(Helicopter pilots eye gets frozen shut) Adam- “Come
here, let me lick your eye.”
Adam (John Krasinski) is doing a news report in chilly Barrow Alaska and he
zooms in on some gray whales. Turns out that there’s a Momma, a Daddy, and a
baby and they are trapped in a little open area surrounded by solid ice that
blocks them from getting to the ocean to swim south for the winter. To add to
their stress, the ice is slowly freezing over and the hole they are breathing
out of is closing! The people of the town want to go ahead and kill them for
food! When it broadcasts to the world, everyone is hypnotized by the images of
the whales on TV, and Adam’s ex-girlfriend Rachel (Drew Barrymore) who’s a
tree-hugger sees him on TV and calls him, mad that he didn’t call her to help
save the whales. Everyone is trying to come up with a way to save the 3 whales,
who are named Fred, Wilma and Bambam. The U.S even turns to the Russians for
help when their first idea fails! All the major news stations send people to
the little town in Alaska to cover the exciting story.
This movie is based on a true story that happened back in 1988. It is a heart
touching, very sad movie and I almost cried a couple of times. I think it was
drug out a little too long, and I didn’t like the character Drew Barrymore
played. I did really like the guy from The Office. There’s some good morals
that shine through in the story. They are, never give up, and you should do the
right thing just because its right, and cooperate with people you disagree with
and you can still solve your problem. This is a great family movie with some
really likable characters. Leave your littler ones at home, they’ll get
restless, but parents and kids will both love this story!
I rate Big Miracle 4 out of 5 Ice
Defrosting machine thingies!
MPAA Rating: PG
Running Time: 107 minutes
ONE FOR THE MONEY
Stephanie Plum (Katherine Heigl) lost her job at Macy’s, she lost her car, and her Mom is the kind of mom who sets her up on blind dates! Looking for a job, she goes to her cousin’s Bounty Hunter place, to apply for a filing job…but ends up getting to be a “bad-butt Recovery Agent”! Her first job is to catch
Joe Morelli (Jason O‘Mara), a guy she had a thing with back in high school where she got mad and ran over his leg with a car. She wants to prove that he isn’t guilty, so she is on the hunt for Carmen, Flat Nose Louis, and Morelli---the three people involved in a killing. Her back-up guy is Ranger (Daniel Sunjata) and he kinda ends up seeming like the bad guy. She also nabs two other guys. One is always naked…gross, and she gets to use her Ninja Girl Cop skills and drop the other one to the ground! It looks really cool, too cool to explain here.
This movie reminds me a lot of “The Bounty Hunter” with Gerard Butler and Jennifer Aniston, but better! I like it, it’s funny and a little actiony. There’s cussing and nudity, so it’s not for kids, but more like Sandra Bullock in “The Proposal” nudity where it’s funny and they don’t really show anything. I’d say the age for this movie is 15 plus.
I’m rating One For The Money…5 out of 5 Tasty Cakes!
WE BOUGHT A ZOO
You don’t need a lot of knowledge to run a zoo, all you need is a little heart.
Six months ago Benjamin Mee (Matt Damon), lost his wife to cancer. His two kids, Dylan (Colin Ford) and Rosie (Maggie Elizabeth Jones), lost their mom. When Dylan gets kicked out of school and Benjamin quits work they set out for a new adventure. Their new adventure involves a really pretty house…the only problem is that the house is a zoo! The house is on a piece of property that is located inside a zoo and whoever buys that house is the new owner of that zoo. Crazy, right!?! Of course Rosie, being seven years old is super excited, because living in a zoo is every little kids dream! Dylan’s not very happy with the idea since he’s a teenage boy having to leave all his friends behind when they move. The zoo comes with a zoo crew. There is Kelly (Scarlett Johansson), Lily (Elle Fanning), Rhonda (Carla Gallo), Robin (Patrick Fugit), and Peter (Angus Macfadyen) and the zoo is supposed to open to the public on July 7th. Benjamin and everyone else are racing to get the zoo ready, but the zoo inspector, Walter (John Michael Higgins), shows up on a surprise visit and gives a whole list of to-do’s that still need to be done. On top of that stress, the tiger Spar, is really old and is on the verge of dying.
Like every animal movie, Thomas Haden Church has to be in it! We loved him in George Of The Jungle and we love him in this movie!! He is Lauren’s favorite character, but Dylan is Amber’s because she thinks he’s pretty hot!! There where tons of bad, bad words in this movie! We think they were trying to target teens and little kids…but they failed miserably! We still think it’s funny and cute and a good movie to see for Christmas, but not for any families trying to protect little ears!
We are Lauren and Amber and we rate We Bought A Zoo
4 out of 5 wild snakes!
MPAA Rating: PG for language
Running Time: 124 minutes
THE ADVENTURES OF TIN TIN
Four hundred years ago a pirate named Red Rackham (voiced by Daniel Craig) attacked the Unicorn, causing it to sink and the mystery hidden cargo with it! Tintin (voiced by Jamie Bell) and his dog, Snowy find an awesome looking model of the ship and buy it, but right before he buys it this weird guy shows up saying not to buy it that it will cause a lot of trouble, and then the mysterious weird guy runs away. Very strange! Next a man named Ivanovich Sakharine (also voiced by Daniel Craig) comes up and offers to buy the ship for twice what Tintin paid for it. Tintin refuses and goes home. When he gets home he is puzzled and decides to check it out. Tintin is a reporter so this is like really cool to him. He heads down to the library to research the Unicorn and he finds out that it is a model of a ship that sank with a secret cargo on it. And only the last Haddick will be able to solve the mystery! When Tintin gets home he finds that his home is completely trashed, and the model ship is stolen. He sneaks into the Haddock Estate to get back his ship, but all of a sudden he is kidnapped and put in a cage on a ship, where he meets Haddock (voiced by Andy Serkis), the drunken Captain! They escape from the ship and are on the way to find the third model ship, while being hunted down by Sakharine's crew!
This movie is supposed to be a really amazing film, because Steven Spielberg produced it… it’s not. We think Tintin needs to stay in the comics! The movie was predictable and got very boring all through the middle. Good movie for little boys, but anyone else may be snoozing. We do love how the animation looks so real, but the 3D is less than thrilling.
We are Lauren and Amber and we rate The Adventures of Tintin
2 ½ out of 5 alcohol filled burps, ewwww!
MPAA Rating: PG
Running Time: 107 minutes
THE MUPPETS
They’re back for one last show!
The Muppets is about a kid/Muppet named Walter (voice of Peter Linz) and he grows up with Gary (voice of Jason Segel) a human, and Gary was been with Mary (voice of Amy Adams) for 10 years! Well on there 10th anniversary they’re going to Hollywood to go site seeing, and guess what production studio is in Hollywood… THE MUPPETS!!! Walter is like a super mega fan, and when he gets invited to go with Gary and Mary to visit the studio the 3 of them have like a little musical all the way down there! But when they get there the studio looks like a ghost town and they go on this really creepy tour, until Walter sneaks into Kermit’s office and overhears Tex Richman’s (voice of Chris Cooper) evil plan and runs out of the studio and is screaming all the way to their hotel. When he tells Gary and Mary what he heard, they decide to find Kermit because he will know what to do! Well when they do find his house, its gated so Walter wants Gary to throw him over. Too bad they didn’t know it was an electric fence! When Kermit shows up they go inside and tell him what Walter heard, and the only way they can save the studio is to get the gang back together for one last show to earn 10,000,000 dollars!
We think that this movie is okay in the beginning, then super boring in the middle, and then at the end when the Muppets are actually doing their show it gets really good! We think it reaches out to all ages because the adults will remember when the Muppets first came out and the kids will think its really funny! We all laughed at some parts of the movie, it was funny and enjoyable to watch. Amber liked how they used familiar famous faces like Selena Gomez, Neil Patrick Harris, Rico Rodriguez, and Zach Galifianakis. Kyra really enjoyed the moments when the muppets would talk to the camera. Lauren just loves the Muppets, especially Animal!
We are Lauren, Amber and Kyra…
and we rate The Muppets…
3 ½ out of 5 Cee Lo Green Singing Chickens!
ARTHUR CHRISTMAS
Dasher, Dancer, Ba…Ba…Bambi?
Have you ever wondered how Santa delivers all those presents to all those kids??? Well, first you’re going to need the boss Santa (voice of Jim Broadbent), then you’re going to need the brains Steve (voice of Hugh Laurie), some ninja-like elves, a red and green Star Trek spaceship, and finally Arthur (voice of James McAvoy), oh and a crazy Grandsanta (voice of Bill Nighy)! Arthur works in letters, reading mail sent to Santa and writing back to hopeful kids. During an emergency with a “waker” when one of the children wakes up while Santa is in their house, everyone is focused on the emergency and nobody notices a present on the assembly line gets pushed off to the side. Later that night, after Santa is back and the operations are shut down for the year an elf named Bryony (voice of Ashley Jensen) finds the overlooked present and brings it to Steve. Arthur overhears that a child was missed and is freaking out because it is the pink twinkle bicycle with stabilizers Gwen (voice of Ramona Marquez) asked for! Arthur decides the present must get to Gwen before sun up or she will be devastated thinking Santa doesn’t care about her! So Arthur, Grandsanta, and Bryony head out the old fashioned way, on an old sleigh with magical reindeer, hoping to make it to Gwen’s before dawn.
This movie belongs right beside The Polar Express! The Grandsanta is really funny and makes jokes that adults will enjoy! Laurens favorite character is Grandsanta because of how crazy he is! Alexis’s favorite is Arthur, because he will inspire everyone to get into the Christmas spirit! We think the age group for this movie is…everyone! It’s an awesome family movie! Before the movie there is a music video of Justin Beiber’s new rendition of Santa Claus Is Comin’ To Town. Alexis is a Justin Beiber freak so I was listening to her scream, but with his haircut he is pretty cute. Plus the song is really great! Great movie for Thanksgiving weekend to get everyone thinking about Christmas!!!
This is Lauren and Alexis and…
we rate Arthur Christmas 4 out of 5 Sneaky Ninja Elves!
THE TWILIGHT SAGA: BREAKING DAWN PART 1
They said it was impossible… that a vampire and a human could never have a baby together! Well they were WRONG!!!
After a beautiful wedding and an amazing reception, with just a little bit of Jacob (Taylor Lautner) problems, Bella (Kristen Stewart) and Edward (Robert Pattinson) head off to their honeymoon…on a beautiful island, how romantic! There are difficulties to overcome because Bella has decided to remain human until after the honeymoon. They made the first half of the movie so romantic and sweet. Somehow they totally sexed it up but didn‘t really show bad stuff. Well, a couple of weeks into the honeymoon Bella cooks chicken with peanut butter and ends up running to the bathroom to puke. That’s when she goes to the mirror, looks at her stomach, and can feel something move inside of her. Edward calls Carlisle and rushes Bella home. Edward wants the thing out of her, but Bella won’t let them because she thinks of it as a baby and she really believes that if she starts to die, Edward can just change her into a vampire. She lets that thing grow and hurt her. By the end of the pregnancy, she looks extremely sick, like a skeleton. It is really amazing how realistically they transform Kristen Stewart during this movie.
For all of you on team Jacob, not even 10 seconds into the movie his shirt is already ripped off!!!! But sadly, Jacob’s abs aren’t shown very much, leaving me disappointed. In this one Charlie (Billy Burke), Bella’s Dad, is my favorite. He is soooo sweet and sooo awkwardly funny, like a perfect Dad! This is the perfect romance horror movie, the beginning is super romantic and then towards the end it turns into a gruesome horror film! I didn’t read the books, but my mom did and she said that people who read the books will experience a lot more because there’s a lot you won’t “get” if you didn’t read the book. This may be the movie that separates the fans of the books from those just looking for an entertaining movie. I didn’t read the books and I liked the first 3 movies better than this one. She read the books and she loved this 4th one the best. They were able to somehow make this movie very intense and pretty graphic and still keep it a PG13 rating. I won’t spoil it by telling you at what point in the story they end Part 1, leaving us all waiting for Part 2, but I will say stick around during the end credits for a peek at where Part 2 is headed. All teenage girls should go see this one on the mega screen---great movie for a group of team Jacob/team Edward friends!
I rate The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1...
4 out of 5 little vampire babies!
HAPPY FEET 2
There’s a second story going on. It's the story of Will the Krill (voice of Brad Pitt) who wants to be free and explore, and Bill the Krill (voice of Matt Damon) who is just following his best friend! They are super funny. My favorite character has to be Atticus because he’s the cute little rapper penguin!!! The lion seals in the first Happy Feet were a bit scary, and I am pleased they don’t show up as much in this second one, but they still make you jump a couple of times. This is a great movie for Dads to take there little dudes to, because Mumble is just trying to be a good Dad! I still love the first one better, but everyone will be thoroughly entertained with this 3D animated adventure
I rate Happy Feet Two...
3 ½ out of 5 flying penguins…ok, we all know Sven is really a Puffin!
FOOTLOOSE 2011
“The wheels on the bus go… BOOM BOOM BOOM!"
When 5 seniors get killed in a car accident after a dance all the parents in the town of Bomont go crazy and decide to make a bunch of laws that seem unfair to teens. The laws are that you have to be home by a certain time, and that you can’t dance in a public place except for church or an extremely supervised school dance. Three years after the accident, people have changed, like Ariel Moore (Julianne Hough) who was a nice girl, but is now a bad, bad, nasty girl. It makes things worse that she is Rev. Shaw Moore's (Dennis Quaid) daughter. Haha!!
