Thankfully Prep & Landing is neither one of those.

Though it originally aired in 2009, it’s the exception to the rule. Entertaining for both kids and parents, I liked it when it first aired and my daughter has loved watching it ever since the DVD arrived. It’s a cute and clever addition to television’s holiday arsenal.

The story revolves around Wayne (Dave Foley from Kids in the Hall, Newsradio) and his colleague Lanny (Derek Richardson) as they prepare houses for Santa’s arrival. Unfortunately things turn bleak and the duo face Christmas being canceled. Thankfully through some good old-fashioned teamwork, Wayne and company are able to save Christmas.

In addition to my daughter loving it, Prep & Landing also won an Emmy® Award in 2010 for Outstanding Animated Program, an Annie Award in 2010 for Best Animated Television Production plus a Visual Effects Society Award in 2010 for Outstanding Visual Effects in a Broadcast Miniseries, Movie or a Special.

As good timing would have it, a brand new Prep & Landing: Naughty vs. Nice, will air on ABC tonight, Dec. 5 at 8:30 p.m. (7:30 p.m. central).

Bonus material on this DVD includes a short with Betty White as the voice of Mrs Claus. There are also bonus “training videos” the elves have to watch. Every single parent who has ever had to sit through one of those videos will greatly enjoy them.

Details:
Release Format:1-Disc DVD
Feature Run Time:  22-minutes
Rated: TV-G (bonus material not yet rated)
Presentation: 16×9 Widescreen
Audio & Languages: English 5.1 Dolby Digital, French Canadian 5.1 Dolby Digital, Latin Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital
Subtitles:  French & Spanish

And they’re wonderful. The three-disc set of video storybooks (available Nov. 22) is a great wind-down tool for a holiday-crazed little one. It includes 20 stories, most based on Caldecott-honored children’s books. Named for 19^th century illustrator and children’s publishing innovator Randolph Caldecott, they wouldn’t be here if the images weren’t child-beloved and visually stimulating. None live up to the honor more so than “The Snowy Day,” probably the most famous and treasured picture book ever. Scholastic captured Keats’ book in that it’s just as gentle, beautiful, and quiet as the book, or a real snowy day.

“Snowy Day” leads off a whole disc of Keats stories, which also includes “Whistle for Willie” and “Pet Show.” The second disc is all animal stories, including “In the Small, Small Pond,” and the wonderful cap-thieving monkeys of Esphyr Slobodkina’s “Caps for Sale.” The third disc: all duck stories. Special features: Spanish versions of a lot of the stories, and open-captioning, or as its encouragingly called, a “read-along” option. It’s three and a half hours of classic, innocent, warm toddler books, video versions of a great early library.

Either your kids will recognize and enjoy these video versions because they know the books, or the videos will make them want to read the books, which you probably have already. Or you should have already. Why don’t you own “Snowy Day” or “Caps for Sale”?

Focus Features

Remember the good old days, when family films blasted kids with subliminal messages about fitting in, following orders, and shooting your rabies-afflicted dog? Now it’s all about staying true to yourself and having the strength to go against societal norms, man, which is probably why my son’s room is always a mess. I mean, have you ever seen that blabbermouth Moose A. Moose do a chore? No. I BLAME YOU, NICK JR.

Anyway, the folks who brought us the awesomely creepy Coraline are back with ParaNorman (tagline: “You don’t become a hero by being normal”), starring Kodi Smit-McPhee (The Road) as a boy who talks to dead people. It’s a skill that comes in handy when — gulp! — zombies attack his town. Yeah, it sounds awfully trendy, but just take a look, and count down the days until August 2012:

We’ve all earned the right to be skeptical anytime Hollywood decides to adapt one of Dr. Seuss’ books (curse you to an eternal grave of flaming rabbit turds, Tim Allen), but based on this new full-length trailer for The Lorax, it looks like we might actually have some Seussical entertainment to look forward to next year. (Even though — gasp! — they gave the Once-ler a face). Check it out below:

Walt Disney Studios

We love us some Studio Ghibli around here, and we’ve been waiting with bated breath for their latest offering, The Secret World of Arrietty, to make it to these shores. For awhile, it seemed like Disney was going to pass on an American release for Arrietty, leaving fans to import UK Blu-rays, but they’ve come to their senses: it’ll arrive in a theater near you on February 17, 2012.

