Movies
DVD Review: “Diary of a Wimpy Kid”
Based on the bestselling books by Jeff Kinney, Diary of a Wimpy Kid is a funny film that the entire family can sit down and enjoy. It follows the first year of middle school for young Greg Heffley, as he does his best to become one of the most popular kids in school. His plans backfire and instead of becoming the most popular kid, he becomes one of the least popular students. Director Thor Freudenthal brings the same charm and knack for working with young actors that he brought to last year’s Hotel for Dogs. As with that film, Diary of a Wimpy Kid has a bright, enticing look and is wonderfully paced to keep everyone engaged. There is fine music and some enjoyable moments for the grown-ups, whenever Steve Zahn appears on screen. For all intents and purposes, this is a excellent movie. Well acted, beautifully shot, and it has a great message for kids about staying true to who you are and trying not to worry about the opinion of others. This message is especially important in those formative years that take place in junior high/middle school, which is where Diary of a Wimpy Kid is set.
However, I have problems with its lead character, Greg. To quote my daughter, “he’s a jerk.” There you have it, the hero is a jerk and honestly, he really doesn’t learn any lesson by the end of the movie. Moreover, he’s not even a lovable jerk. That bothered me.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not opposed to heroes in films being jerks. I’ve sat through many feature films where the main character never changes while everyone around the, evolves. Yet, all of those films have been about adults (mostly indie films). For some reason, because this is a film about children, and it’s for children, the effect isn’t the same. Is it because children are impressionable and maybe they’ll watch the movie and think that the lead character’s behavior is okay? That’s part of it. Is it because he shows little to no remorse for his actions? Yep. Making matters worse, Zachary Gordon, the young actor playing Greg, does such an exceptional job in the role that I started to hate him before the movie was over (the character, not the actor).
Who is the favorite character in the movie? It’s not the snarky older girl, Angie (Chloe Moretz) who walks around in a beret, expounds of the dullness of trying to be popular and carries a camera, like some kind of bohemian 7th grader? No, it’s Rowley Jefferson (an adorable Robert Capron), the nerdy, awkward boy who isn’t afraid to express his feelings and proceeds through life as his own person. While watching the film with my kids, I asked them who their favorite character in the movie was. Without hesitation they said it was Rowley. Why? Because he’s the one character that stays true to himself, the one character who tries his best and isn’t afraid to fail, and the one character who is an individual and isn’t trying so hard to fit in with the cool crowd.
Perhaps that was the point Freudenthal and Kinney were going for. I can only assume, yes; but damn it, they did such a good job with this film at making the hero a jerk, that I just couldn’t love the movie as much as I wanted to.
Despite my reservations about Greg, Diary of a Wimpy kid should be checked out, even if it inspires conversations with your kids about Greg’s behavior and why Rowley is so awesome. The Blu-Ray/DVD/Digital Copy of the movie is an excellent deal. Besides the three different formats to play the movie, there are some great bonus features, including diary pages from Rowley (written by Kinney) and deleted scenes.
DVD/CD Review: The Dirty Sock Funtime Band, “Sock-A-Delic”
If you’ve spent any time at all watching the Noggin network (apologies, corporate rebranders, I mean Nick Jr.), you’re familiar with the Dirty Sock Funtime Band, even if you don’t realize it. Like Laurie Berkner, the DSFB pops up in the interstitial music videos that the station runs in lieu of commercials, particularly during episodes of Jack’s Big Music Show — and like Berkner, they’re squarely on the sugary, high-energy end of the kids’ music spectrum.
Now, those of you who have been reading this site for awhile may remember that Laurie Berkner is one of my main musical nemeses — there’s just something about the way she’s always bouncing around with that smile on her face that bugs me — so I’m naturally predisposed to dislike any band that includes a pink-wigged man and a lead singer who looks like a tiny, hyperactive, Jew-froed Steven Tyler. And to be perfectly honest right up front, I sincerely doubt I’d ever watch or listen to the Dirty Sock Funtime Band on my own; for me, listening to this type of music is like eating frosting. A little goes a long, long way. Read the rest of this entry
DVD review: Disney’s “Starstruck- 2 Disc DVD/CD Extended Edition”
Starstruck is the latest Disney Channel movie crafted as a vehicle for one of their television stars, in this case Sterling Knight, one of the cast members from the hit series, Sonny with a Chance. It would be easy to write it off as just another way for the network to get huge ratings, but this Starstruck is actually a lot better than most of the movies the Disney Channel churns out.