There’s a really hot guy, Ren MacCormack (Kenny Wormald) and he comes to live with his Uncle in Bomont after his mom dies of leukemia. When Ren gets there, he fixes up this yellow Volkswagon Bug, and when he gets it running, he takes it for a spin. But he doesn’t know about the laws about disturbing the peace and all that crap, so he blares some Quiet Riot and gets pulled over by a cop! The next day at church he meets Ariel and Rev. Shaw and learns that he already has a bad reputation. His first day at school he meets Willard (Miles Teller) and they become friends. Ren decides to try to change the laws so that teenagers can dance when they want to and not get a ticket!
We like this version even better than the 80’s one! No one can beat Kevin Bacon, but the new guy sure puts up a good fight. This one is fresh and it reaches out to our generation. Lauren and Amber are both in love with Willard because he’s funny and really white, your normal southern guy. Alexis loves Ren because he always speaks his mind and she likes that in a guy…plus he is hot. Not like Taylor Lautner hot, but still hot! They changed some good parts from the old one but then added some good parts to the new one, which made the movie interesting again, so it’s not like you're seeing the same exact movie.
This is Lauren, Amber, and Alexis and we rate Footloose 4 out of 5 dancing shoes!
THE BIG YEAR
“…and sometimes they crap on your car!"
Definition: A Big Year is an informal competition among birders to see who can see or hear the largest number of species of birds within a single calendar year and within a specific geographical area.
Meet 3 of the biggest bird nerds, ever---Kenny Bostick (Owen Wilson) the one who is last years champion of “a big year”, Brad Harris (Jack Black) the one who is an expert on bird songs, and Stu Preissler (Steve Martin) the one who has dreamed of doing “a big year” but never has because of work! Bostick is doing a big year again to beat his record from last year and to make it impossible for anyone else to beat. He is so obsessed with it that he will miss a really important doctors appointment for his wife just to see an owl. Wow, that‘s bad!!! Brad can tell any bird from its “song”. He is doing a big year because he is just a big bird nerd. His dad thinks that he is wasting his life. Stu is really good at his job and every time he tries to retire to do a big year his coworkers make him feel guilty and he ends up going back to work, but he is finally going to do it! These three bird nerds search for birds all year…sounds kind of boring! Brad and Stu end up becoming friends/partners, while Bostick is going completely crazy trying to set the new record!
The Big Year is completely boring for anyone under the age of 30! My parents say it is okay, but my grandparents will probably LOVE it. Jack Black is better than anything else he’s done lately, Owen Wilson is not bad, but not great, and Steve Martin is as good as he ever is. But, three amazing actors don’t make the story more interesting! Unless you’re a bird nerd then I would recommend not seeing it in theaters. Maybe Redbox, but only if you‘re old!
I rate The Big Year 2 out of 5 Pink-Footed Geese!
“Champions aren’t born…they’re made!"
Real Steel is about fighting robots, kinda like the Rock Em Sock Em Robots game…but way, way more exciting! The story is, Charlie Kinton (Hugh Jackman) used to be a great boxer, until robots replaced humans. The public became so addicted to violence that they had to start using robots so they could deliver what the people really want, a fight to the death. Now Charlie’s in the business of robot fighting and owes a lot of money to a lot of people. The first robot fight in the movie is at a county fair and it’s Charlie’s robot against a bull, and in the end it doesn’t look so good for Charlie’s robot! That night Charlie finds out that his ex-girlfriend has died and that he has to go sign papers for his 11 year old son, Max (Dakota Goyo). Max’s Aunt Debra (Hope Davis) is married to a really rich dude, Marvin (James Rebhorn), and she wants to adopt Max. Charlie makes a deal with Marvin to let them adopt Max, after he spends the summer with him, and everyone’s happy. Well, everyone except for Max. Max knows that Charlie “sold” him to Marvin. How mean!!!
Max is a kid who knows everything about robot boxing…think WWE, but John Cena and Randy Orton are robots. Max is amazed to walk in and see Noisy Boy, a really famous robot. Max insists on going on the road with Charlie and Noisy Boy, but Charlie ends up ruining Noisy Boy in the very first fight. With no money to buy a new robot, Charlie takes Max to a junk yard looking for robot parts, and after a heart racing scene with Max falling off a cliff, Max comes across a whole robot buried in the dirt. Max claims the robot as his own, names it Atom, and begs Charlie to get him a fight. Atom is an early generation sparring robot, with a rare shadow feature where he does everything he sees you do. He is definitely not one of the real fighting robots, but he was built to take hits…like a steel punching bag! Even though Charlie thinks Atom will come home in pieces, he get Max a fight. Atom ends up not only lasting through the first round, but demolishing his opponent. Atom’s first fight, at the zoo is very entertaining---he kicks robot butt, wins $2000, and starts earning a reputation. The robot fights continue and Max is one determined kid.
Who wouldn’t love a movie about robots fighting? Lauren loves Noisy Boy because of his very cool paint job and Josh’s favorite is Twin Cities because of the two extreme gaming nerds controlling him. Real Steel is a touching story about a kid and a father bonding where Hugh Jackman plays a loser that you love and Dakota Goyo totally steals the movie. The kid throws out a couple curse words and normally we would think kids shouldn't be cussing, but in this case it makes his character seem tougher and actually makes the story stronger. The robot violence is totally fine for even the littler ones. The 3 funny little girls at the county fair are really sisters, they're the director's kids. Definitely go see Real Steel in the theater, because the fight scenes are AWESOME! The theater exploded in applause, people were rooting for the underdog robot, and it has such feeling, Josh compares it a little bit to “Rocky”.
We are Lauren and Josh, another Fanatical Two, and we rate Real Steel 4 out of 5 jawbreaking uppercuts!
MPAA Rating: PG-13 (some violence, intense action, brief language)
Running Time: 127 minutes
A DOLPHIN TALE
“Must have tried 20 different formulas and you know what? If the dolphin fish don’t like it, I'm putting the tail on and swimming with it myself!”
Dolphin Tale is about a young boy, Sawyer (Nathan Gamble) who finds a dolpin on the beach one day, on his way to summer school. A long lasting friendship begins when Sawyer uses his handy dandy pocket knife to free her from the trap she is caught in. His cousin, Kyle (Austin Stowell) gave him the pocket knife as a gift before he went away to war. Rescuers who help stranded animals are called and they take her back to their animal hospital. The next day, instead of going to summer school, Sawyer goes to the animal hospital to check on the dolphin. The place looks deserted, but he wanders around back and sneaks in through the backdoor. He runs right into Hazel (Cozi Zuehlsdorff), a girl about his own age and she remembers him from the beach rescue. Hazel, her Dad Dr. Clay Haskett (Harry Connick, Jr.), and her Grandpa Reed Haskett (Kris Kristofferson) all work and live at the aquarium. When Sawyer approaches the dolphin, now named Winter, it becomes clear the dolphin has a special connection with the boy. Sadly, the rope she was caught up in injured her tail so badly that it became infected and Dr. Clay had to remove her tail to keep the infection from killing her. If you don’t know a lot about dolphins, they can't swim without a tail! Somehow, Winter learns to move whats left of he tail side to side, and everyone's cheering until it they realize that if she can't move her tail up and down, it will hurt her spinal cord and cause her to die. Sawyer gets an idea while visiting his cousin, Kyle, in the hospital. His cousin got hurt in the war and has to wear a brace and is in a hospital with lots of other war heroes that lost legs or arms. A prosthetic tail, like a prosthetic foot or arm! Dr. Cameron McCarthy (Morgan Freeman) builds the prosthetic parts, but dolphins have extremely sensitive skin and Winter has a lot of trouble accepting a fake tail. Sawyer has to deal with his cousin's mood because of his disability and hoping Winter survives, and then Dr. Clay announces that all the animals are going to new homes and the aquarium is shutting down. When a really bad hurricane hits, it seems like Sawyer won't be able to handle the pressure.
This movie is based on a real story, and in the dolphin is played by Winter, herself! That’s so amazzzzzzzing! I love this movie, it's a nice family flick and I especially enjoyed Morgan Freeman---he's funny!
I rate Dolphin Tale 4 out of 5 little rubber duck rings!
MPAA Rating: PG
Running Time: 113 minutes
LION KING 3D
“Hakuna Matata, what a wonderful phrase… Hakuna Matata, ain’t no passing craze. It means no worries, for the rest of your days…it’s our problem-free, philosophy… Hakuna Matata!” I LOVE THIS SONG!!!
Woooooow…Disney has put out the Lion King in 3D, so cool…not! I love the movie itself, but 3D just stinks! In my humble opinion, it’s not worth the money to see some grass swaying in the foreground! After the first 10 minutes I didn’t even notice the 3D that much.
In the Lion King, which you have probably already seen, there’s a little lion cub named Simba (voice of Jonathan Taylor Thomas). He's a prince and his father, Mufasa (voice of James Earl Jones), is the king. Simba being born has put his Uncle Scar (voice of Jeremy Irons) in second place and that has made him a very grumpy uncle. Scar makes a plan that includes some crazy hyenas, to kill Simba and Mufasa, so he can become king. His first attempt to kill Simba doesn't work because Mufasa comes in and rescues his son and Nala (voice of Niketa Calame). So, Scar tries again to kill Mufasa and Simba...and sadly, he does kill Mufasa---his own brother! Then Simba is tricked, by Scar, into running away believing that it was his fault that Mufasa died. After the king dies and Simba runs away, Scar can finally be king.
When Simba runs away he runs right into Timon, a meerkat (voice of Nathan Lane) and Pumbaa, a warthog (voice of Ernie Sabella) and they share their "problem-free philosophy" and become pals for life! Until one day, Nala, all grown up (voice of Moira Kelly), chases after Pumbaa and meets up with Simba, all grown up (voice of Matthew Broderick), and Simba finds out that Scar has taken over and made the kingdom a terrible place! Simba has to make a choice to stay with his pals in his problem-free life...or go back, face his responsibilities, and save his kingdom!
I had forgotten that this movie was so sad. Some little dudes were cryin' on their Momma's laps when Mufasa died. But remember, there are great action scenes and lots of fun singalong scenes so it’s all good. I recommend you just grab this one from your DVD pile or watch it on Netflix because I just never think 3D is worth it!
I rate the Lion King…4 out of 5 tasty bugs to eat!
I rate the Lion King 3D…1 out of 5 nasty bugs to eat!
HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS PART 2
LAUREN GOES HEAD TO HEAD WITH KYRA (A POTTER EXPERT) THIS WEEK!
Kyra's Review
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 is about Harry and his friends and their everlasting battle against evil…
but now it is not so everlasting because everyone’s favorite book and movie series has come to an end. Part 2 picks up exactly where Part 1 leaves off. Just like in Part 1 Harry (Daniel Radcliffe), Ron (Rupert Grint), and Hermione (Emma Watson) are searching for Horcruxes to destroy. Two of these Horcruxes are in impossibly hard places to get to. One is in Bellatrix Lastrange's (Helena Bonham Carter) Vault and the other is at Hogwarts. The vault is in the heavily armed Gringott’s, and Hogwarts is under Snape's (Alan Rickman) rule---and they are not welcome in either. They manage to get into both and neither goes as planned. In Gringotts they narrowly escape with their lives. While trying to get to Hogwarts they have to be rescued, but lucky for them they are rescued by Aberforth Dumbledore (Ciaran Hinds). Our favorite trio does get into Hogwarts through a secret passage led by Neville (Matthew Lewis). But once they are in, everything goes downhill; people turn on each other, multiple battles break out, and many people we have grown to love die. Did I mention that the whole time they are trying to collect the 3 Deathly Hallows before Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes)?
This movie is, and I only use this word with a loss of any other, EPIC. There truly is never a dull moment. But while I watched it I had a bittersweet feeling, something that had been in my life for so long, something I always had to look forward to…ended. At the same time it ended! It's over! It was amazing! I have to say that the 3D on this movie was pretty disappointing, probably one of the worse 3D effects I have seen in a while. I expected more from Harry Potter. I don't suggest seeing it in 3D, not worth the extra money. I suggest this movie to everyone, fan or not, you NEED to see this. If not for the battles, adventure, and romance, then go for Luna Lovegood. Who doesn't love Looney Luna?
This is Kyra, a Harry Potter aficionado, and I rate Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 ... 6 out of 5 Horcruxes!!!
Lauren's Review
In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 Harry, Ron, and Hermione are still searching for Horcruxes and trying to destroy them. As each Horcrux is destroyed, Lord Voldemort (the creepy guy with no nose) becomes weaker. The journey takes the trio back to Hogwarts, but they try to go in on the down low because Professor Snape is an enemy to Harry. Voldemort demands the school give up Harry or they will all die! The kids and professors at the school decide to stand together and help Harry!
Since I’m not big into reading books, I will just say I think that reading the book spoils the ending! This movie is way, way, way better than Part 1...and all the other HP movies! It has exciting action, romance, funny parts, and it has so much story in it, it’s just so good! The 3D is terrible, so don’t waste any money on that. Now I’m wishing I had actually watched every HP movie, because I did get a bit confused at parts, but I still loved every minute of it!
This is Lauren, not a big Harry Potter fan, but I rate Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 the movie … 5 out of 5 giant slithering snakes!