Studio Synopsis:

Residing quietly beneath the floorboards are little people who live undetected in a secret world to be discovered, where the smallest may stand tallest of all. From the legendary Studio Ghibli (Spirited Away, Ponyo) comes The Secret World of Arrietty, an animated adventure based on Mary Norton’s acclaimed children’s book series The Borrowers.

Arrietty (voice of Bridgit Mendler), a tiny, but tenacious 14-year-old, lives with her parents (voices of Will Arnett and Amy Poehler) in the recesses of a suburban garden home, unbeknownst to the homeowner and her housekeeper (voice of Carol Burnett). Like all little people, Arrietty (AIR-ee-ett-ee) remains hidden from view, except during occasional covert ventures beyond the floorboards to “borrow” scrap supplies like sugar cubes from her human hosts. But when 12-year-old Shawn (voice of David Henrie), a human boy who comes to stay in the home, discovers his mysterious housemate one evening, a secret friendship blossoms. If discovered, their relationship could drive Arrietty’s family from the home and straight into danger. The English language version of The Secret World of Arrietty was executive produced by Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall, and directed by Gary Rydstrom.

Studio Synopsis:

Hugh Grant, starring in his first animated role, is the luxuriantly bearded Pirate Captain – a boundlessly enthusiastic, if somewhat less-than-successful, terror of the High Seas. With a rag-tag crew at his side (Martin Freeman, Brendan Gleeson, Russell Tovey, and Ashley Jensen), and seemingly blind to the impossible odds stacked against him, the Captain has one dream: to beat his bitter rivals Black Bellamy (Jeremy Piven) and Cutlass Liz (Salma Hayek) to the much coveted Pirate Of The Year Award. It’s a quest that takes our heroes from the shores of exotic Blood Island to the foggy streets of Victorian London. Along the way they battle a diabolical queen (Imelda Staunton) and team up with a haplessly smitten young scientist (David Tennant), but never lose sight of what a pirate loves best: adventure!

1. This movie is nothing like The Lizzie McGuire Movie. The film ads for Monte Carlo gave the impression that this is strictly a film about a small town American girl in Europe who looks like a rich heiress and they switch identities, essentially the plot of the Hillary Duff Lizzie movie from 2003. Instead, Selena Gomez’s Grace is small town girl who wants nothing to do with assuming the identity of the bitchy heiress she’s a doppelganger for. She gets roped into the shenanigans by her best friend. Additionally, Grace only continues the charade when she realizes that the heiress is in Monte Carlo to help promote the opening of a school for underprivileged children. Sure, identity theft is a pretty serious offense, but since it’s for a worthy cause, the adults let it slide.

2. Selena Gomez is actually a pretty good actress given the right material. This is the second film of hers I’ve watched in which she’s been out of the shadow of Disney. Her acting on the hit sitcom, Wizards of Waverly Place, can get pretty grating and Gomez’s character is selfish and mean. In Monte Carlo, the young actress is allowed to play naïve and nice, for a change, and she holds her own against more established actors like co-stars, Leighton Meester and Katie Cassidy.

3. Hey, this movie isn’t just about Gomez’s character. Meester and Cassidy share the same amount of screen time and follow their own story arcs over the course of the film. Unfortunately, you wouldn’t know this from the film’s marketing campaign when it was released in theaters. Instead of promoting this as a romantic comedy about three young women on a trip to Europe, it was aimed squarely at the young Disney crowd. A shame because Meester and Cassidy are two winning actresses and their time on screen is quite appealing. Which leads me to….

4. Leighton Meester is very, very charming and should be given more opportunities to play in romantic comedies. I’m afraid that her role on Gossip Girl may get her pegged as a certain type of character actress. In Monte Carlo, Meester provides a lot of the emotional growth you expect from a character in a movie. Her character, Meg, goes from uptight college student with some emotional issues, to someone you fall in love with by the film’s conclusion.