Danielle Campbell, a relatively unknown teen actress whose biggest credit is the un-tween friendly Prison Break, stars as Jessica, a Michigan teenager on a family vacation to visit her grandmother in Los Angeles. Her older sister, Sara (Maggie Castle) is obsessed with pop star Christopher Wilde (Knight) and thinks she’ll be able to track him down while in California (only in a Disney movie). Jessica could care less for the world of movie stars and pop musicians, she’d rather go sightseeing and spend some time on the beach, so when Sara drags her along in search of Christopher Wilde, she does so dragging her feet.
Just who is Christopher Wilde? You’d expect him to be some stuck up snob, the kind of character that Knight plays so effectively on Sonny with a Chance. However, Wilde is actually just a lucky kid whose parents are consumed with his career and making decisions without his input. They want him to tour endlessly and possibly take a role in a big movie project that could make the family more money. No one seems to have his best interests in mind, especially not his fame hungry girlfriend (Chelsea Staub). His lone voice of reason and loyalty is his best friend, played by Brandon Mychal Smith (also from Sonny With a Chance).
Like the best romantic comedies that Starstruck is emulating, dating back to the dawn of talking motion pictures, the privileged Christopher Wilde and the uninterested Jessica are destines to meet, fall for each other, get photographed by paparazzi, have a misunderstanding that leads to a fall out and ultimately come back together. It’s like Notting Hill for a much younger crowd, except that Starstruck is actually more enjoyable than Notting Hill.
Campbell is a bright young star that lights up the screen when she’s on camera. If the head honchos at Disney don’t already have more projects with her in the works, they’re idiots. And Knight has a great comic timing and boatloads of charm. As I mentioned earlier, he plays a real jerk on Sonny with a Chance. In this film, he’s funny, serious and heartfelt. Starstuck may follow a formula, but it is well written, has some great performances and promotes strong messages of honesty, humility, self-acceptance and strength of character. Chalk this one up as a winner for girls and families alike.
This being a movie about a pop singer, there are plenty of opportunities for Knight to perform. The kid has a nice voice, as heard on the CD that accompanies this 2-disc DVD and CD set. Other features on the DVD include an extended version of the movie that is only available on DVD, three music videos, plus eight “rock along” tracks that give girls (and boys) the opportunity to sing along with the stars.
Blu-Ray review: Jackie Chan in “The Spy Next Door”
There’s an old adage attributed to W.C. Fields that goes, “Never work with children or animals.” To that I would add Chinese actors who have difficulty with English. While Chan has the charm of any gifted comedian, he can’t act in English at all. Add to the mix a bunch of kid actors perform like they’re being coached off screen, plus the thespian talents of Billy Ray Cyrus, and you have an idea of the quality acting in this movie. If you can get past that, as most children, ages 7-12 can, then you can appreciate The Spy Next Door for its charms.
First of all, the story is sweet. Jackie Chan plays Bob, a superspy living in the suburbs, next door to single mom, Gillian (Amber Valletta) and her three young kids: Farren (Madeline Carroll), the snarky teenager, Ian (Will Shadley), the nerdy, socially awkward son, and Nora (Alina Foley), the precocious little daughter. When the film opens, Bob and Gillian have been dating and he wants to take the next step in their relationship. He has decided to retire from espionage and would like to propose. The only problem is that he’s never bonded with the kids, and frankly, they think Bob is the biggest dork they’ve ever met (a guise he assumes part to keep his identity incognito from the rest of the world). Gillian is reluctant to commit until the kids accept Bob. As the movie gods would have it, she is called away for a family emergency; Bob volunteers to watch the children.
Meanwhile, Poldark, a nefarious Russian spy (played by Lazytown star, Magnus Scheving) has escaped from custody and Bob’s old CIA buddies (Cyrus and George Lopez) call him back in for one final mission. As you would expect, the secret agenting and the babysitting worlds collide, leading to a disastrous breakup with Gillian and everyone’s life in danger. This being a family movie, no one’s life is ever really in danger. The villains are too buffoonish to do any harm, and Bob is just too smart to let them get away with anything.
The Spy Next Door bears some similarity to The Pacifier, that Vin Diesel hit film from several years back. Jackie Chan is a champ throughout this film and keeps the energy of everything up. Likewise, director Brian Levant keeps the pace moving, leaving very little room for the dull moments that kill these kinds of movies. Unfortunately, and I mentioned this above, the acting sometimes borders on painful. The kids. The fake Russian accents. Jackie Chan and Billy Ray Cyrus.