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for intense action violence and frightening images
Running Time: 130 minutes
WINNIE THE POOH
Just like every other normal day in the Hundred Acre Woods Winnie the Pooh (Jim Cummings) has a grumbling tummy and needs some honey. While searching for honey, Pooh discovers that Eeyore's (Bud Luckey) tail is missing! Everyone sets out on a search for a replacement tail, the person with the best replacement wins a jar of honey. While searching, Pooh just so happens to find a letter from Christopher Robin (Jack Boulter), but Pooh can't read! So, he heads to Owl's(Craig Ferguson) to get Owl to read the letter. After Owl reads the letter and they learn that Christopher Robin was taken by a "Backson"! A Backson is a terrible beast that has a blue furry chest, red shaggy hair, and horns. He puts holes in your socks, wakes up babies, breaks your toys, eats your honey, and scribbles in all your books. They set a trap for the Backson, and well, things don't go exactly as they planned.
This movie is super cute and it reminds us of watching Winnie the Pooh when we were little, all of our favorite characters are there! We both agree that the songs are very catchy, and hard to get out of your head. Kyra's favorite character is Eeyore, she even wore an Eeyore shirt and brought an Eeyore bag to the theater! Lauren's favorite character is Piglet, even though she thinks Piglet is a girl...Kyra had to set her straight! We both think that it is super cute that the movie is in the form of a book being read. There are times when Pooh will fall or pull on something and the letters will tumble down on the characters. We both also agree that the quote above describes Lauren---soft, sweet, full of honey, and confused by big words.
Winnie The Pooh is a movie for really little kids, and unless your kid is dying to go to the movie theater then we suggest waiting for it to come out on DVD/Blu-Ray, but we do rate Winnie The Pooh 4 out of 5 FULL jars of honey!
MPAA Rating: G
Running Time: 69 minutes
ZOOKEEPER
Zookeeper starts off with Griffin (Kevin James) proposing to Stephanie (Leslie Bibb) in a big way, and Stephanie turns him down cold...because he’s a zookeeper. Five years later he is the best zookeeper ever and has thought of Stephanie every single day! All the animals love him, so when they catch wind that Griffin is thinking about quitting, Mollie the giraffe (voice of Maya Rudolph) calls a meeting. The animals agree to help Griffin get his girl back. After trying to make Griffin look like a hero, but failing, Joe the Lion (voice of Sylvester Stallone) gets furious and breaks the code. The code is an agreement all animals have to not talk to humans. This opens the gates for a whole new way of helping, all the animals begin talking to Griffin and giving him tips. His brother convinces him to quit the zoo and do whatever it takes to change himself into a man Stephanie would want to be with.
Zookeeper is laugh out loud funny. We absolutely loved the crow (voice of Jim Breuer), always trying to fit in with the zoo animals! Ken Jeong is a crazy zookeeper named Venom and Donnie Wahlberg is Shane, a bad zookeeper who abuses animals. They used some pretty cool voices for the animals---Adam Sandler is a cute monkey, Nick Nolte is a lonely gorilla, and Cher is a lioness. The actors are all really likable and the talking animals are done very well. We thought this was going to be a kids movie, but this movie is definitely not for little dudes because it has adult humor. It’s actually kind of like an Adam Sandler movie.
For 10 and up, we rate Zookeeper 4 out of 5, but we don‘t think adults will want to see it in the theater and Momma‘s aren‘t gonna want their little ones to see it at all, so maybe just wait fo! r the DVD!
MPAA Rating: PG for rude and suggestive humor, and language
Running Time: 104 minutes
CARS 2
Disney/Pixar's Cars 2 has lots of action, romance, and comedy! The little town Radiator Springs, where in the first Cars movie, Lightning McQueen (voice of Owen Wilson) meets Tow Mater (voice of Larry the Cable Guy) and they become BFF’s! In Cars 2, Lightning McQueen is returning to Radiator Springs for summer, ready to hang out with his best friend, Mater. Well Mater calls into a talk show and ends up on the phone with Francesco Bernoulli (voice of John Turturro) and bets him that Lightning McQueen can beat Francesco in the World Grand Prix. Mater, Luigi (voice of Tony Shalhoub), Guido, Sarge, and Fillmore go on the trip around the world with Lightning McQueen to race in the Grand Prix. While they are in Tokyo at the first race, Mater meets Finn McMissile (voice of Michael Caine) and Holley Shiftwell (voice of Emily Mortimer), who are undercover spies on a mission to find out what is going on between the “lemons” (old, old cars) and the world! McMissile and Holley mistake Mater for an undercover American spy. They keep complimenting him on how perfect his disguise as a dumb tow truck is working! It gets pretty funny! There’s even a Queen of England Car and a Pope Car! I don’t care who you are…that there’s funny!
This movie is good in 3D, but it doesn’t really stand out enough to pay the extra for it. At the beginning, the audience is hit with lots of great spy action and you will think you’re in for a great movie. Sadly, the middle gets boring and it seems to drag on forever, but at the end it kicks back to action and gets interesting again! I did like this one better than the first Cars, but if you’re not a gearhead or if you don’t have a little dude with you, you will want to skip it!
This is Lauren, betting on Lightning McQueen because “Francesco is soooo getting beat today!” and I rate Cars 2 ... 3 out of 5 super secret spies!
MPAA Rating: G
Running Time: 113 minutes
MR. POPPER'S PENGUINS
Mr. Popper’s Penguins is about Mr. Popper and his six adorable penguins...
Mr. Popper (Jim Carrey) is a very serious lawyer guy who works at a place where they buy buildings from people. He is really good at talking people into doing whatever he wants, so his bosses say they want him to get the Tavern on the Green restaurant owned by Mrs. Van Gundy (Angela Lansbury). Mrs. Van Gundy turns him down because she doesn’t want her restaurant to go to just anybody, it must be somebody special. Popper is determined to get this deal and become a partner in his company, no matter what he has to do. Mr. Popper has two kids, one little boy named Billy (Maxwell Perry Cotton) and a teenage daughter named Janie (Madeline Carroll), but he stinks as a dad and they don’t want anything to do with him. Their Mom (Carla Gugino) is really nice and does a lot to help him be a better dad. With the help of a surprise “souvenir” he inherits from his father, he may just end up being the best dad ever! The “souvenir” is six penguins! Weird, huh? On top of going after the Tavern on the Green deal, making his son like him, and understanding his daughters boy problems, he has six penguins running loose in the house…it gets really crazy and very funny!
The penguins are the stars of the show. There is Captain (the first one he got), Bitey (as name implies, goes around biting people), Nimrod (the “special” one), Loudy (the extremely loud one), Stinky, (the one that toots a lot, gross), and Lovey (the one that’s extremely cute and cuddly)! I think that I would want Lovey because I like animals that are cuddly! This movie is really cute and those penguins are extremely cute! I like all the actors, especially Jim Carrey. Yes, I wish he did more dramatic faces, like he did as Ace Ventura, but he is still very funny! This movie is good for all ages…a perfect flick for little dudes to take their Daddy to for Father‘s Day weekend!
I rate Mr. Poppers Penguins 4 ½ out of 5 flying penguins…but the flightless birds will need a kite!
MPAA Rating: PG
Running Time: 95 minutes
JUDY MOODY & THE NOT BUMMER SUMMER
“Supermegatotally thrilladelic”… crazy, not real words I would totally say!
Judy Moody and the Not Bummer Summer is about Judy (Jordana Beatty), this 3rd grader who is out of school and has a plan to have the ultimate summer with her friends! She came up with the “Judy Moody Mega-Rare Not Bummer Summer Dare“, and every time Judy and her friends complete a dare they get 10 thrill points! But, she wasn’t expecting her best friend Rocky (Garrett Ryan) to leave for Circus Camp, and her other friend Amy (Taylar Hender) to go to Borneo to help discover a lost tribe. She is left behind with Frank (Preston Bailey), a loyal friend who will go anywhere and do anything with Judy, but fails at all of the dares. When Judy’s parents announce that her Aunt Opal (Heather Graham) is going to come stay with her and her brother, Stink (Parris Mosteller), Judy gets into one of her “moods”. Stink is obsessed with catching Bigfoot, Frank can’t do anything right, and Rocky and Amy are getting more thrill points! Aunt Opal ends up being super cool and helps Judy have the best supermega summer ever!
I think Judy Moody is thrilladelic! My favorite character is Aunt Opal cuz she’s just so creative (she has her own art trunk she travels with) and she is kinda like me…but so is Judy! She never wears matching clothes, she’s completely random, and I love all the big made up crazy words in this movie! There are no real boring parts so kids will stay interested. If you are a Bigfoot fanatic or a crazy random girl, this movie is a must see!
See if you can figure out where they will find Mr. Todd (Jaleel White)…good luck! Then go home and youtube Steve Urkel and laugh at your parents!
I rate Judy Moody and the Not Bummer Summer…
3½ out of 5 SuperMega-Rare Dares!
MPAA Rating: PG
Running Time: 91 minutes
KUNG FU PANDA 2
Kung Fu Panda 2 is even better than the first! More action, more romance, and a whole new adventure for Po (voice of Jack Black)! This one is about Po and the Furious Five’s mission to save China. The brave Furious Five includes, Tigress (voice of Angelina Jolie), Crane (voice of David Cross), Mantis (voice of Seth Rogen), Viper (voice of Lucy Liu), and Monkey (Jackie Chan).!
The story begins long ago, when Lord Shen (voice of Gary Oldham), the son of the old rulers of China receives a fortune from the soothsayer (voice of Michelle Yeoh) that “black and white” will defeat him. Lord Shen leads a war to kill all the pandas in the world…well, almost all of them! Po slips by without notice, but Po doesn’t know that so shhh, keep it quiet! Years later, when Master Shifu (voice of Dustin Hoffman) gets a message that the greatest Kung Fu Masters are disappearing, he suspects it is the work of Lord Shen. Shifu sends Po and the Furious Five to stop Lord Shen, and save China. What they don’t know is that Lord Shen has a powerful weapon that could end the world of Kung Fu and Po is destined to defeat Shen!
Lauren’s favorite is Tigress because she is just amazing and truly shows that girls rock! Kyra’s fave is Mantis because he is awesome. Did you know a praying mantis is the only insect that can look over its shoulder? Po’s adoptive father, Mr. Ping (voice of James Fong) is so crazy and sweet and the trio of elder Kung Fu Masters, Thundering Rhino (voice of Victor Garbo), Master Oxen (voice of Dennis Haysbert), and Master Croc (voice of Jean-Claude Van Damme) are hilarious!
We think Kung Fu Panda 2 is GREAT for little dudes! All the little dudes watching with us were laughing out loud all the way to the end. Parents will enjoy all the famous voices, the action is gripping, the 3D is intriguing and you may even get a little teary eyed. We are definitely going back, and taking Kyra’s little brother!
We are Kyra and Lauren, saying “Get ready for Po and his mad Kung Fu Ninja Skills"
and we rate rate Kung Fu Panda 2...
5 out of 5 SKADOOSH’s!
RIO
“Flying is not what you think up here (points to head)… its what you feel in here (points to heart)…and when you feel the rhythm in your heart, you fly."
Rio is about a bird named Blu (voice of Jesse Eisenberg), who is one of the only 2 blue macaws left in the entire world. The movie starts with a baby Blu being captured from his natural home in Rio and the box he is being transported in drops out of the back of the truck in Minnesota. A little girl, Linda (voice of Leslie Mann), finds him and keeps him as a pet. Linda and Blu grow up together and have a comfortable life running a bookstore. A bird specialist tracks down Linda and asks her to let Blu go to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to meet the only other blue macaw, named Jewel (voice of Anne Hathaway). Blu gets stuck in a room with Jewel, at first she goes all ninja on him but then she settles down and wants him to help her escape. That night a white bird, Nigel (voice of Jemaine Clement), is there pretending like he is injured (the place is like an animal hospital) but he is really the “bad bird” pet of a “bad guy” who steals birds and sells them for money. Nigel helps a street boy capture the 2 blue macaws. Jewel and Blu end up chained to each other and shoved into a cage. After they escape, Jewel finds out that Blu can’t fly and since they are still chained together, they have to walk on the ground. Blu wants to get back to Linda and Jewel just wants to get free. They meet a cockatoo, Rafael (George Lopez), who takes them to a slobbery mechanic bulldog Luiz (Tracy Morgan), trying to get the chain cut. All this time, Linda and the bird specialist are searching for Blu and Jewel and the “bad guys” with their “bad bird” are still after them too!
This movie is awesome!!! It is funny, like when Nigel is singing about his life and he says “I poop on people and blame it on pigeons” Hahahahaha!!! It has great music (songs by Will i Am, Jamie Foxx, and Taio Cruz), and awesome voices of awesome actors. Jane Lynch and Wanda Sykes voice a couple of funny geese outside Linda’s bookstore. My absolute favorite characters are Nico (voice of Jamie Foxx) and Pedro (voice of Will i Am). The bird vs. monkey scene is hilarious… but just so you know, if it wasn’t scripted the monkeys would have totally won because everybody knows monkeys are way better than birds!
I rate Rio 5 out of 5 fancy floats in the Rio de Janeiro Carnival!
MPAA Rating: PG for mild off color humor
Running Time: 96 minutes
SOUL SURFER
“The greatest surfers, they know when the best waves are coming, they can feel it."