5. Did you know that Cory Monteith (Glee) is in this film? Neither did I! The guy only stars on one of the most successful pop culture phenomena in the past ten years and he was no where to be found in the TV ads! And this isn’t a case of the young man popping up in a cameo early in the film. Monteith’s Owen plays an integral role in the entire plot involving Cassidy’s Emma. Monteith is sturdy in his performance and makes a cute companion to Cassidy.

6. Andie McDowell still acts. Alright, that last one was a little snarky. I was surprised to see the once leading actress relegated to the “mom” role. She’s such a fine actress, adding much more depth to her few scenes than was probably on the page. I wish she did more acting. Oh wait, she’s in Footloose, isn’t she, playing… the mom. Somebody please write her an intelligent, mature romantic comedy right away.

To wrap this up, Monte Carlo is a safe, fun movie that you can watch with your daughter, whether she’s twelve or fifteen. For me, a dad who’s seeing some of his father/daughter time diminishing as she gets older and her interests don’t include her dad, it was nice that we got to bond over this movie. It’s even nicer that Monte Carlo is delightful and provided enough laughs and emotional moments to occupy an hour and a half.

By the way, I said that I’d get a quote from my daughter for this review. All I could get out of her was, “I liked it. I’d watch that again.” I guess that’s all you need to know.

Walt Disney Studios

As parents, we all love to complain about the way children’s entertainment has gathered speed and volume over the last few decades, getting louder, dumber, and brighter until SpongeBob seems sedate. We bemoan pervasive merchandising, we yearn for the sweet simplicity of the characters we loved when we were young, and we groan every time someone rolls out a direct-to-video sequel in order to sell a few more toys.

But then what do we do when a studio actually gives us what we want? Disney found out the hard way over the summer when the very sweet, very simple, and decidedly retro Winnie the Pooh trundled into theaters and petered out after grossing a measly $33 million. Meanwhile, the toy factory-as-film Cars 2 made more than that in a single weekend on its way to a $551 million worldwide gross.

Parents, you do not want what you say you want.

But you can repent for your sins now, because Winnie the Pooh is here on glorious DVD and Blu-ray, with beautiful hand-drawn art, a storyline straight from Pooh creator A.A. Milne, and a perfectly kid-sized 63-minute running time. Unless your head is stuffed with fluff, you’ll get it now.

I love it, my children love it, and you will too. Plus, at $29.99 for the deluxe Blu-ray/DVD/digital disc combo pack, it’s also an excellent value. When was the last time you took a trip to the Hundred Acre Woods? Isn’t it time you headed back?

Judy Moody and the NOT Bummer Summer

Young Jordana Beatty takes on the lead role of Judy Moody, and the girl has the right combination of spunk and charisma to carry the whole movie. In the film, it’s the summer after third grade and Judy has great plans for two months of thrills and excitement. She gathers her best friends to lay out her plans, but learns that two of them, Rocky (Garret Strong) and Jessica (Ashley Boettcher) will be gone for the entire season. Rocky is attending circus camp and Jessica will be out of the country with her mom. That leaves Judy to try and figure out an adventure for her and the last of their foursome, Frank (Preston Bailey). She’s not happy. Frank is probably the least exciting of the four and truth be told, it’s kind of obvious that Judy has a crush on Rocky.

Making matters worse, Judy’s parents have to leave town suddenly and her Aunt Opal (Heather Graham), a spacey “artist,” will be taking care her and her little brother, the ever popular Stink (Paris Mosteller). After this quick set up, the movie falls into an episodic pace, with Judy and Frank trying to come up with “thrill points,” i.e. exciting stunts, that will rival the things Rocky and Jessica are doing on their trips. Most of the thrill points backfire (the roller coaster one is particularly gross), leaving Judy to finally take Frank seriously when he talks about searching for Bigfoot. Judy, Frank, Stink and Aunt Opal spend the last half hour speeding around in search of the elusive Yeti.

