Another year of movies and our family enjoyed many of then. Going to the movies is one of our family’s favorite things to do. We try to see each and every family or kids movie that comes out. 2009 was no exception. As a parent I know it is difficult in some cased to decide whether or not a movie is appropriate. There’s the rating, but that doesn’t always hold true for every child. The best advice is when in doubt, see the movie on your own first. This however, is not always convenient and can be costly. I hope you can get some information to help you here at USAKidzone.
Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakuel
Alvin & the Chipmunks The Squeakuel: Although this installment was cute, I preferred the first. For one thing, the original had much more of Jason Lee. This time he was in a hospital bed due to an accident caused by none other than the chipmunks. The chipmunks begin attending high school and have a little trouble fitting in. They meet some pretty girls at school — the Chipettes — who also sing. In the meantime, Ian is on the lookout to find animals with singing talent and he stumbles on the Chipettes. The boys go head to head with the Chipettes in musical competition.
Sherlock Holmes: I was very excited about this film. I love Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law. They made a great Holmes and Watson. It was the plot that was a little lame. Enough already with the evil secret organization plot. The bad guy was a little strange as well. This Sherlock Holmes was brawny as well as brainy. This was the first time a Guy Ritchie film was given a PG13 rating. We did not take our son, but i think it would be fine for age 10+ due to some violence and adult themes.
Avatar: Although suffering with a terrible toothache, I managed to immerse myself in this film. It was not difficult. This film draws you in. The scenery is breathtaking and with the 3D you often feel as if you are moving. is the story of an ex-Marine who finds himself thrust into hostilities on an alien planet filled with exotic life forms. As an “Avatar,” a human mind in an alien body, he finds himself torn between two worlds, in a desperate fight for his own survival and that of the indigenous people. There is swearing and violence. It is upsetting that the human army destroys a race of creatures because they won’t give them what they want. We did not take our son to see this. He would probably have done O.K., but is sensitive and probably would have been upset at the destruction.
The Lovely Bones: I had anxiously awaited the release of this movie as I loved the book. This movie is definitely for older kids as it is the story of a little girl who is taken, violently raped and murdered. It could serve as a cautionary tale for young girls to always be on the watch and never go anywhere alone with any adult other than their parents unless their parents know where they are going. Mark Wahlberg and Rachel Weisz were superb. However, Saoirse Ronan was spectacular as Susie the young girl. continues to observe her family on Earth after her death. Although she is detached from the world she once knew, Susie witnesses the impact of her loss on her loved ones, whilst her killer skillfully covers his tracks and prepares to murder again.
Planet 51
Planet 51: The entire family enjoyed this movie. It is about a planet where the inhabitants consider humans scary aliens. The inhabitants of Planet 51 live in fear of alien invasion. Their paranoia is realized when an astronaut arrives from Earth. Dwayne Johnson is great as the astronaut. Befriended by a young resident, he has to avoid capture in order to recover his spaceship and try to return home. Planet 51 seems to be trapped in the 1950s — just when our fear of aliens peaked.
Fantastic Mr. Fox: Bizarre, yet very entertaining. My son and I saw this movie with about 10 other people in the audience. The Roald Dahl story is about a family of foxes (Dad and Mom voiced by George Clooney and Meryl Streep. Father Fox constantly outwits three farmers who are mad at him for stealing their chickens. The son is hilarious. He is jealous of his talented cousin the family has taken in. Father Fox seems more interested and impressed with the cousin than his own son. Listen for the son, he is constantly making some weird spitting nose which cracked us up.
The Blind Side: Even though this film was PG 13, we thought it would be a good conversation starter. You know how this woman’s kindness changed the world for this boy. It was. There was one scene we went out because I was afraid it might show some violence and drug use. It probably would have been OK to stay in. However, beware of one of the last lines of the film. SPOILER ALERT: The Mom tells Michael that if he gets a girl pregnant while at college she will come and cut off a certain male appendage. Of course the audience laughed. Our 8-year-old never did say anything, but I wondered if he thought, ‘why would that nice lady do that and why is everyone laughing?!’ That said, it was a wonderful heart warming story of a family who takes in a poor black teenager in Memphis, whose father was murdered and whose mother was a crack addict. The boy is Michael Oher. He has struggled in school but they find he has a talent for football. The family adopts him and he gets a scholarship to play college football.