Bethany Hamilton (AnnaSophia Robb) is an amazing surfer and so is her best friend, Alana Blanchard (Lorraine Nicholson). One day when the two girls and Alana’s dad (Kevin Sorbo) go out to the north beach to practice surfing, Bethany and Alana are laying out in the water on their boards talking when this huge shark comes up and bites Bethany’s arm off. Bethany, being really strong and brave doesn’t even scream or anything; she stays totally calm. Alana is freaking out while her dad is managing Bethaney’s bleeding shoulder. They call 911 and get her to the hospital. Bethany’s mom, Cheri (Helen Hunt) and her dad, Tom (Dennis Quaid) rush to be with her in the hospital. When Bethany wakes up the doctor says that the things that she will have to learn how to do with one arm are minor. When they get home a bunch of reporters are at her house and unbelievably she is ready to get back in the water. Her best friend, Alana is still in shock because she was right next to her when the shark came up. When Bethany finally gets back out in the water she just keeps falling off her surf board, but she doesn’t give up and finds her balance to surf again. She goes ahead and competes in a surfing competition, but she keeps getting hit by the waves and breaks her board and gives up completely on surfing. After some interesting soul searching Bethany comes back to surfing and with her Dad’s help, she regains her competitive attitude.
Soul Surfer is really, really sad, like tears running down your face sad. The shark attack is quick, and when it first happens you may jump a little, but then its over. Later in the movie some people kill a shark and they compare the mouth to the bite on Bethany’s surfboard and it’s really cool, but the shark they caught looked extremely BIG! You will really care about the people in this movie and what is happening to them. We watched it with girls as young as 8 and we were all mesmerized by the story. It takes place in Hawaii and it is beautiful there! I kind of thought you might need to like the sport of surfing to enjoy this movie, but I can gladly say it’s a deep and satisfying story with a happy ending!
Soul Surfer is a very good movie, VERY good! I rate it 5 out of 5 shark attacks!
DIARY OF A WIMPY KID 2: RODERICK RULES
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules is about Greg and Rodrick’s Mom trying to get them to bond as siblings. When their Mom gets a job writing a column for the daily newspaper, she ends up writing about her bonding tricks that work and other mom stuff. Greg Hefley (Zachary Gordon) is getting back from summer vacation and heading back to middle school as a 7th grader!
He, and his buddies, Rowley (Robert Capron) and Fregley (Grayson Russell) are happy to be back and not be little 6th graders! Oh, and there's a really cute new girl Greg is crushing on. Rodrick (Devon Bostick) wants to enter a talent show where he can win a lot of money, so he gets his band, Loaded Diaper, all ready...even gets the best guitar player ever (a really laid back hippy sort). Of course, he gets in trouble for throwing a party when his parents (Rachael Harris and Steve Zahn) weren’t home and his punishment is that he can’t play in the talent show. Since Greg is the one who ratted Rodrick out, Rodrick is super upset and is 10x worse to Greg than normal. So Rodrick and Greg go from almost liking each other to hating each other and then their mom makes them go to the talent show!
This movie is ok, but to me it seemed really long and I got a little bored. My Dad and Mr. Karl like it, and I heard lots of adults laughing. It must be a “parenting joke” or something. The first Diary movie is better than this one. I think they were trying to get more age groups with this one.
I rate Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules…
2 ½ out of 5 fake patches of puke!
MPAA Rating: PG for some mild rude humor and mischief
Running Time: 96 minutes
RANGO
11You’re a stranger…strangers don’t last long here.
Nickelodeon Movies brings you Rango, a movie about a chameleon who is trying to figure out who he is. His home is a glass tank with a Barbie doll body (no legs, or head, and no shirt…gross), a dead bug floating around in the water, a plastic palm tree, and a wind-up fishy that moves its tall. Well Rango’s (voice of Johnny Depp) owners are driving and swerve while dodging an armadillo (voice of Alfred Molina) and the chameleon’s tank falls out of the back window of the car and smashes to the ground. The chameleon is left out in the desert. The armadillo is trying to get to the other side… hahahahahaha!!! He tells Rango that there’s a “town” nearby, getting him all excited because he thinks an actual town…like humans. Soon Rango gets chased by a hawk that’s trying to eat him, and then almost drowns in a sewer pipe. That’s when he meets Beans (voice of Isla Fisher), a girl chameleon that freezes up every couple minutes---it’s a hiding instinct thingy that went a little wrong, and pretty funny. Beans takes Rango to the town of Dirt. In the saloon, he makes a big scene and the townspeople think he killed the Jenkins brothers, all 7 of them, with just one bullet, and he gets a big reputation. Soon after that Rango accidentally kills the hawk with just one bullet so the townspeople make Rango the sheriff of Dirt. Dirt is out of water so Rango and a group of townspeople go on a adventure through the desert to find out were all the water went…because Beans thinks that the mayor of Dirt (voice of Ned Beatty) is doing something illegal and that he must have something to do with the disappearing water.
This movie is definitely not for little kids! It has language, the animals are really creepy and scary, and the jokes are adult. Rango himself is really cool and Johnny Depp does a really cool voice for him. I think they should have kept him in his glass tank because his desert adventure is just weird and creepy. I’m not recommending you see it in theaters!
I rate Rango 2 out of 5 sombrero-wearing, little, singing owls!
Rated PG (rude humor, language, action and smoking)
Running Time 107 minutes
BEASTLY
“I thought I’d take the ugly thing, and turn it into something else."
Kyle (Alex Pettyfer) thinks beautiful people get it better and that’s just the way it is. His dad is like a billionaire, so Kyle is the rich, hot, and popular kid at school. Kyle is running for president of some green thing, but only so he can put it on his college application. Of course he’s gonna win because all the people love him...except this one chick, named Kendra (Mary-Kate Olsen) who’s like a creepy witch girl. Kendra gives Kyle a chance to change, but he doesn‘t so she puts a magical curse on him. He turns as ugly on the outside as he is on the inside. Kendra says that he has a year to find someone to love him even though he’s ugly. On his wrist there’s a tree filled with leaves and that is his way of knowing how much time he has left. When his dad gets home and finds out, he immediately takes Kyle to the doctor to try and have him fixed, but they can’t and his dad buys a house for Kyle to live in away from people, kinda like being locked up. He drops out of school and is tutored by a blind guy named Will (Neil Patrick Harris), who is high-laryous!!! Will and a housekeeper, Zola (Lisa Gay Hamilton), both live with him in his house. His dad is sort of out of the picture because he is embarrassed because his son is so ugly. Well Lindy (Vanessa Hudgens) is a student from Kyle’s old school that he thinks might be the one to fall in love with him, and change him back. One night when he’s watching her, her dad gets in some trouble with a guy who has a gun and Kyle comes in and takes Lindy to a safe place and then tells her dad that if she comes to live with him that he can keep her safe. So that’s what she does, lindy leaves school and leaves everything behind so she can be safe. She hates it of course. But it’s funny because Kyle is like flirting with her and she is just ignoring him, and to her his name is Hunter and they sort of fall in love and he keeps trying and trying to get her to say I love you and break the curse!
This movie is amaz-zing!!! Kyle is sooo hot, hahahah!!! Did you know that the guy who plays Will (the blind guy) wore lenses that made him blind while filming the movie! That is soo cool!!!! Will is my favorite character because he’s just so funny and he makes the movie 10x better! My favorite scene with him is when he and Kyle are celebrating because Kyle and Lindy made their first babystep, and they’re up on the roof at night hitting golf balls off the roof and whenever they hit one they scream WAAAAZZZZZ UUUUPP! Hahaha so funny!!! This movie is for teens and up! If you think about it, Beastly is like the new age of Beauty and the Beast, which is really cool! I would definitely recommend seeing this movie in theaters!
I rate Beastly 5 out of 5 white roses!
Rated PG-13 (language including crude comments, brief violence and some thematic material)
Running Time 95 minutes
LAUREN HAS COME DOWN WITH BIEBER FEVER!!!!!!!!!
Follow your dream…one day you could become famous!
Justin Bieber: Never Say Never starts with Justin's childhood, then moves on to how he got started playing the drums, guitar and singing. It is all about him being discovered and all about his career, his tour, and his performance at Madison Square Gardens. The 3-D is amazing! When he is up on the stage singing and he points his hand you can really see him reaching for you---so awesome! Our favorite part is how much the girls in the theater freaked out about Justin. Kyra was asking herself why those girls care so much, while Amber must be confused cuz she kept screaming every time Usher came on the screen. We were all singing along to the songs we know!
Before the movie, Kyra and I totally did not like JB at all and Amber was a big fan. We were haters, mostly making fun of Justin. But after seeing Never Say Never, we are now JB fans! His story was so sweet, and touching. It made a big impression on us when his grandfather started crying while talking about Justin. Lauren’s Dad actually saw the movie with us and he came out saying he really liked it…wow! We don’t know if normal adults will like it, sorry Lauren’s Dad! It’s pretty entertaining watching girls be all “AAAAHHHH ITS JUSTIN BIEBER, HES SOOO HOT!"
We think Justin Bieber: Never Say Never is fantabulous!!! (Amber says it needs more Usher, haha!) We are Lauren, Kyra, and Amber, falling in love with Justin Bieber!?!…and we rate it 4 out of 5 cute boy hair flips!
Pssssssssst….stay after till the screen goes completely black cuz as the credits pass, there’s more cute pictures of JB!!!
AND
GNOMEO & JULIET
A classic love story…with gnomes!
The story line resembles William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, except they’re lawn gnomes and the feuding families are the red and blue. The movie takes place in the backyard of a duplex, one side red and one side blue, shared by an old man and an old lady and each with it’s own garden full of cutesy garden gnomes. When nobody is looking, the gnomes and other lawn ornaments come alive! There is a very exciting lawn mower race, but the red gnome Tybalt (voice of Jason Statham) cheats and causes a blue gnome, Gnomeo (voice of James McAvoy) to break out his supah ninja skills and sneak over and trash the reds lawn mower. While he’s sneaking into red territory for some revenge, and she is sneaking into blue territory in search of a beautiful flower, Gnomeo and Juliet (voice of Emily Blunt) first meet…and it’s love at first sight. Juliet freaks out over Gnomeo being a blue, but Gnomeo is a manly gnome who knows what he wants and is willing to chase after her! A secret spot in a neighboring garden is found and they begin dating. Just like the classic tale, their meeting doesn’t stay secret and they end up in a lot of trouble with their families!
This movie is great for kids, and Mommies and Daddies will love that the songs are from back in the day---Elton John rocks! Be warned that the movie starts out fast and fun but gets pretty slow in the middle and the 3-D does nothing to enhance it. If you’re taking the kids and like Elton John, then see it in the theater…if not then save it for DVD!
This is Lauren and her friend Valerie,
and we rate Gnomeo & Juliet…4 out of 5 sassy little gnomes!
GULLIVER'S TRAVELS
In Gulliver’s Travels, Gulliver (Jack Black) is head of the mail room, he loves Guitar Hero and has been crushing on Darcy Silverman (Amanda Peet). Darcy is the travel editor and she gets paid to go on cool trips to cool places and then write a review so people can see if they want to go there. I want that job! Well, the movie starts when the new guy in the mailroom, Dan (T. J. Miller), ends up getting promoted to head of the mailroom on his first day of work. How humiliating for Gulliver! That evening, Gulliver goes into Darcy’s office to ask her out, but loses his nerve and ends up volunteering to go on a travel assignment to the Bermuda Triangle. He heads to Bermuda, gets on a boat named “Knot For Sale” (good name for a boat right, hahaha!?!?!), and out at sea he gets sucked up in a giant funnel and washes up on Lilliput. Lilliput is a place where the people are really, really tiny. Gulliver is considered a giant beast, but later in the movie there’s an island across the way that the Lilliputians dare not talk about and it’s the opposite and Gulliver is actually the tiny one there. In Lilliput, Gulliver makes up huge stories about himself, using lots of would-be funny references to the real world, telling the Lilliputians he is President and Yoda is Vice President---hahahaha?!?!?!?! He helps an imprisoned Lilliputian, Horatio (Jason Segal) who is crushing on the Princess Mary (Emily Blunt). There’s also a crazy General Edward (Chris O’Dowd) and King Theodore (Billy Connolly).
Ok, I wish I could say they took an old tale and gave it a fresh spin and the end result is entertaining, but nope! This movie is so lame and boring that no teen or adult will like it and it’s got lots of jokes that are inappropriate for little kids because the things they say will sound really awful being repeated by little dudes. Basically, that means it’s a movie that nobody will enjoy so I do not recommend seeing this movie, it’s really bad---like Super Capers bad!!!
YOGI BEAR
The hilarious Yogi Bear cartoon hits the big screen!
Ok, so there’s this documentary filmmaker chick named Rachel (Anna Faris) and she heads to Jellystone Park to film two very interesting bears…Yogi (voice of Dan Aykroyd) and Boo Boo (voice of Justin Timberlake). The head ranger, Ranger Smith (Tom Cavanagh) ends up falling in love with Rachel and doesn’t really know how to talk to her so it just comes out BLAH! Well, Rachel attaches a little camera onto Boo Boo’s tie---aka the Boo Boo cam to videotape the life of a bear from a different perspective! Yogi Bear is not a normal bear…he lives in a cave that has a bed and a soda machine, and his whole life is set on stealing pic-a-nic baskets! The mayor, Mayor Brown (Andrew Daly) finds out that the town is running out of money, so he decides that he is going to sell Jellystone Park. Unfortunately Jellystone Park isn’t breaking even, money wise, so the mayor gives Ranger Smith a couple of days to earn the money. Everyone is trying to save the park, while Yogi Bear is trying not to be destructive, and Rachel and Ranger Smith are falling in love!
This movie is greatish, not as good as the cartoon but it is funny and has an interesting storyline. Little kids will love it and there are lots of laugh out loud moments! Oh and its in 3D, which makes it that much better!!!
I rate Yogi Bear 4 out of 5 pic-a-nic baskets!
TANGLED
“Head down, arms in, knees apart…knees apart?!?"