While not on par with some other family movies available, Judy Moody and the NOT Bummer Summer is still an easy watch, especially if you have children under the age of 10. They’ll be entertained, for sure, and laugh each time Stink opens his mouth. The film was directed with a sure hand by John Schultz, who also helmed the likable Aliens in the Attic. Graham provides stability as the primary adult in the movie and all of the kid actors are quite good. But really, the only performance that matters is Beatty’s. As she has to live up to the imaginations of children who adore the Judy Moody books, she does a great job and really makes the movie fun to watch.

The DVD release comes with the following bonus features: Join The Toad-Pee Club, Flippin’ Out With The Cast, Camryn’s “WAIT AND SEE” Music Video, 10 Things You Need To Know About Judy Moody, Judy Moody’s Guide To Making A Movie, Deleted Scenes and the Theatrical Trailer.

The first film adaptation of the beloved children’s book series, JUDY MOODY AND THE NOT BUMMER SUMMER, by Megan McDonald with illustrations by Peter H. Reynolds, is a delightfully, laugh-out-loud hilarious treat for adventure-loving kids, tweens and adults. The film stars newcomer Jordana Beatty (Superman Returns)  as Judy Moody along with Heather Graham (The Hangover), Jaleel White (Psych,Family Matters), Preston Bailey (Dexter) and Parris Mosteller (Worst Week).  John Schultz (Aliens in the Attic) directs from a screenplay by Megan McDonald and Kathy Waugh (Big and Small).

In celebration of the October 11th release of Judy Moody and the Not Bummer Summer, Dadnabbit has 2 DVD’s of the movie available for giveaway. In addition, we have some really neat crafts ideas that you can do with you children. Read to the bottom to find out how you can win!

Judy Moody and her cool Aunt Opal have fun making art from garbage. You too can make cool things from common items you find around your house! If you want to be crafty like Judy and Opal, here is a list of some fun, easy things you can create from items found in your kitchen.

MACARONI JEWLERY

Making jewelry from macaroni is both fun and easy! All you need is some rubbing alcohol, food dye, dry macaroni, some bowls to mix in, and string. Once you’ve mixed the rubbing alcohol and food dye to the color you like, drop the macaroni in and let it soak until you like the hue. Take the macaroni out of the dye, and let it dry, then use yarn or string to make necklaces, bracelets, crowns, and more!

PAINTED TOAST

PLAYDOUGH

Some people might find toast a little dry, but this activity will surely remedy that! All you need is a little milk, some food coloring, a new paintbrush, white bread, and a toaster. Mix a few drops of food coloring with the milk, then use the paintbrush to paint whatever you want (animals, friends, designs, etc.) on the bread. Then simply put the bread in the toaster, and toast it! It’s safe to eat, so you can use it for a sandwich, butter it, or even make colorful French toast!

Everyone remembers Play-doh from when they were a kid, and now you can make your own non-toxic playdough at home! You need flour, warm water, salt, vegetable oil, cream of tartar and food coloring. You can add scented oils if you’d like, to make the different colors smell like different things. All you do is mix all of the ingredients together in a pot over low heat until the mixture thickens and pulls away from the sides of the pot. Let the playdough cool until it is cold enough to handle, and then enjoy playing with it!

HOMEMADE BUBBLES

Making your own bubble solution and wands is fun for kids of any age. All you need is dishwashing liquid, glycerin, and water. Gently mix the dishwasing liqud, glycerin and water together, then, use common household items (like funnels, fly swatters and cookie cutters) to blow bubbles. This simple recipe can provide hours of fun!

KOOL-AID FINGER PAINTS

Finger painting is so much fun, but sometimes finding safe paints for your kids to use is hard. The simple solution? Make your own! Mix flour, Kool-Aid, salt, boiling water and oil together. Then all you have to do is let the mixture cool until it’s safe to finger paint with!

Awesome stuff, huh? Interested in winning a copy? Great, all you have to do is email your name and address to me (Malchus@popdose.com). Two names will be drawn by the 14th and notified. Winners must live in the United States or Canada. Good luck!!