I know, I know, “it’s a family film! Give it a break!” I have given it a break, the first time I watched it. But the 6th and 7th time my children popped in the DVD I had to exit the room. This just means that I’m definitely not the real audience for this movie. Once is enough for grown ups, but kids will love it time and a gain. The reason is Chan’s personality. His talents as an action hero and a physical comedian make watching him a joy, especially for kids, who like to see bad guys get what’s coming to them. Your children will love The Spy Next Door, and it’s a safe family movie that should you walk away for a couple of minutes… or the entire movie, you won’t have anything to worry about.
Extras for this Blue-Ray/DVD combo set are minimal. Worth checking out is the featurette, “Jackie Chan: Stunt Master and Mentor – Working with the King of Action”. It’s a loving tribute to the star and shows what kind of a professional he is on set/ Chan comes across as one of the real good guys in Hollywood and his cast and crew genuinely seem to worship him.
DVD reviews: “Iron Man: The Complete Animated Series” and “X-Men, Volume 5″
Just in time for the release of Iron Man 2, Buena Vista has put out Iron Man: The Complete Animated Series on DVD. The cartoon ran during the mid-90’s, back when Marvel was churning out their properties for syndication. Unlike their massively successful Spider Man and X-Men animated series (both of which were innovative in their own way), Iron Man struggled in the ratings and only lasted two complete seasons. The inherent problem with Iron Man was that he was not a household name to most kids; he wasn’t as tortured as the X-Men and he wasn’t as fun as Spidey. It gets kind of boring when a millionaire can just whip up another costume to battle super villains, much like Tony Stark was able to do.
Of course, this series aired long before the hit film, Iron Man, and it’s blockbuster sequel. Thanks to the popularity of those two live action movies, we comic book geeks and youngsters now have the opportunity to watch Iron Man, War Machine and the cadre of characters that occupy his universe have at it in this old cartoon. Problem is, just like most of Marvel’s animated ventures back in the 90’s, the final product isn’t that great.
Sure, the stories are decent and the voice acting is overall good, but the animation is clunky and subpar. The armored suits are bulky and the character animation is not smooth at all. You can’t blame this on the era, as this was also the time of the excellent Batman: The Animated Series, as well as Tiny Toons and Pinky and the Brain. Moreover, Nickelodeon had begun creating some wonderful animated series. The only reason for the animation in this series looks bad is cheapness. I’m sorry to be critical, especially for a cartoon intended for young kids, but there is no other reason for it. When something looks this weak, I tend to get cynical and think that the only reason for this cartoon was the merchandising opportunities.
Nevertheless, there are some exciting adventures and my son certainly lit up when we sat down to watch the show together. However, he was much more attentive than I was, so that will tell you may get out of Iron Man: The Complete Animated Series when you choose to view it.
At the same time Marvel was churning out Iron Man cartoons, they were still in the X-Men business, and Buena Vista has also released the final volume of episodes from their popular animated, 
X-Men, show from the early 90’s. Volume 5 of the is for die-hards (i.e. those who own volumes 1-4) and young kids only. Picking up where Volume 4 left off, there is an obvious dip in the production value of these final episodes. While most of the voice actors remain the same, the animation company used was obviously different and some of the characters are so off model that they do not look at all like the same characters from the previous DVD’s/seasons. Think I’m being judgmental? It was my eight year old son who pointed out the differences to me. I can only imagine that Marvel was trying to cut costs by switching to a cheaper overseas animation company. What a shame. Instead of finishing out the show on a high note, the company delivered quality junk.
This is not Buena Vista’s fault, mind you, as the company had nothing to do with the production of this show. They bought it a few years ago and have been airing it on their channels. If Disney had been involved I know that the series would have looked excellent. If you can look past the bad animation there are some powerful stories in these episodes. With X-Men you always get an excellent message of tolerance, especially when the character Nightcrawler is involved. Although not a regular, he does appear in one well written episode about the search for his birth mother, Mystique. Mystique is a blue skinned shape shifter who abandoned Nightcrawler (himself blue, with the appearance of the devil) as an infant. Later in life, Mystique raised the X-Man, Rogue, as her own. Thus, Nightcrawler and Rogue are almost adopted siblings. The two heroes go on a mission to find her and when Nightcrawler confronts Mystique, the scenes are poignant and full of hope.
Elsewhere on the DVD set you get more of the same humans hunting down mutants plots, plus an appearance by Captain America! It’s nothing new, but it will still excite youngsters who have worn out the previous four volumes. As a parent, though, you will most likely leave the room, even if you are the most ardent fanboy.
With the release of these two DVD collections (and hopefully a deluxe Spider Man: the Animated Series package in the works) I hope that Disney is trying to whet the appetites of comic fans and kids in anticipation of some future, better cartoon series featuring the Marvel characters they now own.
