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’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 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!

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 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.

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.

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.

Enough of that tomfoolery though, and on to my review of Dreamworks “Kung Fu Panda 2″. Jack Black is back along with the other vocal talents from the original 2008 “Kung Fu Panda”. It was pretty much a given that Dreamworks knew they had an automatic WIN with KFP2, building on a successful established franchise and releasing just in advance of school getting out, being the first of the kids’ summer movies to hit the screens.

We get a glimpse of the history of Po, ultimately seeing how it is that a Panda comes to be raised by a duck. I like the positive message of adoption in KFP2, that even though Po does learn about his biological past, nothing can replace the love & upbringing that his dad (the duck) gave him. Adoptive parental love is just as strong as biological parental love, and I think that was a really great message.

The “bad guy” in this movie is really pretty sinister, and could be scary to skittish little kids. The evil peacock commits mass genocide as he slaughters every [or so he thinks] panda in China in an attempt to ensure that a prophecy of his destruction doesn’t come to pass. There’s a lot of action, and dark scenes with the evil peacock.

Po and his comrades face the challenges valiantly and save the day, with all the humor and silliness of the 1st KFP. Definitely a must-see, or rent as the case may be… as this is probably posted too late to still catch it in theaters.

When you have a big budget, and the Disney name behind you, it’s pretty hard not to come up with some pretty spectacular footage, and Disney doesn’t disappoint. The scenery/visuals are truly awe-inspiring, absolutely beautiful. Samuel Jackson lends his voice to the documentary for the narration, and handles it quite nicely. His voice is the only “human” aspect of this movie, there are no humans seen, the film focuses entirely on the animals and their natural environment, their actions not disturbed by humans.

The main characters of the story are a lioness and her cub and a cheetah mom and her cubs. They are followed as the cubs grow and learn, and as the circle of life moves around them. The differences between their lifestyles are explored, lions living in prides and cheetahs being solitary creatures. Some elephants, warthogs, zebras, buffalo, hyenas and some assorted birds also make guest appearances. The individual lions and cheetah mom are given names, and help the view to “bond”, per se, with them.

“African Cats” is basically a 90 minute long nature show/documentary. So, keep that in mind when thinking of taking kids to see it. If the kid is really, really into animals, especially lions & cheetahs, they’re going to love it. If they’re not so much the “nature loving” type, it’ll be hard to get them to sit through it, especially if they’re quite young. My little guy sat spellbound the entire time, that’s how much he LOVES animals. The movie doesn’t sugar-coat the realities of nature either (which I liked and appreciated). There are some “bad” things that happen, animals get eaten by predators, die, and other assorted not-so-niceties that are a very real part of nature. These are presented not in a sensationalistic, gruesome way, but in as gentle a way possible, while still making it quite clear what has happened. This could be disturbing to some kids.

This latest addition to the Disney Nature series earns it’s place in the series among the others, another beautiful Earth Day release.

Happy Earth Day to all, and to all a good night.

From the previews “Rio” looked to me to be pretty, well, fluffy … So I wasn’t expecting too much from it. I could tell from a lot of the scenes (flying over the jungle, the scenes of the city of Rio, etc) that it was made with the expectation of being seen in 3D. I don’t “do” 3D though, it annoys me, but the Hamilton IMAX 16 did show the 2D version on their big screens, so it was still visually pretty cool.

“Rio” starts off in, well, er, Rio, where we’re introduced to baby Blu, who ends up being sent to Minnesota and adopted by a little girl. The scene transition from Rio (sunny, beautiful, tropical, exotic) to Minnesota (NOT Rio) is hilarious. I busted up laughing. The other people in the theater were probably wondering what the heck was wrong with that crazy woman in front laughing so hard… Blu is propositioned to go to Rio to meet up with Jewel, the only other known blu macaw, and get together to, you know, repopulate the species n’ stuff.

Blu and Jewel end up stolen, are handcuffed (footcuffed?) together, and since Blu can’t fly they have to learn to work together and get along in order to find a way to get separated. Their adventures are somewhat predictable, however given the target audience (kids!) the plot/story is perfect. I found myself laughing out loud lot a LOT (it really is very funny), and my kids (6 and 7) absolutely LOVED it. It was a big hit with them, and they talked about it all the way home.

In the movie, both birds are stolen (birdnapped?) and there are some scenes with birds in cages in a dark room with the “bad guys”. It’s a little “dark” I suppose in those scenes, but I think “Tangled” rated higher on the scare factor than “Rio” does. My 7 year old asked several times if the bird was going to get back to the girl. I told him yes, and to keep watching… but I didn’t see any real fear or scaredness (is that a word?) from either of them.

Jesse Eisenberg is a doll, I saw an interview with him on Letterman not long after he did “Social Network”, and he was hilarious. His flat, kinda monotone voice is PERFECT for Blu’s character. All the characters are well-voiced, but Blu’s in particular was a very good fit. The musical numbers throughout are silly, but fitting with the movie.

We all loved “Rio”, and think it definitely deserves a spot on the Netflix queue once it comes out.