notions, I think I’d have been pretty disappointed. Some things just don’t make the transition from book to movie well. The character of Aunt Opal for one. She shows up with this massive steamer trunk set up in the living room and proceeds to trash the house?! The “quirkiness and free spirit” was just over the top. The little brother’s lisp was incredibly annoying and I wanted to send him to speech therapy by the end of the movie, I would gladly pay for it out of my own pocket if his family’s insurance doesn’t cover it. Any amount would be worth it to not have to listen to that anymore. The main character’s made up exclamations are tiresome but bearable… as long as the kids watching don’t catch on and try and talk like that all the way home. Mercifully mine didn’t, but others may not have been so lucky.

Some reviews have said that the movie is constant go go go go go go with no time to pause and appreciate it. I didn’t see that myself. For my two, if a movie is too slow, they won’t pay attention and it’ll lose them.

There aren’t any really scary moments, even as they’re chasing/trying to lure bigfoot the scenes are funny enough that it’s obviously not real, and while the characters are supposed to be scared, it just doesn’t come off as scary. There is, however, a blue puke scene on a rollercoaster (yes, the puke is blue, as the puking character had been gorging on candy). But at least the puke is blue, kinda like how maxi-pad commercials use blue to demonstrate their products…

Anyway, I can’t really say that JM was full-out terrible, but it wasn’t anything to write home about. I guess there is a whole series of JM books? Judging from this, I don’t think we have to worry about the same thing happening with JM movies.