DVD review: “Tooth Fairy”
Dwayne Johnson has certainly muscled out an acting career for himself, hasn’t he? Pro wrestling notwithstanding, the man formerly known as “The Rock” has been an action hero, he has shown excellent comedic chops, and now he’s nudging his way into the family film market. You know what? He’s doing a good job. The material he’s given isn’t always the greatest, but Johnson on screen is likable and isn’t afraid to make a fool of himself if it means bettering the movie. Moreover, he genuinely seems to be having a good time whenever he’s on camera. What this does is help the audience have a good time with him. Such is the case with his newest DVD, Tooth Fairy, a fantasy film from Walden Media and 20th Century Fox that’s more than entertaining, even if it hits most of the same notes of every family film out there.
Johnson plays Derek Thompson, a minor league hockey player past his prime. Instead of being a force on the ice, he’s just an enforcer, sent into games to knock out opposing players. He’s earned the nickname “The Tooth Fairy” thanks to his habit of hitting his opponents so hard they end up missing teeth. Derek eats up the attention, even though he’s seen more as a novelty than an integral part of the hockey team. This point is driven home when a hotshot young player arrives and Derek is relegated to protecting the kid on the ice so he doesn’t get hurt. The tooth fairy is now the babysitter
Thanks to Johnson’s natural charm as a performer, Derek comes across as good-natured, even though he’s pretty cynical. For example, when kids tell him they want to grow up to play hockey be just like him, Derek doesn’t encourage them. Instead, he tells them the long odds they’re against and that they should choose something else to do with their lives. Someone who is able to look past his faults is Carly, a single mom that he’s been dating. Ashley Judd, who once starred in movies but now seems relegated to supporting roles, plays Carly. She brings a lot of warmth and definitely the right amount of strength and believability to her part. Carly has two children, six year old Tess (Destiny Whitlock) and teenager, Randy (Chase Ellison), a shy boy who has channeled his feelings into becoming an excellent guitar player. Read the rest of this entry
DVD Reviews: Scholastic Storybook Treasures
The ever-expanding Scholastic Storybook Treasures library just got even bigger, with the three latest DVDs — Giggle, Giggle, Quack, Runaway Ralph, and He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands — adding 14 stories and roughly three and a half hours to the already formidable stack of books that have been given the “read-along DVD” treatment.
If that sentence made you feel a little funny, you’re not alone. Given that some kids already need quite a bit of encouragement to read instead of watch TV, and given that many of the DVD segments in the series don’t do much besides add voiceovers and karaoke-style text overlays to still art from the books, it can be hard not to wonder just what purpose they really serve, other than helping exceptionally lazy parents avoid reading to their children.
Maybe that’s just cynicism, though. As parents, we’re so used to being inundated with pitches for more crap, and so accustomed to being disappointed by people who are supposed to have our children’s best interests at heart, that something like the Scholastic Storybook Treasures series can seem like a dirty trick even when it isn’t. There’s definitely something a little off-putting about a book publisher porting children’s titles to DVD, but that doesn’t really take away from the fact that these are wonderful books, and if you’re the type of parent who doesn’t see anything wrong with television in moderation, then having the option of letting your kids watch literature instead of Cartoon Network is fairly appealing. Read the rest of this entry
DVD Review: “The Great Mouse Detective: Mystery in the Mist Edition”
The resurgence of Walt Disney Animation is usually traced (get it?) back to The Little Mermaid, but as with most pop history, that’s not 100 percent accurate — though its efforts weren’t necessarily rewarded at the box office, the studio started its uphill climb years before Ariel longed to be part of our world. Case in point: 1986′s The Great Mouse Detective, which used a nifty voice cast and some early CGI/hand-drawn hybrid work to bring the Sherlock Holmes classics to kids.
Adapted from Eve Titus and Paul Galdone’s Basil of Baker Street books, The Great Mouse Detective uses a neat conceit — a sleuthing mouse named Basil who happens to share an address with Sherlock Holmes — to take advantage of the Holmes mythos without turning human characters into talking animals, a la Disney’s Robin Hood. (In a neat touch, cinema’s most famous Sherlock, Basil Rathbone, voices Holmes here, via some cobbled-together audio from an earlier film.) Detective isn’t a mystery in the traditional sense, given that the audience knows pretty much right away who the bad guy is — but that’s a forgivable sin, since the villain in question is voiced by a perfectly ominous Vincent Price. Nothing against Broadway vet Barrie Ingham, who plays Basil, but this is really Price’s show; it’s a shame there weren’t any sequels, because he could have turned the dastardly Ratigan into one of Disney’s top-tier villains. Read the rest of this entry
DVD Review: “Bert & Ernie’s Great Adventures”
I was born in 1974, and my youngest sibling was born in 1985, which means my Sesame Street viewing was at its peak during what I’ll refer to (totally subjectively and sort of crankily) as the golden age of PBS kids’ programming, and fell off sharply around 1983 or so, when Telly Monster was completing his transition from the googly-eyed Television Monster into the annoying worrywart he is today. I didn’t watch another episode until a few years ago, when I decided to introduce my daughter to the joys of playing where everything’s A-OK and the air is clean, only to discover that the sleepy urban burg I remembered from my youth had been taken over by characters I didn’t recognize. Who cares about Baby Bear? Who’s that little fuzzball speaking Spanish all the time? Why so much Elmo? What happened to Bob, Linda, Gordon, Susan, and David? (Okay, probably best not to ask that last question.)
