Kids Movies

Ratatouille by Pixar Animation Studio and Walt Disney Company is an adorably entertaining, creative movie for the whole family to enjoy with a clear positive message. Ratatouille is a story about a rat named Remy (Patton Oswalt) who doesn’t feel like he fits in with the other rats in his colony when his passion for cooking and reading causes some conflict between him and his father. Against his fathers advice he follows his heart which gets him and the rest of the rat colony into hot water, forcing them to flee their home and separates him from his family. Not sure if he’s ever going to see them again he finds himself in Paris, in the same part of town where his favorite chief’s restaurant is located; Gusteau’s. There he finds a young man named Linguini who is a garbage boy in Gusteau’s Restaurant. Together they help each other succeed; by pairing up in the kitchen Remy helps Linguini become a famous chef by hiding under Linguini’s hat. Remy learns to maneuver Linguini’s arms by pulling on strands of hair treating him similar to a puppet. The late Gusteau (Brad Garrett), acts as Remy’s conscience; teaching him right from wrong and helping him uncover a secret, while guiding him in excellent cooking.

Risking his life and the reputation of the restaurant Remy gives a brave uplifting message to follow your heart and dreams and that you can do anything you put your mind to no matter who you are. The characters in this movie are memorable and enjoyable, while the computer graphics are marvelous.

The Iron Giant is creatively written focusing its fascinating story on a young boy that makes friends with a hulking outer space robot. The robot displays hidden destructive abilities when being threatened by military paranoia. The story takes a turn when one night after a junk food and B – movie feast. Hogarth walks into the woods and finds a giant robot that has been sent from the heavens although its purpose is not known. The robot has no sense of its purpose or where it has come from and this is what makes it embrace and portray the infant morality of young Hogarth. Beatnik Dean who owns a scrapyard with many metal sculptures becomes the man that Hogarth can seek advice, whilst Agent Kent Mansley becomes the wicked enemy searching for the truth.

From the range of diverse voices are talents such as Jennifer Aniston, Harry Connick Jr and Vin Diesel as the giant. Animation is effective, powerful, graphically fascinating and has some extremely impressive visual scenes. Writer – director Bird has also worked on “The Simpsons”.

The Iron Giant takes a look into difficult problems in a way that no other children’s film usually does. The Iron Giant has a recurring feeling of melancholy that waves goodbye to the end of an age that never could have been.

The Iron Giant is much more enjoyable due to the light plot that is easy to follow. It is the smaller moments that make the film memorable like the friendship that builds between the robot and boy. Other moments that are particularly memorable are when the fisherman reports that a massive metal robot has landed and the young boy discovers the 50 foot robot in the forest. The morals behind The Iron Giant seem focused on the war between unseen, ethical answers on the one hand, but dramatic, forceful answers on the other. The Iron Giant is a lovable light-hearted film that takes you on a journey from beginning to end.

     They’re back:  Those wonderful teen heart-throbs of Disney’s High School Musical are back and as dreamy as ever in High School Musical 2!  Once again The talented Kenny Ortega reclaims his place as director for the second installment of this ever-popular Disney teen favorite and has earned many nominations for the role in the process including that of “Outstanding director of a made for t.v. movie”.

     Written by Peter Barsocchini, High School Musical 2 continues the tale of the teen romance of East Side High School’s basketball star Troy and not so new girl anymore studious Gabriella as they tackle the trials and tribulations of being teenagers and in love.  Of course, Gabriella’s arch nemesis Sharpay again returns to put a wrench in the workings of the couple’s still budding  relationship doing anything in her power to prevent the couple from remaining together and in the process dragging her brother Ryan, poor kid, into the mix. If you thought Sharpay was a spoiled brat in the first movie, High School Musical 2 promises to shed a brighter spotlight on exactly why she feels the sun should rise and set on her as she has daddy wrapped around her finger and speaks rudely to her mother.    Also present in the sequel are Troy’s fellow team members The Wildcats, his best friends Chad, Jason, and Zeke, along with Gabriella’s best gal friends Taylor, Kelsi, and Martha. 

     Unlike the first High School Musical where the storyline mainly took place inside the walls of Eastside High School, the drama moves outside of the school in High School Musical 2.  The movie begins with the friends sitting in class as their favorite teacher is rambling on with her lesson and they in turn are staring at the clock chanting summer…summer….summer. The bell rings and it’s good bye EastSide High, and hello summer vacation.  They break out into song and each friend has their solo in the spotlight–reminding us all of why we loved the first one: the music!  High School Musical 2 was so well-received partly due to its soundtrack, but it also won the hearts of million of teens because of its characters.  Teens can relate to these characters because they are such a diversified group of kids that hang out together.  You have the jocks and the brains, the musicians, the artists, and even the kid who loves to cook in the kitchen here.  There is someone for everyone to look up to. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that they are all quite good-looking and have their fans’ hearts a-flutter.

