Planet 51

When Chuck the astronaut (Dwayne Johnson) lands on a distant planet filled with little green people, he is surprised to discover that we are not alone in the galaxy. But he gets the shock of his life when the residents of Planet 51 mistakenly believe that his presence is the start of an alien invasion of the human kind! Luckily, Lem (Justin Long) quickly realizes that Chuck is friendly and makes it his personal mission to help him return safely to his ship.

Featuring the voice talents of:  Dwayne Johnson, Jessica Biel, Justin Long, Gary Oldman, Sean William Scott, John Cleese to name a few.

Rating:  pg 




This is one of the reasons why I love owning a video store.  Even though my children aren't old enough to watch these films, I still get to view them as part of my "work". 

This was a moderately funny film.  While some cast up the fact that it's not a Pixar film and all that, I enjoyed the bright colors and clear graphics.  Yes, they are very 2 dimensional but still they are fun.  I especially enjoyed the way they portrayed the aliens and how the added a lot of kitchy 1950's style into the Alien world.  Indeed the very opening of the movie is reminiscent of those early 1950's cheesy, horror flicks.

I would definitely say that the pg rating is accurate.  The opening scene consists of a film of their planet being attacked, lots of shooting and fight scenes with aliens being disintegrated.  Also, in many scenes the Astronaut is considered to be dangerous and there are a lot of references made about eating brains and turning into mind zombies and is repeatedly shot at.  The main point of the aliens in capturing the astronaut is killing him and removing his brains.

Otherwise, there is very little else that could be questionable in this movie.  There is one use of the word "friggin" and in one scene an alien stumbles over the word astronaut saying "ass" when another alien quickly jumps in with "stronaut", so it's barely noticeable.  Two aliens in the end scene kiss.  That's about it. 

If your children watch mildly violent shows already like batman etc, then this film would be fine for you.  Personally I waver on this type of film but when I think about the number of questions that are certainly to crop up with my children like "why do they want to take out their brains" etc, I think it's best to wait awhile.

Movie Mama

Santa Buddies - The Legend of Santa Paws

Join The Buddies (Budderball, B-Dawg, Rosebud, Buddha and Mudbud) in a wonderfully wacky twist on a classic Christmas favorite. When Puppy Paws, the fun-loving son of Santa Paws, gets tired of the North Pole, he finds Budderball on Santa's naughty list and figures he's just the dog to show him how to be an ordinary pup. But when the magical Christmas Icicle starts to melt and the world begins to forget the true meaning of the season, it's up to Puppy Paws and his new found Buddies to save Christmas.

Starring: Christopher Lloyd, Craig Anton, Andrew Astor, Tom Bosley, George Wendt, Field Cate, Tim Conway, Chris Coppola, Josh Flitter, Ben Giroux, Skyler Gisondo, Zachary Gordon and many more.

Rated: G

Just when you thought you had enough, they bring out another Buddies movie. I have to admit though that this film does have it's charms. My children loved this film very much and watched it beginning to end several times over the weekend. It's not often a movie captures their interest that long.

For the grownups, it is definitely watchable at least one time. The story is pretty good. Talks a lot about the spirit of Christmas and what it means. That Christmas is more about giving than receiving and the buddies have to work together as a team in order to save Christmas. In doing so they help transform some of the lives of the people around them, one grumpy dog catcher played in particular.

There is a part or two where the flow doesn't really jive. You see Eli (a real elf) giving a kind lecture to a fake elf about the spirit of Christmas etc and yet you don't see how that ties into the movie. The fake elf wasn't a grump, there were no scenes (unless they were cut) where that Elf lacked Christmas spirit.

I can't really think of any potential warnings for parents. There is some mild action as the puppies are being chased by the dog catcher. In one scene the puppies try to escape and the dogcatcher gets knocked over and falls on his back. That's about all I can think of.

I should add that if you are a Christian you will find the message in the movie falls sadly short on the true meaning of Christmas. However, as always, there are many teachable moments that you can share with your children if you are sitting along with them watching this film.

Movie Mamma

Barbie: Thumbelina

Meet Thumbelina.   A tiny girl that lives in harmony with nature.  Her home is the magic world of the Twillerbees.  When a spoiled girl named Makenna asks her parents to uproot a patch of wildflowers, Thumbelina along with two of her friends are transported to a lavish city apartment. There they learn of construction plans that threaten to destroy the land of the Twillerbees. Thumbelina is determined not to give up and sets out to convince Makenna the magic of true friendship and that even the smallest person can make a big difference. 

