My So-Called Homeschool

. . . where Tinkerbell came from?  How are fairies and pixies created?  What was she like when she was first formed?  Are there more pixies somewhere, maybe a whole pixie world?

Disney has created an enchanting backstory for Peter Pan’s petite sidekick.  From the baby’s laughter that brought her to life through a number of adventures and mishaps, Tinkerbell is fun and captivating.  My girls had already read Fairy Dust and the Quest for the Egg, so they knew a bit of the story, but they were excited to see the characters onscreen.  As each pixie appeared in the story, they raced to see who could name her first.

Just as in real life, there is a hierarchy in Pixie Hollow, and Tinkerbell learns that tinker fairies are pretty low in fairy society.  There are a few fairy snobs, and some quite endearing characters.  Tinkerbell makes the  journey most of us do, trying to figure out what she is uniquely suited for — quite certain that it’s NOT tinkering.

Overall it’s a sweet story about being proud of who you are and becoming the best you can be at that.  Definitely worth purchasing as a Christmas present for a special fairy-loving little girl.

There are some fun bonus features as well — hubby and I clicked through a few of them ourselves after the kids went to  bed!

Tinkerbell is available on DVD and BlueRay October 28, 2008.

I was provided this movie by Click Communications for the purpose of review.

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This movie was provided to me by Click Communications for the purpose of review.

You know, I was watching this with the kids and realized — I don’t know if I remember ever actually watching this movie as a child.  I knew all the elements — Maleficent, the dragon (didn’t remember that she WAS the dragon), the godmother fairies, the kiss — but I don’t think the movie’s been out of the vault since video,  has it?  I tried to explain to them that there didn’t used to be video and you only got to see movies like this on The Wonderful World of Disney every once and a while, but they almost couldn’t believe it.  I sounded like my mom explaining to us what it was like to listen to radio shows!

I enjoyed watching as much as the girls did.  It has been beautifully remastered, and released in its original wide-screen format.  There are some great bonus features as well — a rockin’ new version of “Once Upon a Dream” sung by Emily Osment and a story of Tchaikovsky I never knew!  It is a 1950’s era Disney television special that details his life, his incredible talent, and how he came to love composing for ballet.  I had to explain to the girls why “stereophonic sound” would have been such a big deal and why they had to watch TV and tune in to AM and FM radio in order to get it!  It was an education for me as well as for them.

It’s an awesome classic, with some great new features.  THIS is Disney before franchising and marketing ran it into the ground.  It’s a sure pick for Christmas or birthdays coming up.  It has already been released, so go grab you one now!!!

My kids are Disney Channel fanatics — you could stop by any time of day and you would most likely find the cable tuned to channel 67. So Madison Pettis is a familiar face around here. She is adorably precocious as America’s Angel on Corey in the House, a spinoff of Raven Simone’s That’s So Raven. In fact, she reminds me a bit of Raven on The Cosby Show — a typecasting that Raven got stuck in for quite a while. In The Game Plan, Madison is pretty much the same character — the precocious, adorable little girl, all sweet smiles and clever comebacks. I hope that Madison doesn’t get stuck in that role, as there were a couple of moments in the movie that showed she has a little more depth to her acting ability if someone gives her the chance.

The movie itself is cute — Dwane Johnson (The Rock) does the comic turn quite well as a self-absorbed football star at the peak of his career. The chemistry between him and dance teacher Roslyn Sanchez (of Without a Trace) is believable without being too much for a G movie. Kyra Sedgwick is funny as the money-grubbing agent, and the cast of football players all get to show an alternate side to their stereotypical characters. There is a nice twist at the end that keeps the plot from being completely predictable.

All in all, it got a thumbs up from all 5 of us here, from 4yo to Mom and Dad.

Arrgh!  I have graphics, they won’t upload!

I was provided Mr. Bean’s Holiday by Click Communications for the purpose of review.

I was first introduced to the character of Mr. Bean by my then 8- and 10-year-old nephews about 12 years ago. They were practically crying with laughter, and I wondered what kind of Ren and Stimpy nonsense they were watching. My sister-in-law dragged me in and told me I simply HAD to watch this guy, he was so hilarious. Now, physical humor just makes me cringe. Laugh, but cringe. I usually watch it through my fingers, I just get so embarrassed for that looney on the screen. Weird, I know. Rowan Atkinson as Mr. Bean is one of my all-time favorites of the genre.

Having said that, when we started seeing this movie advertised, the trailers made my kids just howl with laughter. So when I got the chance to review the DVD that is coming out today, I figured it would be a winner!

Well . . . my 4-year-old fell asleep before it was halfway through, what does that say about it? I think the sketch comedy that endeared him to me — hiney cringing humor, that — just works much better in shorter segments. Even the first Mr. Bean movie took too much plot to try to tie it all together and this one was even slower-moving. I watched for 30 minutes or so and just kept waiting and waiting for things to pick up. They never did. This is another movie where most of the funny parts were revealed in the trailers.