     The plotline is as follows:  In an attempt to keep an eye on Troy (and hopefully her arms around him), Sharpay gets “daddy” to hire Troy to work at the family’s country club.  Troy agrees to take the job but he wants to bring all of his East Side friends along too (a fact unkown to Sharpay).  Sahrpay is overjoyed when Troy shows up for work at the club, but her joy is quickly squashed when Gabriella comes jumping into the pool announcing that she is “the new life guard”.  Foiled again, Sharpay begins a whole new line of plotting and sabotage.  While the others are stuck in the kitchen, Troy is quickly advanced into a better position and gets to go to the golf green with Sharpay’s family.  In the process, Sharpay’s dad takes a liking to Troy and lets him know that there are scholarships available for him and Troy feels himself being pulled between Sharpay’s inviting world and Gabriella’s love.  While scholarship opportunities are opening up for Troy, the opportunity to spend time with the gang are falling to the side and his friends begin to question Troy’s loyalty and his heart.  In the end, he must decide if and how he will balance his friends and his future as Sharpay continues to manipulate everyone’s strings.

     Like High School Musical, High School Musical 2 involves another big show; this time it is the country club’s annual talent show.  Sharpay decides Troy should be singing with her rather than the gang and dumps her brother Ryan driving him closer to the Wildcats and out of the overbearing shadow of his sister.  Troy wanting to secure his scholarship is torn as to whom he should perform with:  Sharpay or his friends?  Ryan, in return for his sister’s dumping joins forces with the Wildcats and sets himself up to perform with them.  Viewers, receive the needed satisfaction of seeing spoiled Sharpay get a taste of reality when she ends up having no one to sing with and crying.

     High School Musical 2 ends, of course, with Sharpay humbled, Ryan strengthened, Wildcats and East Side High students friendship still strong, and Gabriella and Troy doing what they do best: Singing together as a couple.

     Millions of teens helped make the first High School Musical a hit, so it is of no surprise that when High School Musical 2 aired on Disney Channel it broke television premiere records.  Teens love the drama, the music, and the stars.  Parents appreciate the fact that although the story is a romance, it doesn’t show teens engaged in any heavy romantic scenes, or teen angst.  It is refreshing to see a nice movie where sex, drugs, drinking and breaking the rules isn’t glorified.  Hopefully the rest of the industry will learn something from both High School Musical and High School Musical 2.  We need more teen-friendly movies.        By, Cheryl Nelson

The first clues that something is not quite right are in the kitchen: shelves full of oatmeal, tomato sauce and honey; a hidden dumb waiter with a nest of tiny, stolen treasures. The three Grace children have heard the stories about the old house their mother has brought them to live in, the old scientist who disappeared, his daughter who ended up in a mental institution, but salt around the window sills? What does it all mean? The first night in the creepy old Victorian gets weirder and weirder. Soon they will find themselves in the battle of their lives, enlisting creatures never even imagined, waging war against even scarier ones, stretching time and imagination.

Based loosely on the series of best-selling books, The Spiderwick Chronicles is full of action and adventure, a fantastical story of family and fairies, love and loss: all the best elements of a children’s story. The scenes are chock full of detail, like illustrations from the best children’s books brought to life. While appropriate to the battle scenes, there is some violence, and the thrill level may be too dark and intense for young children.

Recommended Special Features: It’s A Spiderwick World, a segment with Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi, authors and co-creators of the film, walking the film set and talking about the actual letter they received from children who claim to have lived in the creature-filled house in Maine that inspired the story. This is especially interesting for viewers who plan to read the books. There is also a special field guide that must be enabled prior to watching the film, whereby a when the guidebook icon appears, viewers can be redirected to a page of Arthur Spiderwick’s Field Guide for detailed information about the creature at hand before returning to the story.

Recommended for children ages 8-13. Parents found much of the content particularly disturbing for children under 6.

The Disney animated feature Beauty and the Beast was a phenomenon in the early 90’s. What made it such was because it was the very first animated film feature to have ever earned a Best Picture nomination at the Oscar.  Thus, it has become the benchmark to which every other animated movie (not only by Disney) hopes to follow after.

Beauty and the Beast is the story of a simple provincial girl named Belle who lives with her inventor father. While on one of his trips Belle’s father inadvertently stumbles upon a palace where a beast-like Prince lives. Offended at something her father has done, the Beast takes the old inventor prisoner.  But upon learning of this, Belle bravely faces the Prince to offer herself in exchange for her father’s freedom. Her father thinks this is a big mistake. But living as a prisoner in the Prince’s dreary palace, Belle not only brought color, harmony and life to it. She also eventually taught the Beast with a heart of stone to appreciate life and love.