Tangled is a wonderful new Disney movie! The story begins with a magical flower that can keep you young forever---which is awesome, I want me a magical flower! An old lady, named Grothel, finds the magical flower and discovers its power and keeps it hidden from the world, using it only for herself. Many years later, the Queen becomes very sick and is about to give birth to a baby. The King sends his soldiers to find the magical flower to heal her. When the soldiers find Grothel’s flower and bring it back to the Queen, she is healed and the baby girl is born with beautiful long blonde hair. Soon after the little princess is born, Grothel sneaks in through a window and steals the baby away and locks her away in a tall tower. Of course, with her super long blonde hair and the fact that she‘s locked away in a tower, she is named Rapunzel! Well, Grothel keeps Rapunzel (voice of Mandy Moore) in the tower by telling her the world is mean and horrible. Rapunzel stays in painting, cleaning, reading and never tries to leave. Every year, on Rapunzel’s birthday, the King and Queen release a gajillion lanterns into the sky, hoping the lost princess will return one day. Right before her 18th birthday, a stranger named Flynn Rider enters her life and she sets out on a journey going against everything Mother Grothel has said and lives her dream!
This is the perfect movie to see with your family over the holidays! Kids all over the theater were laughing so hard at Flynn and the horse, Maximus. One little 4 year old boy kept cracking up when Flynn called Rapunzel Blondie! It was lots of fun listening to all the giggles and laughing! My fave characters were Rapunzel‘s sidekick, the chameleon and the hilarious Maximus! The famous Rapunzel Fairy Tale hits Disney!
I give Tangled 4 out of 5 frying pans to the head!
HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS PART 1
In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 Harry battles his enemy Voldemort. As in the last movie, with Ron and Hermione, Harry is searching to find and destroy Horcruxes. Horcruxes are parts of a soul (in this case, Voldemort’s) that have been stored in an object outside of the body. In his quest to rid the wizard world of mudbloods and other “unclean” wizards, Voldemort made 11 Horcruxes and each one contains a small part of his soul. All of the Horcruxes must be destroyed in order to kill Voldemort. With the ministry being controlled by Voldermort’s followers, there is a reward offered for the capture of Harry. On the run, with only Ron and Hermione he can trust, nowhere is safe.
Annie says---As a huge Harry Potter fan, I am very pleased with this movie and I believe it follows the book very closely, due to the fact that this last book is split into two parts. For those who have read the book, the movie cuts out very minor things and adds, once again, minor things. Those who have not read the book, well you should, but I’m sure you will love this movie and beg to see more. Overall, I feel this is a perfect mix of tragedy, adventure, action, humor, and tender moments with great special effects.
Kyra says---Oh my gosh is all I can say! It is amazing!!!! I cried, I laughed and sometimes I felt like I might scream, but hey, doesn’t that mean it’s a good movie? We recommend this movie for 10 years and up. Little dudes might be disturbed by the violence, blood, mild language and it’s a little creepy.
Lauren says---This movie is amazingly awesome! I’m not a Harry Potter fan like Kyra and Annie, but this one is by far my favorite of the Harry Potter’s! It has parts that made my cry, parts that made me jump, and parts that made me a bit scared! I recommend seeing this movie right away!!!
Lauren, Annie and Kyra think you should see the newest Harry Potter movie!
We rate Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1---
5 out of 5 Death Eaters! 
MEGAMIND
"What's the plan...it mostly involves not dying...I like that plan, it's a good plan."
Megamind starts off withMegamind (voice of Will Ferrell) falling to his death. And before he hits the ground, the movie takes you back to when he was a baby. His parents put him, his powerful blue binky, and his sidekick Minion, in a space rocket headed for Earth. Well, on that journey to Earth he bumps into Metro Man (voice of Brad Pitt) , another baby with superhuman powers that is also headed to Earth in a space rocket. Metro Man lands in a lovely house in the best part of town, while Megamind ends up landing right in prison. The convicts are all like, “Awwe, can we keep him?” They raise him and teach him all that is right to them, which ends up being all that is wrong to society. When he gets older, he goes to school and Metro Man happens to go to the same school. Megamind is an outsider and always gets picked last in dodgeball. He tries to be good, but everything just goes bad, so he decides to become a villian.
Fast forward to Megamind and Metro Man as adults and they are natural enemies. On the day Metro Man is getting his own museum dedicated to his awesomeness, Megamind kidnaps Roxanne Ritchi (voice of Tina Fey). Metroman goes to save her and it appears that one of Megaminds predictable and pathetic plans to destroy Metroman actually works and Megamind becomes the leader of the city. It doesn’t take long for Megamind to become bored of having no enemy, so he creates Tighten (Jonah Hill). Tighten is meant to be a hero and to become Megaminds new arch enemy…but like all of Megaminds plans, things get messed up and Tighten ends up wanting to be a villian. Can there be two bad guys and no good guy?
Megamind is highly entertaining. Whenever Megamind appears, there is awesome hard rock music like Back In Black by ACDC and Crazy Train by Ozzy Ozbourne. I loved this movie and I even heard Mr. Karl laughing, and he rarely laughs at animated movies! It’s in 3-D, which makes the movie pop a little. Did you know you can use those 3-D glasses, just pop out the lenses and you’ve got a pair of nerd glasses, hahahaha!
I rate Megamind 5 out of 5 Brainbots!
LEGENDS OF THE GUARDIANS: THE OWLS OF GA'HOOL
Legend tells of a battle of noble warriors known as the Guardians of Ga’hoole---when trouble is at hand seek them out, for they are sworn to protect the innocent and vanquish evil.
Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole is based on a series of best selling childrens books. The movie begins in a tree where a family of owls lives. The father owl tells his children all about The Owls of Ga’Hoole and how they are heroes who are sworn to protect the innocent and vanquish evil. The main owl, Soren, is a young barn owl and is a big dreamer. His brother Kludd doesn’t believe in the Guardians of Ga’Hoole and tells Soren to grow up and stop dreaming. Their little sister, Eglantine loves the stories. Soren and Kludd are just beginning to learn to fly and they sneak out while their parents are away hunting and they go out on the branches to goof around and ended up falling to the ground. The ground is the worst place for an owl to be! Right before becoming a midnight snack for a giant rat, they are picked up by soldier owls from the army of Metal Beak and are taken to an owl orphanage where they are to be moonblinked (brainwashed) to train as soldiers or become slaves. Metal Beak wants to enslave all owls and take over the owl kingdoms. Soren meets up with Gylfie, a tiny elf owl, and you soon realize what an amazing and brave owl Soren is. Soren is so brave and smart, he realizes how to avoid being moonblinked and then an old wise owl soldier pulls he and Gylfie aside and helps them learn to fly so that they can escape and travel to the tree of Ga’hoole to bring back the Guardians to rescue all the young owls. In the meantime, Kludd embraces the evil side and becomes a willing soldier. Two brothers from the same family follow very different paths.
On the treacherous journey to the tree of Ga’Hoole, Soren and Gylfie get help from owls they meet along the way, Digger, who’s a little hyper and Twilight, a guitar playing old owl that sings about his feelings. All of the owls are so real looking and it’s really cool to watch them fly through the air! There are fantastic battle scenes and lots of action. My whole family enjoyed it! I loved it and it might be my favorite animated film of the year!
I rate Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole…5 out of 5 little moonblinked owlets.
MPAA Rating: PG (for some scary action)
Running Time: 90 minutes
ALPHA & OMEGA
Alpha and Omega is a movie about the top dogs and the bottom dogs. The alphas hunt for the pack while the omegas goof off and have fun. Kate (voiced by Hayden Panettiere) is an alpha and Humphrey (voiced by Justin Long) is an omega. Everyone can totally tell Humphrey has a crush on Kate but pack law says alphas and omegas can’t get married. Towards the beginning of the movie, some men capture Humphrey and Kate and relocate them to another park far away to try to repopulate the wolf population. The two insist on getting back home and they get help from a golf playing goose and his duck caddy. There’s some romance where Kate is supposed to marry this alpha from another pack, but he ends up falling in love with Kate’s sister Lilly (voiced by Christina Ricci) while Kate is away falling in love with Humphrey.
My favorite character is Lilly, but I didn’t really understand it because her whole family is full of alphas and she is an omega! How unfair! My favorite part was when they were howling at the moon, instead of howling it was more like singing and it was really cute! There’s also a scene where Humphrey has a snowball fight with a little bear cub…until the mean Mama bear comes up behind him---eeeek!
This movie is great for little kids, but sorry parents, you’re not gonna enjoy it. The 3-D is like all the recent 3-D movies where it just makes the movie prettier, but nothing jumps out at you. You might want to wait on the DVD because I’m only giving Alpha and Omega 3 out of 5 crying baby bear cubs!
RATED: PG (RUDE HUMOR AND SOME ACTION)
NANNY McPHEE RETURNS
When you need me, but don’t want me, I must stay…but when you want me, but no longer need me, I must go.” Nanny McPhee
In a beautiful little valley, there lives a happy little family, but with Dad away fighting in a war, it’s a struggle to take care of the farm. There is a Mom, Isabel (Maggie Gyllenhaal), and three kids, Vincent, Megsie and Norman. When the movie begins, the three kids are cleaning up the farm for the cousins, Cyril and Celia, to come stay with them. Cyril and Celia are stuck-up, London , rich kids who are disgusted about staying on a farm. When he arrives, Cyril says “We’re in the land of poo.” The kids are at each other’s throats and the poor Mom is at her wits end and that is when Nanny McPhee (Emma Thompson) shows up. Nanny McPhee teaches the kids five lessons: #1 to share nicely, #2 to stop fighting, #3 to help each other, #4 to listen and say thank you, and #5 to do as they are told and to have faith and bravery.
My favorite part is when all the little piggies are in the water swimming because Nanny McPhee uses her magical powers on them. They are soooo cute!!! OMG, there is like this creepy part with an uncle who owes some hit women a farm, so he’s trying to pressure Isabel into selling off the farm. The hit women threaten to remove his kidneys and then later they say they’re going to stuff him (like a doll) and they get out an operating table and everything, like they’re really gonna do it. I think that is very creepy to be in a kids movie. There is a sad part and I almost cried. It’s toward the end and it kinda hooks you, like you’re so interested to see what happens next that you’re on the edge of your seat.
I liked Nanny McPhee Returns, but my sis didn’t and my Mom just thinks it’s OK. I think it’s the perfect movie for the grandparents to take the grandkids to!
I give Nanny McPhee Returns 4 out of 5 dancing piggies!
THE EXPENDABLES
It’s Good To Have Friends…
A team of mercenaries, for the right price, will do anything. The Expendables are a team of hired guns led by Barney Ross (Sylvester “Sly” Stallone). His right hand man is Lee Christmas (Jason Statham) and the crew is rounded out with Ying Yang (Jet Li), Toll Road (Randy Couture), Hale Ceasar (Terry Crews), Gunner Jensen (Dolph Lundgren) and retired Tool (Mickey Rourke). Big name actors with guns, guns and bigger guns, oh and knives too make for a nonstop testosterone ride. Throw in a ruthless bad guy, James Munroe (Eric Roberts) and his thug bodyguard, Paine (“Stone Cold” Steve Austin), a bunch of explosions and stuff blowing up to save a hot chick and you’ve got a perfect guy movie.
Bodies being blown in half, heads being blown straight off, human shish-k-bobs, intense explosions and Terry Crews’ loudest gun on earth mowing down the bad guys…the R rating is for violence and blood, and you won’t be disappointed. But it was good clean R violence, none of that twisted stuff.
Mr. Church (Bruce Willis) and Trench (Arnold Schwarzenegger) make a brief but entertaining appearance. The Expendables is surprisingly funny and there is just enough drama to the plot to keep the girls happy, but not too much to sap up the movie. With the cast of action-gods, it is hard to give each of them enough screen time, but we left satisfied and we definitely recommend you see it.
Paul & Matt
DESPICABLE ME
The world’s greatest super-villain, just adopted three small problems.
Despicable Me is hilarious! I love Steve Carell and he played Gru verrrrry well! Gru is this tall broad shouldered dude that has a bunch of cool gadgets like the freeze gun. He is trying to be the best super-villain ever. After someone steals a pyramid, Gru decides to steal the moon! First he needs some money from the Bank of Evil. While at the bank, he meets his competition, Vector (voice of Jason Segel). In order to steal the moon he has to shrink it so he steals a shrink ray and then Vector steals it from Gru and Gru takes it back and finally, Vector ends up with it. Three little orphan girls named Margo, Edith, and Agnes are the three small problems Gru adopts. Miranda Cosgrove from Nickelodeon is the voice of big sister, Margo. The girls sell cookies to Vector, and Gru thinks he can get the shrink ray from Vector, using the girls. Well its not that easy when the girls start to get attached to him.
Gru has an army of minions (the little yellow dudes) who are awesome! My favorite one is Dave, look for him when you go see the movie! Another awesome part is when Gru and the girls go to an amusement park and Agnes sees a stuffed unicorn and screams, “It’s so fluffy I’m gonna die!” I love Agnes and her annoying sound too!
Will Gru get the shrink ray and steal the moon and will the 3 adorable girls find a loving family to live with? This movie is great for all ages, lots of adults were chuckling through much of the movie. Although we are seeing a lot of 3-D lately, Despicable Me is different than what we are used to in animation, it really holds your attention all the way through with the visuals.
This is Lauren and I rate despicable me 4 ½ out of 5 tiny yellow minions!
The ½ one is the one that gets shrunk by the shrink ray…so cute and funny!
THE TWILIGHT SAGA:ECLIPSE
Sometimes bitter rivalry is less important than protecting the one you love.