Sorry, it just wasn’t for me.

I’m not a huge Disney fan. I feel that so many of their movies are just excuses for merchandising. However, Meet the Robinsons is a delightful exception. There was just not one thing about it I didn’t like. It had a great message without being preachy, tackled difficult issues — adoption, acceptance, being different, and all the while was just plain fun. The music was whimsical (Danny Elfman), the animation was great, the characters were hilarious. In the Bonus Features, you find out the movie was based on the book A Day With Wilbur Robinson by William Joyce of Rolie Polie Olie and George Shrinks fame. Come to find out, these zany characters are all modelled after his eccentric family members. I think this is why I loved the movie so much — so many really strange people, and unlike most Disney movies they kept most of the original art concepts and character ideas. Oh, and the movie was hilarious while avoiding innuendo, bathroom humor, or any kind of “it’s over the kids’ heads” humor. LOOOOVE it!

It definitely got five thumbs-up here!

Evan Almighty is out today on DVD. If I hadn’t received this one free for review, I think I might even buy it — and I don’t really buy movies very often. I was pleasantly surprised that I liked the movie. I do NOT like The Office, nor anything else I’ve seen Steve Carrell in up to this point, so it took a while for me to get into the movie. Neither this movie nor Bruce Almighty had super-deep theological insight and yet both do make you think about what Religion says is the nature of God vs. how He has actually revealed himself. This one does bring up some interesting questions to discuss with the family — WAS the original flood all about God’s wrath? Where do we see God’s love in that story? How was this different? I did like the way they made a way around God’s promise never to flood the world again.

Overall, a nice family movie, although not as hilariously funny as the first one. I do think it’s a little more kid-friendly than Bruce Almighty.

I was provided this movie by Click Communications for the purpose of review.

OK, I’m actually live-blogging this review. What does that say about the movie? I wasn’t really that interested in it, but thought Squid might enjoy it — and he does. As for me, can I borrow a phrase from Ree and say “hiney cringe”? The jokes telegraph from a mile a way, the characters are extremely stereotyped, and the humor is, well, guy humor. It does have funny moments, and all four guys are actors I enjoy in comedy. But we’re now 20 minutes into the movie, and I’m ready to go read a book. Squid does seem to be enjoying it (do I know my guy or what?) — and he’s making me watch the whole thing so I can finish this review. Sigh.

Gay cop. Twice. Wonder how many more times he’ll show up.

Real biker bar. Oh, bet there’s gonna be trouble!

Yep. Ray Liotta is trouble.

Movie is moving slooooooow. But the soundtrack is pretty cool. Little Bon Jovi right now is nice.

Last gas for 200 miles, and they just drove off. Not good. Buzzard on the road, really?

When it’s plural, it’s cacti. That was funny.

Chili cookoff karaoke. OK, that was funny too.

Yeah, the second guy to slap the bull is in deep crap. Deep.

Really, it looks like this is another case of all the funny parts were shown in the previews.

Would you like me to do the rest of the review in single sentences? I didn’t think so. I guess I’ll wait til I actually have something interesting to say.

Not! I wonder how many times Squid will say “they are so dead” before the movie is over.

The cameo at the end is worth the whole thing!!!

I guess overall, it is a funny midlife crisis movie. But I would definitely call it a guy movie. It wouldn’t have been worth the price of movie admission. But on DVD, it’s a mindless bit of fun.

Oh my gosh. The credits. I’m peeing my pants!!!

BVHE Publicity provided this movie for the purpose of review. They may think they got gypped on this one.

(Click image for a preview of the movie)

The girls have been waiting with held breath for our review copy of Cinderella III, A Twist in Time from Special Ops Media. Me, not so much. I’m not a huge animated Disney fan — what IS the dude’s problem with nuclear, two-parent families? Have you noticed that nearly all Disney families are missing one parent or the other? And what’s the deal with making movies about historical characters (Pocahantas) or great pieces of literature (Hunchback of Notre Dame, Hercules) and butchering them? OK, off my soap box.

I was, however, pleasantly surprised at this movie. Cinderella is a classic and it’s hard to sequel that. I haven’t seen Cinderella II, so can’t say much for it’s quality, but III was quite nice. I love “what ifs” and this was well-done. What if the wicked stepmother got ahold of the wand and turned back time? What if Anastasia fit the slipper? If love is fated, will it happen anyway? I could see the plot from a mile a way, and the kids could a little bit — “Touch her hand! Touch her hand” every time they got near — but it wasn’t a distraction, it was just Disney. The music was lovely, and Anastasia was almost pretty in her song about her dream of someone to love. I like that the Prince still got to rescue the princess — in today’s feminist world, that is often an anathema — but also liked that the Cinderella had gumption and rescued herself as well. It was a nice balance.

Overall, it got thumbs-up all the way around at the So-Called household.