In terms of visuals, Beauty and the Beast is a well-put together animated classic. Dazzling can’t even begin to describe how wonderful it is. The animated drawings had been considered of finest quality at that time, and maybe even until today. The ballroom scene with the Beast and Belle dancing to a love song for the first time isn’t just straight out of fairy tale book; it’s straight out of a superbly directed movie.  When it came to the effects, Disney surely didn’t scrimp on the budget.

With its brilliant Broadway musical tunes and zany animated characters  voiced by superb talents like Angela Lansbury, Jerry Orbach and David Ogden Stiersit, is easy to see why Beauty and the Beast is hailed as Disney’s best.  Their production numbers defines why Disney is so good at doing this because the singing and dancing were literally show-stoppers.

Beauty and the Beast is the best mix of music, story and movie innovation. It’s the kind of film that’s equally enjoyable to watch with the whole family and kids or just by you, alone.

There are few movies that can truly touch all those who watch it and one of those is The Little Mermaid, which first debuted in 1989.  Although this Disney film is primarily geared toward children, The Little Mermaid is one kids’ film that parents will not mind sitting through.

The star of this animated film, Ariel, is a mermaid who falls in love with a human, Prince Eric.  It is a love so strong that she gives up her ability to sing or speak so that she can become human to be with her love.  She, of course, does not come to this decision lightly, however, and struggles with whether she should make this sacrifice for a man she loves, but has never really met.

The Little Mermaid is more than just a love story, however, as it is filled with humor from Ariel’s friends, Flounder and Sebastian. They provide the comic relief necessary in what is such a powerful story and the characters aid Ariel in making important decisions along the way.

There is also an evil antagonist in the form of sea urchin Ursula.  She is the one who grants Ariel her wish to be human and has her own evil agenda.  To prevent Ursula from succeeding in her evil plot, Ariel has to get a kiss from Prince Eric.

The songs in The Little Mermaid are infectious and memorable.  Among favorites are “Kiss the Girl,” and “Part of Your World.” The beauty of Ariel’s voice in “Part of Your World” contrasts harshly with her lack of a voice later in the film and she is almost like a different person without it.

The story of The Little Mermaid is sweet and beautiful.  It teaches about love, loss, sacrifice, and the meaning of family.  It is a must see in what has become a cynical and difficult world.

Fly Me To The Moon is a new animated family film featuring very impressive 3D effects. The technology of 3D has improved so dramatically over the years, that the images from Fly Me To The Moon seem completely real enough that you may find yourself actually grabbing at objects.

This is definitely a movie that will enterain kids and keep them laughing. The adults accompanying their children may not be so enthralled, but it does make for a fun family outing.

Fly Me To The Moon centers around the plight of  three adolescent flies who, in 1969, live in a dump near Cape Kennedy with their families, including a granddad (Lloyd) who had once stowed away aboard Amelia Earhart’s plane. The three teen flies are looking for a way to impress their families. And as the title of the film implies, the trio of young flies decide that the answer to their quest will be to join the space program and make history.

As the young flies attempt to make history, they must overcome challenes such as fly swatters and even worse, a Russian spy-fly. While parents may stifle some yawns, kids will more than likely be very excited as the 3Daction of Fly Me To The Moon escalates.

There is a great live action cameo of Apollo 11 in the movie which should be enjoyed by kids and parents alike.

Not so much enjoyed by adults but assuredly by the kids, are the burping, somewhat dubious jokes throughout the film, and not -so -cute talking maggots.

The movie features the voices of Philip Bolden, Trevor Gagnon, David Gore, Christopher Lloyd, Adrienne Barbeau, Ed Begley Jr., Tim Curry, Kelly Ripa and Nicollette Sheridan. Directed by Ben Stassen. And according to Director Ben Stassen, nWave’s founder, the movie is the first animated feature to be created and released exclusively for 3-D.

Ratatouille is a charming animated feature that people both young and old will enjoy.

Set in a visually stunning Paris, the movie is worth the scenery alone. Animation fans as well as the general public can appreciate this lighthearted romp from the big city and its many cafes and great restaurants, and to the French countryside where we meet our rat(tatoulle).

Named after an underrated dish involving eggplant, Ratatouille is about a rat named Remy voiced by the charming and talented comedian, Patton Oswalt. Patton does a fantastic job and is a welcome departure from big names who do sub par voices for animated features to supplement their already bulging wallets. His vocal rat stylings make you forget that this is a rat we’re dealing with, not a top-notch stand up comedian. Other notable talent are Peter O’Toole, Lou Romano, James Renmar, and Janeane Garofalo.