After seeing the third in The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, we say it is the best of the movies so far. Filled with plenty of action, romance, and even humor, Eclipse continues the story of Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) and her deep love for Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson). Their love for each other is complicated by Bella’s feelings for Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner). After tracking unexplained killings and disappearances in Seattle , the Cullens become aware of a vampire army of new born vampires being built to hunt down Bella and avenge Victoria ’s mate James’s death. Brought together by a common goal, werewolves and vampires unite to destroy the army and to protect Bella.
The intensity in this movie is phenomenal. There are so many scenes where we were literally on the edge of our seats. There is so much passion between the actors and you really feel their connection. The action in this movie really compliments the intensity. The big battle between the New Borns and the Cullen-Wolf clan is an epic one. All throughout the movie leading up to the battle, you can really feel the tension building. Flashbacks from Jasper (Jackson Rathbone) and Rosalie (Nikki Reed) provide intriguing background and depth to those characters. Romance, of course, is heavy during the entire movie. With Bella and Edward being so deeply in love, and with Jacob also being deeply in love with her, emotions run high in this love triangle.
We recommend this movie for 13 and up since it contains a lot of kissing and some rather sensual moments. Nothing major happens, but we don’t think it’s very appropriate for those under 13 and the story requires a certain level of maturity. The next in the saga will definitely not be for younger ones. We love this movie so much that some of us (actually only one of us) started seeing vampires all around us (her). We are defiantly seeing this movie again!!
This is Lauren, Annie, and Morgan
and we give The Twilight Saga: Eclipse…
5 out of 5 New Born Vampires!
PRINCE OF PERSIA: THE SANDS OF TIME
“Most people think time is like a river, that flows swift and sure in one direction.
They are wrong.”
Based on a video game (that I’ve never played) Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is a very enjoyable family movie. The main guy, Dastan (Jake Gyllenhaal), is an orphan kid who knows the street life (literally jumps off buildings like a monkey…sweet!). The movie begins when the King of Persia (Ronald Pickup) rides through the marketplace and sees Dastan standing up to the royal guards and like, defeating all the soldiers and the King is so impressed with this orphan kid’s courage that he adopts him. The movie then fast forwards to when a grown Dastan and his two brothers, Tus (Richard Coyle) and Garsiv (Toby Kebbell) are leading the army of Persia. Tus is in line to become king next and Garsiv is 2nd in command. Their Uncle Nizam (Ben Kingsley), the King’s brother, is always lurking in the background and telling them what to do, like how to rule the army. So, under Nizam’s advice they attack a holy city. The holy city is rumored to have a princess more beautiful than any other…yep; you see the love story coming! Princess Tamina (Gemma Arterton) is very beautiful and pretty sassy too, so you’re going to really like her! This beautiful princess is guarding this really cool dagger that can be used to shift time, get it, the sands of time!? When clever Dastan ends up with the dagger and the princess finds out that he has it she does whatever it takes to get it back. The mystical dagger that can change back time (I know pretty cool, right?) gets its power from magic sand that is kept in the holy city. Dastan gets tricked many times by the sassy little princess and they both get mixed up with the Valley of Slaves which is pretty cool because they have ostrich races…super duper cool…oh yeah, and they don’t have to pay taxes!! The villain of the movie wants the dagger because it’s so powerful and of course he wants to rule the world, so he hires The Hassansin (some really creepy dudes with snakes) to track and kill Dastan and get the dagger. Well, he almost succeeds with his evil plan, but the mighty Dastan is too smart to be defeated, and he’s got a sassy little princess to impress.
Prince of Persia is rated PG-13, but I think most 10 year olds and up will do great. It’s not really bloody or gory and the love story is clean. It’s kind of like Pirates of The Caribbean meets Disney’s Aladdin meets a little bit of Indiana Jones. I recommend you go see it in theaters because of its awesomeness!
This is Lauren getting ready to re-watch Disney’s Aladdin---and I rate Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time…4 out of 5 Magical Sand Daggers!
Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action
Running Time: 1 hour, 56 min
SHREK FOREVER AFTER
“I didn’t realize what I had, until it was gone.”
Shrek Forever After is about what it would be like in Far, Far Away if Shrek (Mike Myers) never saved Princess Fiona (Cameron Diaz). No Donkey (Eddie Murphy), no Puss-in-Boots (Antonio Banderas), no King (John Cleese) and Queen (Julie Andrews), no home in the swamp, no ogre babies and no princess, only a warrior.
Rumpelstiltskin (Walt Dohm) is THE scam-master, and he tricks Shrek into the biggest mistake of his life…everything and everyone changes! In Shrek’s ‘new’ reality, Rumpelstiltskin rules Far, Far Away and scary witches find and capture ogres. After a mysterious find in the forest Donkey discovers a clan of ogres where the ‘new’ Fiona lives. To break Stliltskin’s deal and return things to normal, Shrek must get his true loves kiss…but it doesn’t work! In this reality, Fiona doesn’t even know who Shrek is, much less share his true love! The Ogre clan attacks Rumpelstiltskin, only to be captured by a bounty hunter---the Pied Piper who commands mad dance skills. All but Shrek and Fiona are captured and taken to the castle, then as heroes often do, Shrek surrenders himself, to save them. A few battle scenes later they are free. Will Shrek get his true loves kiss and save his ‘real’ life???
Magical potions, fire breathing dragons, our favorite singing donkey, brand new ogres, action, comedy, romance, and a universal message. All this awesomeness leaves us saying go see it in theaters, the 3D was FUN and actually popped out to amaze the little kids! We’re not recommending you take little dudes to see Shrek Forever After, we heard a 3 year old repeatedly ask his mommy to leave and a couple of toddlers crying. There were some very scary witches and Rumpelstiltskin is sorta creepy. Just like the other Shrek movies, there are lots of moments where the Mommies and Daddies got to LOL and leave the kids wondering what was so funny! This 4th Shrek is MUCH better than the 2nd and 3rd , but of course not as good as the 1st!
This is Lauren, with Kyra & Morgan giving 'Shrek Forever After'
4 out of 5 Singing Donkeys...
Rated PG (for mild action, some rude humor and brief language)
Running Time: 93 mins
LETTERS TO JULIET
There is a place where the heartbroken leave notes…asking Juliet for help.
As a special Mother’s Day treat, Lauren took her Mommy to dinner and to see Letters To Juliet!
Letters To Juliet is about the search for long-lost, true love. The movie starts off with Sophie (Amanda Seyfried) and her fiancé Victor (Gael García Bernal) heading to Verona for an early honeymoon, but Victor is a chef and ends up spending all of his time tasting new cheeses, and buying wine for his restaurant. What a lame fiancé! Sophie acts like it’s all good and goes sightseeing alone. She finds a wall where the brokenhearted write notes to Juliet asking for love advice. Each night, a group of women who call themselves The Secretaries of Juliet come to the wall, gather the letters, and reply to them. Sophie wants to be a writer and since lame Victor left her all alone, she spends some time with the Secretaries. Sophie finds a 50 year old letter behind a rock in the wall. Feeling like it’s fate, Sophie writes back to the brokenhearted girl named Claire (Vanessa Redgrave). After 50 years, she wasn’t even sure the reply would reach Claire, but it does and Claire is so moved by Sophie’s letter, she travels to Verona to hook back up with her long lost love, Lorenzo Bartolini. Claire’s grandson, Charlie (very cute Christopher Egan), thinks it’s wrong to search for Lorenzo because he doesn’t want his Grandma to get hurt! How sweet! Charlie meets Sophie when he searches out the Secretaries and yells at her for meddling in his Grandma’s life! Yeah, you see it coming…Sophie and Charlie will fall in love!!! But even predictable love is romantic! The trio search across Italy by going to all the Lorenzo Bartolini’s listed, trying to find Claire’s true love. Their search is fun, then it’s aggravating, then it’s sad…then they give up completely. Did you hear me??? They give up on true love!!! Yeah, you’ll see it coming…but you’ll have to go see the movie to find out if they find Lorenzo and if Sophie gets smart and dumps icky Victor!
This is a total love story about true love and fate…don’t give up, just try harder (but not in a stalker kind of way!). And if you’re dating a Victor, dump him quick!
From the audience response, everyone loved it. Grandparents loved seeing Vanessa Redgrave and the respect given to an older generation love story. Girls as young as 10 years old enjoyed the comedy between Sophie and Charlie. There was just enough romance to keep the teens interested and Moms will be thrilled to have a squeaky clean romantic comedy to watch with their daughters!
This is Lauren and her Mommy,
and we give Letters To Juliet…4 out of 5 Romantic Kisses!
Rated PG (Some Rude Behavior)
Running Time: 91 mins
FURRY VENGEANCE
You can’t run, you can’t hide, you can’t escape…the Furry!
Furry Vengeance is about a family who was forced by the dad, Dan Sanders (Brendan Fraser), to move out to the forest to start a community. Dan’s wife, Tammy (Brooke Shields) and son, Tyler (Matt Prokup) are mad they got moved to the middle of nowhere. Well, it ends up they’re building their new community on the animals homes. Because of money, Dan’s boss Neal Lyman (Ken Jeong, so not funny in this movie!) doesn’t care…so the animals plan a revenge and won’t stop until they take Dan out. The main animal, like a commander of all the animals, is a raccoon. Then come the skunks, crow, squirrel, bear and all the others. They basically just try to ruin Dan’s life and make him stop building on their homes.
I would like to say, if any of The Flick Fanatic readers go see this movie and you figure out where Brendan Fraser’s pants went when he was in the port-a-potty, please email Karl and let me know!! One minute he’s in there, fully clothed, and the next, he’s running around outside in his whitey-tighties. Sounds funnier now than it was on the screen, trust me!
This movie is probably going to be at the top of my list of worst films, like 2009’s Super Capers. Brendan Fraser is usually really good, but in this movie, he is just really odd. There’s a construction foreman named Frank (Ricky Garcia) who could be very funny, but his jokes just end up being very awkward. Furry Vengeance is not cute, it’s not funny and it’s just not any good! I heard a couple of 6 or 7 year olds come out of the theater saying they liked it, but everyone else was bored to death and came out saying…waste of time!
I’m Lauren, one of the Fanatical Two…
and I rate Furry Vengeance 2 out of 5 Stinky Skunks!
(But only cuz I’m just too nice to give any movie a 1!)
MPAA Rating: PG (some rude humor, mild language, brief smoking)
Running Time: 1 hour, 32 minutes
THE BACK-UP PLAN
The Back-up Plan is about a woman who takes charge of her own life and decides to quit waiting for Mr. Right and become a Mommy by herself. But, the funniest thing happens on the way home from the doctor right after she gets prego, she jumps right into a cab with…you guessed it, Mr. Right!
The Back-Up Plan with Jennifer Lopez is really good even when most of it is going right over your head! Since I’m only 13, I really don’t get much of the pregnancy jokes flying by and parts are a bit awkward, but overall I came out having enjoyed it. As Zoe, Jennifer Lopez is just sooooo pretty, but my Mom says the real talent is in the roles around her: boyfriend Stan (Alex O’Loughlin – way cute Irish guy!), best friend Mona (Michaela Watkins), Nana (Linda Lavin), Nana’s fiancée (Tom Bosley) and prego doctor (Robert Klein – he kept saying the “V” word out loud, ugh!).
One of the funniest scenes is when Stan hangs out with a playground Daddy (that guy from Kangaroo Jack - Anthony Anderson) and basically the advice he gives is this --- Having kids is really awful, then it’s awful, then, well, it’s awful again, and more awful. Then, there’s one moment of magic where everything is wonderful…then it’s pretty much awful and more awful and awful again, and oh, another tiny bit of wonderful before more awful again. I think my parents can relate!
So, do you wanna know if Mr. Right ends up running far, far away or if he sticks around for a happily ever after with J.Lo? If you’re twenty-something or older, you’ll enjoy finding out. I’d call this more of a chick flick and not so much a date flick with all the “womanly” stuff. Oh, and if you love doggies you’ll automatically like it cause Cesar Millan, the Dog Whisperer, is in it and Zoe has a hilarious little “handi-capable” doggie in a doggie wheelchair. But, if you’re a teen, go re-rent The Proposal and LOL at Sandra Bullock without all the awkwardness of someone shouting the “V” word!
I'm Lauren, one of the Fanatical Two...
and I rate The Back-Up Plan 3 out of 5 lucky pennies
RATED: PG-13
RUNNING TIME: 106 mins
HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON
The creators of Shrek have WOWed us all over again!!!!
‘How To Train Your Dragon’ has the best animation I’ve seen and who wouldn’t want to see a movie about DRAGONS?! This movie has it all---action, comedy, romance, sad parts, scary parts, gross parts, and really awesome parts!
So there’s this Viking dude named Hiccup (voice of Jay Baruchel)---weird name for a Viking, right? I know, haha!! Well, he’s not very Vikingish, he’s real skinny and not very strong, so he’s not allowed to go out and fight dragons with all the other Vikings. Gobber (voice of Craig Ferguson) is this funny character that is like Hiccup’s Viking babysitter, or godfather or something, and he tries to train the young Viking in the ways of dragon killing. Look for Gobber and his undies jokes, high-larious! The movie is more than just great animation, it has a pretty intriguing storyline with Hiccup and his dad, Stoick (voice of Gerard Butler). Since Vikings haven't really been done in a kids movie before, and there's a big twist halfway through, the movie is new and exciting all the way to the end.