Old Dogs
Old Dogs: Hilarious. How could it not be with Robin Williams and John Travolta with Seth Green thrown in? The entire family enjoyed this movie. Two best friends have their lives turned upside down when they’re unexpectedly charged with the care of six-year-old twins while on the verge of the biggest business deal of their lives. And these two know nothing about taking care of children. I think the children end up taking care of them. Very funny!
Astroboy: Is it just me, or does Nicholas Cages voice get annoying after a while? That being said, this was a pretty good flick. Astroboy is the story of a young boy who is killed during one of his father’s science experiments. In his grief, the father rebuilds the boy. He looks the same, but this time he is a robot with super powers. Powered by pure positive “blue” energy, Astroboy is endowed with super strength, X-ray vision, unbelievable speed and the ability to fly… not to mention the purest spirit on the planet.
Where the Wild Things Are: I can honestly say we all hated this movie. They could have done so much more with it. First the little boy is kind of scary. He attacks the family dog, clawing and biting. He tears up the sisters room and he screams at the Mom “Feed Me Woman!” He even bit the Mom. Anyway as the story goes, Max runs away to Where the Wild Things Are just like in the book. He finds the strange creatures who he pals around with for awhile until things get out of hand. No one is getting along and since they put him in charge he has to think of something to do. He ends up going home much to the relief of his mother played by Catherine Keener which was the only highlight of the movie.
Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs: Flint Lockwood, a young inventor yearns to invent something to make the world a better place. Low and behold he comes up with a device that causes food to fall from the sky like rain. We enjoyed this movie. It was unique and entertaining.
Shorts: We all really liked this movie. Eleven-year-old Toe Thompson is kid who is always getting bullied in his town. But things change when he finds a mysterious rainbow rock after a freak storm. The rock grants wishes to anyone who finds it. As the Rainbow Rock ricochets around the town–from kid to kid and parent to parent–wishes-come-true quickly turn the neighborhood upside down. James Spader has resumed his role of the bad guy which he was known for in ’80′s teen flicks.
G-Force: It’s Nicholas Cage again…what can I say. Oh, well. This film was O.K. It wasn’t one of our favorites but it wasn’t awful either. Armed with the latest high-tech spy equipment, these highly trained guinea pigs discover that the fate of the world is in their paws. Voice talent includes Penelope Cruz, Tracy Morgan and Nicholas Cage.
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince: This was perhaps the movie my son and had been waiting the most for. It was probably my favorite book in the series. The movie was good. It stayed mostly with the book. One scene was added and I’m still not sure why. Some were taken out of course for length. This movie provides the set-up for the next one. It was a bit anti-climactic. The sixth year students learn to apparate – and lose a few eyebrows in the process. The Weasley twins expand their business. Teenagers flirt and fight and fall in love. Classes are never straightforward, though Harry receives some extraordinary help from the mysterious Half-Blood Prince. Dumbledore shares more with Harry about Voldemort and even takes him on a quest. You’ll love it if you did not read the books and are waiting to find out what has happened since the last film. If you’ve read the books, you need to see it although there will be no surprises.
Ice Age 3: This was OK, but I think it could be a bit confusing to kiddos. They have dinosaurs after the ice age. If my natural history is on track, the dinosaurs dies out before saber tooth tigers and mammoths were on the scene. That aside, it was pretty good. Queen Letifah is back as Ellie. She and Manny are going to have a baby. Of course, the gang has an advanture in the land of the dinosaurs.
Disney Up 3D: This was great. It was a little sad at times. It has a montage of a couples life together. They meet, get married and try to start a family (apparently there’s a loss of a baby) and then they grow old. All along they always dream of travelling the world. She dies and he is a sad old man until one day a little boy shows up on his porch. He has just tied thousands of balloons to his house in order to sail away. The boy ends up being on the porch as the house takes off. Up takes audiences on a thrilling journey where the unlikely pair encounter wild terrain, unexpected villains and jungle creatures.