Remy the rat has seen better days. Inspired to become a great cook by Chef Gusteau’s tome “Anyone Can Cook”, our rodent protagonist has only one small problem: well, himself. A rat isn’t exactly welcome in most kitchens, especially those commercial operations subjected to regular visits by the health inspector, not to mention food critic Anton Ego (Peter O’Toole).

By befriending a lowly young garbage boy, Linguine (Lou Romano), who is actually the son of the late, great Gusteau, Remy is able to live out his dream of becoming a chef from atop the boy’s head. Giving direction from within his chef hat, our ratty hero has the boy do what he cannot, at least not in public! With help from another chef, Colette (Garofalo) and a motley crew of sous-chefs, Remy and Linguini rise to the top of their game at the restaurant, with all-too-predictable disastrous results. Still, it’s fun to go along for the ride, although this reviewer, for one, could never trap or otherwise hurt a rat after seeing this film!

In his struggles to get around this obstacle, Ratatouille teaches us that it’s not what you do, it’s how well you do it, and who you are is not necessarily what you do. Furthermore, one should not be limited in life by little setbacks, such as being born a rat. Remember that, kids, and stay in school! Now as for any chefs out there aspiring to become rats, well, there may be some minor difficulties…

The Wizard of Oz is a pop culture classic movie. Farm girl, Dorothy (played by Judy Garland) and her beloved dog, Toto, are transported by a twister “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”. To their delight and surprise they find a magical, colorful, enchanted place far from Kansas. A land filled with adorable, welcoming Munchkins and beautiful Glinda, the good witch. She bestows upon Dorothy a pair of special shoes. Dorothy makes some friends, a Scarecrow, Cowardly Lion, and Tin Man. But she also makes an evil enemy, a very Wicked Witch (played by Dorothy Hamilton) who wants her ruby slippers back. The evil witch employs winged, flying monkeys to help her get Dorothy. Despite Dorothy’s escape, song singing, and many adventures with her new friends, she discovers there is “No Place Like Home.”  She sets out on homeward journey leaving Munchkin Land behind. Her travels take her to an Apple Orchard, the Haunted Forest, Witches Castle and Emerald City in hopes of finding the Wizard of OZ. The Wizard should be able to help her go home to Auntie Em or so she thinks. Follow your own Yellow Brick Road to the Wizard of OZ 2 Disc or 3 Disc Collector’s Special Edition. Included in these Collector’s Exclusives are many treasures including Grauman’s Ticket and Invitation, Reproductions of Original MGM Studio Magazine, Grauman’s Opening Night and Souvenir Program, 9 Kodachrome color stills.  The 3 Disc Collector’s Edition includes:  A documentary – L. Frank Baum: The Man Behind the Curtain; Audio commentary by historian John Fricke and multiple cast and crew; Biographies including 9 original cast; Deleted scenes, for example, If I only had a Brain, Over the Rainbow, and The Jitterbug. There are treasures galore here… music clips. music effects and track, newsreel and a photo gallery among many other things. The 2 Disc Special Edition has a lot to offer. Try 10 hours of bonuses, including a new commentary from John Fricke, biographies and a Theatrical Trailer to view. This movie is a spectacular event for the whole family! Watch why it is considered the most viewed and may be the most beloved movie classic of all time!

Some might call Finding Nemo one of the best animated movies in recent times. Released in 2003 by Pixar, the animated feature tells the story of one tiny clown fish that gets taken from his ocean home by a dentist as a gift for his daughter. Taken to Sydney, Australia, the clown fish is put in a tank with others that warn him of what will happen to him once he is given to his new owner, the daughter of the dentist. They have seen more than one die at her hand. It becomes a mission to free tiny Nemo.

On the outside, his father is on his own mission – to find his son. The clown fish Marlin is joined by Dory, another fish, on his search, and together the two travel the same distance Nemo has. In the end, the father and son are reunited and all ends well. This animated film is more than just your everyday cartoon. Containing the voices of some of today’s most popular stars, they use their talents to bring the story of the lost fish to life. Voices include those of Ellen Degeneres and Eric Bana among others.

Following the film release, Finding Nemo did win the honor of Best Animated Film at the Oscars. This film is one that can be enjoyed by all ages from the very young to the very old. It became a favorite of many. For those that wanted to keep the film for their very own, the DVD comes in two versions – a single disc set and a special two disc collector’s edition.  The two disc edition takes you behind the making of the animated feature and it even has some cool features for your television set such as a way to turn your television into an aquarium or the ocean itself. Deleted scenes and character interviews are also included to make this DVD a must own for any fan of the film.