Starring the voice talents of:  Kathleen Barr, Natasha Calis, Kelly Metzger, Kelly Sheridan, Tabitha St. Germain, Cathy Weseluck among others. 

Rating:  G

This movie was a big hit with my daughters and even my 22 month old son loved it.  They insisted on watching it repeatedly over the next two days we had the movie.  When my children actually sit still through an entire movie not just once but 3 times from beginning to end, this is a sure sign that this movie was a hit. 

The graphics were amazing.  The colours and design were gorgeous.  The Thumbelina and the Twillerbees were adorable.  Move over Tinkerbell and Pixie Hollow there are new fairies in town. 

I just loved this movie myself.  It had everything a parent could want.  It was entertaining without violence, it had a strong story and a positive outcome.  There are many teachable moments in this movie if you are so inclined.  

Part of why I like this movie is that the so called "villains" of this piece are the well meaning if somewhat thoughtless parents of Makenna.  They are not out to destroy the home of the Twillerbees from malice but were merely looking for a suitable business site for their factory. Their sudden financial success caused them to become extremely busy making it hard to find time for their daughter.  Makenna's spoiled nature is simply a bi-product of her parent's attempt to make up for the lack of family time together by giving her whatever she wants.  

It's a wonderful exploration of an all too common theme in many homes today.  Even if we are not too busy working, we often want to give our children what we didn't have or to make sure they don't feel left out with their peers.  

It was great when my 5 year old would ask me why Makenna was behaving that way, why her parent's wanted to dig up the Twillerbee's home.  This paved the way for talking about selfish behaviour and even about the environment and ways we could protect it.  

Best of all this movie really fired up my daughter's imagination as her and her cousin spent the next week pretending to be Twillerbees and Twillerbee babies.  I didn't even have to buy them the toys.  Just using their imagination was enough for hours of fun.  

Definitely my top recommendation for any little girls. 

Igor

IGOR   

In a world filled with Mad Scientists and Evil Inventions, one talented evil scientist's hunch-backed lab assistant has big dreams of becoming a Mad Scientist himself and winning the annual Evil Science Fair. Only nothing goes as planned. 

Featuring the voice talents of:  John Cusack, John Cleese, Sean Hayes, Eddie Izzard, Steve Buscemi, Jennifer Coolidge and Jay Leno (to name just a few). 

Rating:  PG

I had big hopes for this movie.  I like John Cusack and usually enjoy his dry wit and humour.  Haven't really found a John Cusack movie that I didn't like.  Didn't understand mind you (thinking of War Inc), that's another story er review. 

As a mom with small children, I found this movie to be disappointing. The first time I watched it, I didn't enjoy it at all, saw nothing humorous.  The second time I watched it with my husband and I began to find it somewhat more amusing than at first.  We didn't watch the ending, it was getting late.  But I did find myself wanting to watch the rest of the film the next day.  

What I find disturbing in this film; however, is not really the level of violence etc but the completely disrespectful way the characters talk to each other.  Dr. Schadenfraude and his girlfriend Jaclyn have a stormy relationship and are continuously throwing out snide comments and barbs at one another. Their arguments escalate to hitting each other, which instead of actually hitting each other they hit their Igor instead.  While I get that these two people are "evil" and obviously are not going to have a loving and respectful relationship, I couldn't in good conscious let my children watch that and let them think that that is how two people talk to each other and that hitting is a good way of resolving conflict.  

As for violence, there are scenes of people getting blown up, references to being thrown into a recycler where your body gets chopped up and recycled, trying to kill each other, shoot outs, chase scenes etc. 

There are a lot of little things like that throughout the film.  The ending is good, poor Malaria's problems get resolved and the film has a good moral tone about how everyone has an evil bone in their body is just whether they choose to be evil or not.  

So please stick with the ratings guideline. If your children are under 8 years old, I highly recommend that you do not let them watch this film.  If your child is between 8 and 10 then I suggest that you prescreen this movie and then decide whether you are comfortable with them seeing it. 

As always, only you can decide what you feel is appropriate for your child.  I realize that each family is unique and has their own individual value system.  What's right for one family may not be right for another.