Night at the Museum 2: This second installment takes us to the Smithsonian. It’s as good a ride as the first. This time we meet Amelia Earhart to Albert Einstein. The old crew is has been sent to the Smithsonian in crates. Night Watchman Larry Daley head to the nation’s capital to save his friends. Along with his old buddies, including Teddy Roosevelt, Octavius, Sacajawea, Attila The Hun and the Neanderthals — Larry will stop at nothing to regain his friends and restore order to the National Mall.
Angels & Demons: This was better than the book. The ending of the book was ridiculous. I know it’s a work of fiction, but c’mon. It at least needs to be plausible. The fixed the ending and the movie worked much better. I’m still having a hard time buying Tom Hanks as Robert Langdon. Maybe by the next movie, it will seem rational to me. In this installment, Langdon investigates the Illuminati and their possible involvement with the death of a Pope and the election of his successor. This is a complex story and definitely suitable for older teens.
Star Trek 11: Although it’s the 11th movie in the Star Wars franchise, it is a prequel. It tells the back story of James T. Kirk and Mr. Spock. The guy who plays Spock is a dead ringer for Leonard Nimoy who also appears in the film. Kirk and Spock are bitter rivals. Kirk is a delinquent, thrill-seeking Iowa farm boy. Spock was raised in a logic-based society that rejects all emotion. As fiery instinct clashes with calm reason, their unlikely but powerful partnership is the only thing capable of leading their crew to boldly go where no man has gone before!
Race to Witch Mountain
Race to Witch Mountain: Wasn’t sure how my little guy would do with the aliens I knew would be in the movie, we took a gamble. This movie didn’t seem to bother him at all. Much better than the original. That version had Bette Davis and Eddie Albert. This one has The Rock. Enough said. A UFO expert gets help from a cabbie to watch to alien kids and get them back to their ship.
Watchmen: This is definitely for those over 18. I couldn’t believe all the young kids there. I don’t think I’d want my teenage girl seeing full frontal male nudity on the IMAX screen even if it was a giant blue man! That being said it was a very long movie….too long in my opinion. Super heroes is not my favorite genre, however, these were unique super heroes at any rate. My husband enjoyed it.
Coraline 3D: Our son hated this movie. It really creeped him out. I can certainly understand why. Coraline crawled through a secret passage where she found look-a-likes for her parents with button eyes. If that’s not disturbing enough, they ended up being monsters. There were also ghosts of other children they had gotten. Way to creepy. You went to far this time, Tim Burton.
Inkheart: Brendan Frasier is great in kid movies. This time he plays Mo” Folchart. He and his 12-year-old daughter, Meggie share a passion for books. What they also share is an extraordinary gift for bringing characters from books to life when they read aloud. But there is a danger: when a character is brought to life from a book, a real person disappears into its pages. many years ago, the person who disappeared was Maggie’s mother. On one of their trips to a secondhand book shop, Mo hears voices he hasn’t heard for years, and when he locates the book they’re coming from, it sends a shiver up his spine. It’s Inkheart, a book filled with illustrations of medieval castles and strange creatures–a book he’s been searching for since Meggie was three years old, when her mother, Resa (Sienna Guillory), vanished into its mystical world. Mo, Maggie and her grandmother set out on an adventure to finally find her mother.
Hotel for Dogs: These kind of movies drive my husband crazy. The ones where the kids run around breaking all kinds of laws and rules. He thinks it gives bad ideas. It is the story of a brother and sister who live with a foster family. Lisa Kudrow is hilarious as the foster Mom. The live in a no-pet apartment and they are desperately trying to keep their pet dog hidden. They end up finding other dogs who need homes. They also find an old abandoned hotel and there you have it Hotel for Dogs. The dogs in the movie steal the show.
Bride Wars: Pretty lame. I’d expect it out of Kate Hudson, but not you Anne Hathaway. Two best friends become enemies when they end up booking the same day for their wedding at the same place — New York’s The Plaza Hotel.