Amazingly, the animators make each dragon species have its own little personality, and the most fearsome of all dragons is the Night Fury. Well, in the beginning of the movie, Hiccup manages to shoot a net onto a Night Fury, but of course since he’s not a big hero Dragon Killer, nobody is around to see it. Well, he finds the injured dragon and discovers a great truth about dragons…I don’t want to give too much away, but it’s kinda like teenagers---we’re not always what we seem! The first time Hiccup interacts with the Night Fury, it gives him this big smile, just gums, no teeth. The audience went, “Awwwe!” and Toothless was named. The friendship was sealed when Toothless regurgitated a fish head for Hiccup to share, ewww! There are other kid characters you’ll enjoy getting to know. The cute gutsy girl named Astrid (voice of America Ferrera), too cool Snotlout (voice of Jonah Hill), twins Tuffnut (voice of T.J miller) & Ruffnut (voice of Kristen Wiig), and chubby Fishlegs (voice of Christopher Mintz-Plasse).
This is a perfect movie for all kids! With lots of sarcasm, it was cool enough for older kids and the little 3 year old dudes watching with us weren't scared at all, they jumped with excitement at many parts, and at the end said they LOVED it!
Cool story, amazing animation and loveable dragons!
I give ‘How To Train Your Dragon’ … 5 out of 5 Giant Dragon Roars
RATED PG (Scarey Images)
Running Time: 96 mins
PERCY JACKSON'S THE LIGHTNING THIEF
Before you start reading this review I want to let you know that Lauren couldn’t make it so my brother Grant will be taking her place.
Are you entertained by Greek gods, demigods, and monsters? Then go to the movie The Lightning Thief, Percy Jackson and the Olympians! Talk about an action flick… they fight a mythical Greek creature, Medusa, a Greek monster the Minotaur and more!
Percy Jackson (Logan Lerman) realizes he is a demigod at the age of 14. Then again, don’t most boys think they're a demigod? Lol! That’s not all, he is the son of one of big 3 gods, Poseidon (Kevin McKidd), god of the sea! There is bad blood between Poseidon and Zeus (Sean Bean), king of the gods. When the most powerful weapon ever created Zeus’ feared lightning bolt is missing, Zeus naturally accuses Poseidon’s son, Percy of stealing it. The third of the big three gods gets involved when Hades (Steve Coogan), god of the dead, sees an opportunity to grab the master bolt so he can take over Olympus. OMG! Hades, looking for the bolt, tries to attack Percy with monsters from the Underworld. Seeking refuge, Percy flees to Camp Half Blood which is a safe haven where demigods train to become warriors. Percy must make a life threatening journey to the Underworld to save his mom and get the master bolt back to Olympus by the Summer Solstice, which gives them just 12 days to complete their mission. Percy meets many friends and learns many life changing lessons.
We both read the book before watching the movie and think we would have enjoyed it more if we had done it the other way around. We knew what was going to happen in some of the scenes, and would have liked it to have been less predictable. That said, we loved the movie and we are really happy we were able to see it! We recommend this movie for kids ages 10 and up because the monsters are kind of scary and there is some mild language. Go see this movie in theaters (the special effects are amazing) but don’t take your young ones!
The Lightning Thief wins a grand total of 4 ½ out of 5 master bolts!
RATED: PG (FANTASY VIOLENCE)
RUNNING TIME: 119 MINS
THE TOOTH FAIRY
Do you believe in the tooth fairy? Well, you better, or else you might get summoned to Fairy Land and sentenced to Tooth Fairy duty!
Derek Thompson (Dwayne Johnson, aka 'The Rock') is a hockey player who believes in nothing but fighting on the ice and knocking out teeth. That's how he gets nicknamed "The Tooth Fairy", but being mean to kids is how he ends up in pink and purple Fairy Land sprouting wings and wearing a blue tutu! The Fairy Godmother (Julie Andrews, the Grandma from Princess Diaries) tells him he must work as a tooth fairy to make up for being so mean and stomping on kids dreams. Well, the hard part is, he still lives his normal life by day, but he can't tell anyone his secret, so when there's a tooth to fetch out of some kids house, poof...he sprouts his wings and magically changes into fairy clothes and he can't tell anyone why. You can imagine how hard this is for his girlfriend (Ashley Judd), and it gets pretty funny when the call comes in the middle of a hockey game---you don't really wanna know how he gets out of the hockey arena without anyone seeing his wings and fairy outfit!
Tooth Fairy is about believing and following your dream...giving up on his dream is what landed Derek in a mess. Will wearing pale blue tights and waving a magic wand straighten him out? We think you should take the kids to see it and find out for yourself!
We are Lauren & Syd, The Fanatical Two...
and we give Tooth Fairy 4 out of 5 missing teeth!
Rated PG-13 (Crude Humor)
Running Time: 101 mins
THE SPY NEXT DOOR
Spying is easy…babysitting is hard!
If you are looking for a great action movie to see with the kids, this is it! Bob Ho (Jackie Chan) is an undercover spy who is dating his next door neighbor, Jillian (Amber Valleta). At the beginning of the movie, Bob retires from the spy biz because he wants to marry Jillian and live a normal life. Soooo, as with most of these kid movies, her kids don't like the boyfriend, duh! Well, when Jillian needs to go away for a week to take care of her sick father, Bob offers to watch the kids. Hmm…an undercover spy babysitting 3 kids with people trying to kill him around every corner. Have we seen this movie before??? Ok, so the story has been done, but it wasn’t done with Jackie Chan! This movie is filled with fun and adventure and it will make all the little dudes want to learn Jackie Chan's cool spy moves! Jackie Chan does a great job in this role and he is really good with the kid actors (Madeline Carroll, Will Shadley and Alina Foley). Oh yeah, George Lopez is Bob’s spy boss and Billy Ray Cyrus is his spy partner!
Who will enjoy “The Spy Next Door”---all kids, some parents, and anyone who likes to watch Jackie Chan go all kungfuey on the bad guys, especially when he gets all crazy with props like ladders and bmx bikes. We weren’t really laughing out loud, but it was pretty funny. Jackie Chan is just so cool, right?
We’re the Fanatical Two, Lauren & Syd,
and we rate ‘The Spy Next Door’ … 4 out of 5 Karate Kicks!
Rated PG (Violence and Rude Humor)
Running Time: 92 mins
ALVIN & THE CHIPMUNKS: THE SQEAKUEL
Get ready for…
Alvin…“Make room for the Love Doctor!”
Simon…“Glasses, glasses, you wouldn’t hit a guy with glasses!”
and Theodore…“Hi, I’m Theodore! Hi, I’m Theordore! Hi, I’m Theodore!”
Alvin & The Chipmunks: The Squeakquel is at the top of our best movies of 2009! “You spin me right round, baby, right round…” Okay, so, the movie starts off with a crazy, funny Chipmunk concert starring Honor Society, aka a really cool band The Fanatical Two met at the movie Bandslam. Check out pics of the totally cute guys in Honor Society on theflickfanatics.com 'The Red Carpet' page!
Back to the munks...as soon as the movie gets going, guess who gets hurt?
ALL the adults! And not just normal injuries, we’re talking “Gasp!” and then LOL! With Dave (Jason Lee) and ‘Popcorn’ Jackie (Kathryn Joosten) in the hospital, the only person left to take care of the Chipmunks is Toby (Zachary Levi), the ‘living-in-his-mama’s-basement-going-nowhere’ cousin! Toby does one responsible thing---makes the Chipmunks go to high school. At school, the girls all LOVE them, and the guys all get jealous. The Principal ends up secretly being a HUGE Chipmunks fan (even has a tattoo of them…weird!) and strikes a bargain for the Chipmunks to represent the school at a competition. This is where the Chipettes come on the scene. The Chipettes---Brittany, Jeanette, and Eleanor, are with that dude Ian (Dsvid Cross) from the first Chipmunks film and he is kinda disturbing. The girls perform ‘Hot n Cold’ and ‘Put a Ring On It’! You’re totally gonna sing along, you know we did!
Some very cool actors do the voices of the Chipmunks & Chipettes. Justin Long is Alvin, Matthew Gray Gubler is Simon, Jesse McCartney is Theodore (our FAVE!), Christina Applegate is Brittany, Anna Faris is Jeanette, and Amy Poehler is Eleanor. Remember their voices are munked-out, but when you go see the movie, see if you can tell it's them!
We are the Fanatical Two and we give 'Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakuel' ... 5 out of 5 Rockin' Air Guitars!
Rated: PG (mild rude humor)
Running time: 85 mins
THE PRINCESS AND THE FROG
“Gotta dig a little deeper, find out who you are!”
We love The Princess And The Frog! It’s just like a regular Disney Princess movie where something happens to the princess and she goes on an adventure to find a way to change back and ends up finding true love. Just when you think you’ve seen all there is to a Disney Princess, in walks Tiana and she’s like no other princess before her. This is an amazing movie for little wannabe princesses and their families!
Tiana is Disney’s first African American Princess, and she is BEAUTIFUL! In the very beginning, the movie shows Tiana and her friend, Charlotte, as little girls playing princess dress-up and you don't want to miss it---it is the cutest part of any Disney movie, ever! After Tiana grows up, she saves all her money and works a ton of waitressing jobs to get money to own a fancy restaurant and become a famous chef. She and her Daddy shared the dream of owning “Tiana’s Place” and when her Daddy dies while she is still young, Tiana starts to think it’s her responsibility to make their dream come true on her own. The movie doesn’t show him dying or anything, but Tiana does talk about missing him. Tiana suddenly gets enough money to buy a building to start the restaurant, but the night of Mardi Gras, when she is going to sign the papers, someone outbids her and she loses sight of her dream. Hopeless, she’s all sad and she’s on a balcony when a frog comes up and she asks sarcastically, “I suppose you want a kiss?” and the frog says, ”Kissing would be nice, yessss?” After freaking out about a talking frog, she calms down and finds out the frog is really Prince Naveen who has been cursed by a witch doctor. She gives him a kiss to try to turn him back to human, but it doesn’t exactly go as she expected! Tiana just ends up turning into a frog too! Eeeek! The adventure with her Prince begins when they hop off to find Mama Odie, who might be able to change them both back to humans. In the swamps of Louisiana , they meet new friends, Louis, a jazz playing alligator, and Ray, a hillbilliy lightning bug with a big heart. The Witch Doctor, who we prefer to call the Shadow Man, is after them the whole time. The shadows with the Shadow Man are a bit scary---not leave-the-theater-crying-scary, just snuggle-up-to-your-Mommy-scary!
When they finally get to Mama Odie, she tells them that what matters is what’s under the skin. We think this Disney movie has lots of great morals for little princesses…never lose sight of your dreams, work hard to get what you want, it’s not what you have, it’s who you are that matters, and best of all…all you really need is love! The music is really cool and different from what we’re used to with Disney! The whole movie with it’s new characters, new voices, new music, and new setting was like a big pot of Gumbo…all sorts of delicious stuff thrown into one big pot that turns out to be wonderful through and through!
We are The Fanatical Two, and if we were still little Princesses, we’d be giving this 5 out of 5, but since we’re a little older and got a little bored in the middle, we’re going with 4 out of 5 wishing stars!
Rated G (for Great!)
Running Time 97 mins
OLD DOGS
“Sit. Stay. Play Dad."
This is Syd, 1/2 of The Fanatical Two which mathematically makes me a Fanatical 1 this week.
The "Old Dogs" are Dan Rayburn and Charlie Reed. They are life-long buddies who have formed their own Sports Marketing firm. Dan is played by Robin Williams. Charlie is played by John Travolta. In their 50's now, Dan and Charlie are both swinging single bachelors. 7 years ago, Dan divorced and Charlie took him to Miami to get over his depression. While in Miami, he meets Vicki (Kelly Preston, John Travolta’s real wife). After a heavy night of drinking, Vicki and Dan impulsively get married. Realizing their mistake, they get the marriage annulled. Fast forward to present day. Vicki calls Dan and says she wants to meet up. At dinner, Vicki has a surprise for Dan. Dan is the father of their 7-year old twins. Vicki has to go away for two weeks and is leaving the kids with a good friend. All that gets turned around when Dan accidentally breaks the hands of the babysitter. Dan, on a whim, tells Vicki he can watch the kids. With his best friend’s help, Dan has to figure out how to be a first-time dad to his children while simultaneously negotiating the biggest contract in their firm’s history with a Japanese client. Answering the question if these two old dogs can really learn new tricks is where the comedy comes in.
My favorite scene is where the twins, Emily and Zach mix Dan’s and Charlie’s medicine up on accident. They put them back in the wrong containers. When Dan and Charlie take each others’ pills they have side effects from taking the pills that are really funny. LOL!
The great thing about this movie is it is a comedy that can appeal to all ages from 8 year-olds (young pups) to adults (senior dogs). After stuffing yourselves with turkey on Thanksgiving, head out to the theaters with the family to see this one. I give this movie 4 1/2 out of 5 Dog Treats
Rated: PG-13 (Language, Rude humor)
Running Time: 88 mins
TWILIGHT: NEW MOON
We have seen 'The Twilight Saga: New Moon' and it is even better than Twilight! There is so much action and the girls get their fill of romance, too! Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) and Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson) are very deep in love. Thinking he is protecting Bella from harm, Edward and his family make the difficult choice to move to a different area. Bella is devastated and eventually turns to Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner) to ease her misery. Bella discovers that by doing daring, life threatening things Edward will appear to her and try to convince her to stop. During one of Bella’s stunts Edward thinks she died and since he can't bear to go on without her in the world, he goes to the Volturi. The Volturi are like the head vampire council, and Edward tries to convince them that he has broken the vampire rules so that they will kill him. The scariest part (without giving too much away) is when Edward almost dies!