The point is, I’m one of those people that miss the old Sesame Street, when it felt like a real TV neighborhood, with more of a balance between adorable Muppets and kindly humans — and when it all didn’t feel so…I don’t know, clean. So I’m sort of ambivalent about Bert & Ernie’s Great Adventures — I feel like I should be distrustful of a DVD that sends Claymation versions of Sesame Street’s most famous roommates on fantastical escapades, but on the other hand, I miss those guys, and anything that raises their profile over at the Elmo-obsessed Children’s Television Workshop is all right in my book. Read the rest of this entry
DVD review: “Madeline: Lost in Paris”
Here’s a delightful film I’ve been aware of ever since it was released back in 2001. Back when my daughter was 3 and 4, she watched our VHS copy of Madeline: Lost in Paris so many times the tape began to wear out. Eventually she moved on to other things and the tape was placed in a box, in the garage, where the videotape is probably brittle and worthless by now. No worries, though, because Shout! Factory has just released this splendid animated feature on DVD.
Madeline: Lost In Paris a sweet, innocent film that parents and kids can sit through together. It features Christopher Plummer’s warm voice as the narrator, Jason Alexander as the male villain, Horst, and Lauren Bacall and the villainess, Madame Lacroque. The plot is something right out of a turn of the century adventure story. Madeline, the spunky orphan girl who lives in a big house with eleven other girls and Miss Clavel, their teacher, receives a letter from a man claiming to be her long lost Uncle Horst. He comes to Paris to whisk her away with him to attend finishing school in Vienna. Although saddened to be leaving her friends and Miss Clavel, Madeline is very excited to have a family. Madeline and her loyal dog, Genevieve, go away with Uncle Horst.
All is not what it seems, though, and Madeline learns this right away when Uncle Horst leaves Genevieve to fend for herself in the Paris train station and Madeline is kidnapped! Uncle Horst is not her uncle at all. He’s a scoundrel who takes orphans to work in forced labor creating delicate lace collars under the strict supervision of Madame Lacroque.
WOW! If you went by that description alone, you’d be horrified about this film. However, like any Dickens novel (which always seemed to have kids in peril), Madeline: Lost in Paris uses a light touch to keep the horrific conditions and the scary situation not so horrific and not so scary. Moreover, Madeline is such a brave little girl you don’t believe for one second that she’s going to remain trapped, nor will she allow her new friends, all of the other kidnapped children, to stay under the cruel care of Madame Lacroque.
Meanwhile, Genevieve returns to the school, signaling to Miss Clavel and the other girls that Madeline is in trouble. Immediately Miss Clavel goes to the police. At the same time the little girls and their next-door neighbor, Pepito, set off to save Madeline. Again, a light touch is used and you never get the sense that any of these kids are ever truly in danger.
The film moves briskly and is full of vibrant colors. Seeing a digital copy of the movie for the first time really made me realize how awful our VHS version was back in the day. It’s also wonderful to see a hand drawn animated film that doesn’t appear so cookie cutter like most of the shows you see on television. The backgrounds are all painted to look like watercolors and the character animation is quite fluid. The filmmakers really captured the feeling of the drawings from the original Madeline books. All of the actors are excellent.
It had been at least seven years since I last saw Madeline: Lost in Paris and I was curious how my daughter would react when she watched it with me. It was wonderful to sit down with her again, and with my younger son, and relive some old memories. Although she seems to have outgrown the age group of this movie, she still enjoyed it after all of these years. Madeline: Lost in Paris is a gentle and kind film that fits in nicely with all of the other movies you may own that have been produced by Disney, DreamWorks, Pixar or Nickelodeon. I highly recommend it for little girls (and boys) and I’m very glad it’s found a home on DVD through those good folks at Shout! Factory. Although there are no bonus features, the movie is reason enough to make this purchase.