Yeah, sorry, but love that deep has to be fiction!! No guy, (Edward) can possibly be that into a girl (Bella), and if he was, they'd call him her stalker! Don't get us wrong, we love Edward! He is so into Bella and he is so intense about it! Edward's love for Bella may seem like fantasy, but Taylor Lautner's 8-pack (yep, we counted!) is no fantasy, it is very real!!! He is sooooooooooo hot in this movie and his shirt is off ¾ of the time! Isn't that just so aaaaaagggghhhhh?!? We love Jacob Black, but who wouldn’t...even his muscles have muscles! From the way everyone in the theater screamed when he took off his shirt, we think he may be everyone's favorite!
Parents will be happy to know there is nothing offensive in this movie. The theme of Edward and Bella not being able to go on living without each other could be kind of disturbing, but no more than Romeo and Juliet. It's really done in a fictional way, come on, he's a vampire and Jacob's a werewolf! Really? We think a mature 10 year old and up will do fine with it. They'd do more than fine, they'd do anything to see this movie! Have them clean their rooms, wash your car, be nice to their brother...anything, they'll do it to get to go see this movie! 
We are the Fanatical Two and we rate 'The Twilight Saga: New
Moon' 5 out of 5 smokin' hot Jacobs!
MPAA rating: PG-13
Running Time: 2 hours, 10 minutes
PLANET 51
“Something strange is coming to their planet...Us!”
If you live on a planet where it rains rocks, dogs eat mailmen, and you think that the humans are the aliens, then you must be on planet 51. The aliens in Planet 51 freak out because one of our astronauts, Captain Charles T. Baker (voice of “The Rock” Dwayne Johnson), lands on their planet. Captain Baker is lucky enough to land in Lem’s (voice of Justin Long) backyard. Lem is a really good alien kid and tries to help Captain Baker get back to his ship, but the tricky part is sneaking past the huge army guarding it.
We were really looking forward to “The Rock’s” voice for the main character, but it was not impressive at all. It’s really weird, but we’re thinking the animators took that big scary alien from “Aliens” (the really scary movie with Sigourney Weaver) and turned it into a cute cartoon dog that pees acid, has a long sticky tongue, and eats mailmen. We’ve never seen “Aliens” (way too scary!), but Lauren’s Dad filled us in on all the similarities! Freaky! Parents will want to know, some of the comedy in Planet 51 is questionable and your kids may actually get the jokes, which is bad. We did like that the aliens are kind of set in the 1950’s and there is some really good music, like…Lollipop, lollipop, oh, lolly, lollipop…now try and get that outta your head, cuz we’re still singing it!
We recommend waiting for DVD on this one…and we think it may only appeal to kids between 5 and 12 years old. Lauren gives it a 4 (she loves anything animated!) but Syd says a 2, so let’s give Planet 51 a rating of 3 out of 5 Little Freaky Green Things!
Rated : PG (Suggestive Humor)
Running Time: 91 mins.
CIRQUE DU FREAK:THE VAMPIRE'S ASSISTANT
"Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant" is such a good movie, I cant stop talking about it! Syd was busy, so I went to see it with my brother, Matt. He liked it and he's very picky about movies, so what does that tell you about this movie? Well, the movie is about two best friends, Darren (Chris Massoglia) who is totally into spiders and Steve (Josh Hutcherson) who is totally obsessed with vampires. Darren ends up becoming a vampire to save Steve from an extremely poisonous spider bite. When Darren becomes a vampire he has to die first, so Crepsley (John C. Reilly), the man who made him a vampire, breaks his neck and throws him off the roof---maybe one of the reasons this is PG13! Don't worry though, Darren refuses to drink blood and the vampires in this story only sip from people, not killing anyone. Steve eventually finds out about Darren being a vampire and meets up with the vampaneze, bad vampires that do kill people. The boss of the vampaneze is Mr. Tiny (Michael Cerveris) and he turns Steve into a vampaneze so that he can get in a big fight with Darren. My favorite character is the monkey girl, Rebecca (Jessica Carlson), because I love monkeys!!! I also like her cause she says this amazing line in the movie “Its not what you are, its who you are.” Isn't that just amazing? If you don’t think it's amazing, there's something seriously wrong with you! This movie is based on some books, and when I get finished with “Ninth Grade Bites” I'm going to start reading the "Cirque du Freak" series. I give it 5 out of 5 fangs.
Hey, I'm Matt, Lauren's twin brother. Sydney's washing her hair or something, so I'm visiting Lauren's little Freak Show and reviewing a movie with her. Meet Darren Shan (Chris Massoglia, an unknown and gonna stay that way). He's sixteen going on immortal. In "Cirque du Freak: Vampire's Assistant" he sacrifices himself to save his best friend, Steve (square-faced Josh Hutcherson from Bridge to Terabithia), getting a permanent gig as a half-vampire doing daytime errands for Larten Crepsley (John C. Reilly of Talledega Nights fame---Shake 'n Bake). This movie is based on a book series titled, "Cirque du Freak" by author Darren Shan. Wonder if the main character has more in common with the author than just the name. I didn't read the books and don't intend to---I'm not really the book reading type, but the movie was GOOD. My interest stayed high all the way through and the freak show was freakin' awesome. The little dudes are the best, I want some for my room! I have to say I hate it when they leave me hangin' with such an obvious gonna-have-a-sequel ending. Know what else I really hate? Every halfway decent movie is tainted with some corny moral. I mean, why does everything have to be a preschool lesson? This one is "It's not what you are, it's who you are." Really? The PG13 rating is for a little bit of cussing, but it's nothing compared to walking down a 7th grade hallway. It didn't really show the vampires drinking the blood, but it was implied and the violence was pretty PG. I'd say maybe 10 and up would be good to go. Take a break from your own little Freak Show and go see "Cirque du Freak". I give it 4.7589 out of 5.
Rated: PG-13 (for supernatural violence and action, disturbing images, thematic elements and some language)
Running Time: 98 minutes
ASTRO BOY
Rated - PG (for some action and peril, and brief mild language)
Running time - 94 min
The Fanatical Two, Lauren & Syd 
" Life is a work of art ... you gotta paint it colorful ! "
WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE
Inside all of us is ... hope.
Inside all of us is ... fear.
Inside all of us is ... adventure.
Inside all of us is a wild thing.
Our first thought was, "How could they turn a 10 sentence book into an hour and a half movie?" But they did and it is really good! This book is over 40 years old, but is probably still in every child's book collection. They did a fantastic job of turning the book's illustrations (by author Maurice Sendak) into real big Jim Henson puppets! The movie has scary parts, romantic parts, funny parts, and sad parts. It has a little of everything!
'Where the Wild Things Are' is a good movie for ages 7 and up, but kids younger than that may get freaked out by the scary scenes. Adults will be left wondering if the movie was max's dream or his imagination, or his real life or what! We love that! S the story goes...Max (Max Records) gets yelled at by his mom (Catherine Keener) and runs off into the woods. After he runs away, he sails to the land of the wild things and his crazy adventure begins. Syd's favorite character is Carol (voice of James Gandolfini) because when he gets mad he is mean, but at other times he can be so sweet and nice. Syd & Carol have a lot in common, LOL!. Lauren's favorite character is Alexander (voice of Paul Dano) because nobody ever listens to him, no matter how hard he wants to be the center of attention. Lauren and Alexander have a lot in common, LOL! Sorry to say, if there was a moral in the movie we didn't get it, but then we didn't get it from the book either, we just really love the pictures! We would see this movie again because we loved it so much and probably find details we didn't see before. We both say it's worth buying a movie ticket!
Syd gives 'Where the Wild Things Are' 3 1/2 "Wild Things out of 5 and Lauren say 5 out of 5!! In the words of KW (One of the Wild Things) "We'll eat it up, we love it so!"
The Fanatical Two, Lauren & Syd
" Life is a work of art ... you gotta paint it colorful ! "
TOY STORY 1 & 2 IN 3D
......... not so much in 3D!
Toy Story and Toy Story 2 are two of our favorite movies! The double feature has a fun intermission with Toy Story trivia. Our favorite character is Rex because he is a dino and dinos are amazing like Spiderman, and he’s just so cute!
In the first Toy Story, Buzz Lightyear (voice of Tim Allen) comes along and Andy (voice of John Morris) starts to play with Buzz more than Woody (voice of Tom Hanks). Woody gets all jealous when the toys start to like Buzz more than him. He gets in a fight with Buzz and they both end up in Sid’s (voice of Erik von Detten) house and Sid is this real mean kid who tortures toys for fun. So Woody has to save Buzz before he gets blown-up because Sid really likes to blow things up.
The second Toy Story is about how Al (voice of Wayne Knight), a toy collector, nabbed Woody from Andy's garage sale. Buzz and some of the other toys go on a rescue mission to Al's Toy Barn because that’s where they think Al took Woody. Woody is actually in Al's apartment, where he meets the rest of the Round Up Gang; Jessie (voice of Joan Cusack), Stinky Pete the Prospector (voice of Kelsey Grammer), and Bullseye. When the toys find him and try to take him home to Andy’s room with them, Woody thinks he should stay with Jessie and go to the toy museum were they will be put on display.
Even though the Toy Stories are amazing, we had a bad 3D movie experience because there was hardly any 3D! Many people came out of the theater complaining that nothing came out of the screen at us. If that’s why you want to go see it during this two week special engagement, then you will be disappointed. If you have kids who have never seen it, or who are addicted to Toy Story, then definitely take them to see Woody & Buzz bigger than life! However, if you've already seen these movies many times over (like us!), we recommend you rewatch them on DVD to get ready for Toy Story 3...it's coming next summer!
This is Lauren & Syd,The Fanatical Two, still singing "You've Got A Friend In Me" and ready for Toy Story 3!!
" Life is a work of art ... you gotta paint it colorful ! "
CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF MEATBALLS
Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs is like the best animated 3-D movie EVER, it’s even better than G-Force and if you’ve been following our reviews, you know we REALLY liked G-Force!
The story is from a popular kids book by Judi & Ron Barrett, and it’s about a town where food falls from the sky like rain. Our favorite character is Sam Sparks (voice of Anna Faris), a geeky weather girl who gave up her glasses and ponytail to fit in, and be 'normal'. Will Flint Lockwood (voice of Bill Hader) see her for who she really is or will Sam hide her true self, even from him? The best line is by Sam Sparks while she is broadcasting the weather in Swallow Falls , “This meteor shower is getting even meatier.” Get it? The meat is falling from the sky while she is broadcasting. LOL! There are a lot of surprises in this movie, like when the little, quiet cameraman named Manny (voice of Benjamin Bratt) ends up saving the day with his many talents. Earl (voice of Mr. T) is the maniac police officer for the town and his son, Cal (voice of Bobb'e J. Thompson), went into a food coma from eating too much junk food. Saw that coming! The mayor (voice of Bruce Campbell) gets really, really fat by the end and we thought that was really gross, but he’s the bad guy so it’s okay that they made him gross.
There’s a kissing scene, where Sam and Flint kiss, but Flint never kissed a girl, so he sticks his lips out and has bubble cheeks when they kiss. EWW, but funny and kinda cute! When this movie comes out on DVD we are going to buy it and watch it every day, because it’s so amazing and the animation was so detailed that if you watch it again and again you will keep catching stuff you haven’t seen before. Pay attention at the very, very, very beginning to see a ginormous banana hit the Statue of Liberty! And we haven’t even mentioned the monkey Steve (voice of Neil Patrick Harris) yet…gummi bears, gummi bears, gummi bears!
For the Mommies and Daddies, you’ll be happy to hear the movie has a few great morals; “Always be yourself, and quit worrying what other people are going to think!” and “When times get tough, if you work together you will get your problem figured out.” and something about fathers and sons that adults will get better than us kids. The PG rating is right on and everyone should go enjoy thisFUN movie in the theater!
We’re Lauren & Syd, The Fanatical Two, we LOVED this book and now we LOVE this movie…and that’s a wrap!
MPAA rating- PG (Mild Language)
Running time- 1 hr 21 min
SHORTS
Syd …Shorts is about a couple of kids, Toe and Loogie, who find a magical rock that grants wishes and the adventures that it takes them on. My favorite character, Loogie, had all the good action scenes…if there even were any! My favorite scene was when Toe was getting bullied and the kids were throwing rocks at him and the piles of dirt around him were exploding…OMG! The storyline is a bunch of movie “shorts” that are not in the right order and with all that jumping around, it will be confusing for little kids. Even though the previews make Shorts look really good, I wouldn’t recommend anyone go see it in the theater. I guess I give Shorts 2 out of 5 stars.
Lauren …I actually liked Shorts! It had some really gross stuff in it, like a nose-picking kid and a giant booger that came to life, eeewwww! The girl bully ate lunch with her toes which was really creeping me out, but little kids will be laughing out loud. The storyline skips around a bunch, but kids are random and just want to goof off (like me), so I don't think that’s a problem! There was a bunch of morals goin’ on in the story, like “When friends come together, they can accomplish anything.” And the parents kept texting on their black box instead of paying attention to the kids and in the end realized they were losing out on family time. And, of course there was the whole “Be careful what you wish for” thing that everybody got a peek at in the previews. Buy this one on DVD when it comes out, cuz the little kids are gonna wanna watch it over and over. I’m going with 3 out of 5 stars!
This is The Fanatical Two, BFF's who don't always have to agree, and like Mr. Karl says, Shorts is a wrap!
Rated: PG (action and rude humor)
Running Time: 89 mins
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