At Theaters: ***Wonder Park (2019)

Wonder Park (2019)  I was in the theater with all the fathers and their small children.  I may have outdone myself.  The story was fun though—a girl’s imagination coms to life, and when she starts to brood because her mother is sick, then darkness enters the Wonder Park world.  Again the evil minions are a bit much—as these movies seem to do.  However when the light shines they repent pretty fast.  This movie provides a creative look at fantasy and your stuffed toys. 

In Theaters: ***^Lego Movie 2: The Second Part (2019)

Lego Movie 2: The Sequel  When siblings have spats the consequences can create a ripple effect.  That is what happens here, and everything is not awesome all of the time.  They take off from the “Everything is awesome” song with this added lyrics:

Everything's not awesome
But that doesn't mean that it's hopeless and bleak
Everything's not awesome
But in my heart, I believe (I believe)

[Bridge]
We can make things better if we stick together (If we stick together)
Side by side, you and I, we will build it together (Yeah, we'll be together)
Build it together (Together forever)
All together now

Chris Pratt and Elizabeth Banks voice the main characters. 

In Theaters: ***^How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (2019)

How to Train Your Dragon:   This movie concludes the three part series.  In this movie the goal is to find a place where the dragons can live in peace without humans chasing them and trying to enslave them.  In the process Hiccup (Jay Baruchel) becomes more king like, and his girlfriend, Astrid (America Ferrera)  at the same time becomes more queen like. 

In Theaters: *****Captain Marvel (2019)

Captain Marvel (2019) We left the theater and Tony announced this was his favorite movie ever.  I wouldn’t go that high, but it does put a new twist on the Avenger series.  Her is an Avenger before the Avengers.  Captain Marvel (Brie Larsen) is a human, who was taken to space and her memory distorted.  However she returns, chasing who she thinks are the bad people, some shapeshifter aliens.  However she discovers that what she believed is not so.  This makes for an interesting twist.  In they end, she serves those she hunted.  Captain Marvel has special powers from absorbing the blast of a light speed engine which was made with a special stone.  The alien race that kidnaps her tries to tell her these powers have been granted by them.  But as will happen the truth wins out.
Nick Fury assists her (Samuel Jackson) and from this the idea of Avengers is born. 

Marvel Universe

In Theaters: ***The Kid Who Would Be King (2019)

**^The Kid Who Would Be King (2019)  Most of this movie was pretty likable; but nothing to write home about.  In other words, pretty mediocreThis is a child centered, middle school age, movie with a school defending the world against evil demons from the King Arthur era, who are coming back due to general apathy in the world.  This movie has not been very well received but it is passable.  The strange thing about it are weird hand motions Merlin makes which helps him perform magic.  Morgana (Rebecca Ferguson) is the evil witch, dragon, and is perhaps over the top as well.  She lives in the roots, and uses plants and roots to spy and trap people.  Classic battle, demons versus students at the end.  Patrick Stewart portrays the adult Merlin. 

Movie Review: ***Gnome Alone (2017)

Now available through Instant Netflix
This again is a story about true friendship.  Chloë (Becky G.) moves to her a new neighborhood with her mother.  They move frequently.  Chloë's new neighbor introduces himself, Liam (Josh Peck) but he is a bit nerdy.  Instead she wants to become friends with the popular crowd, and actually loans a sparkly gem she found in her attic.  Turns out this is important to the gnome inhabitants who are defending the home against aliens from another realm.  The stone keeps them away.  In this case the gnomes are the good guys, defending earth against the every hungry aliens.  Chloë's friend goes ahead a loses the gem, and Chloë can't get it back.   Liam is sucked into the other world, and Chloë goes to bring him back.  Sometimes friendship is more important than popularity.
This really has a strange plot, but the friendship stuff is nice and well presented.  I watched this with the grandkids.

Movie Review: **^Goosebumps II, Haunted Halloween (2018)

This is the sequel which is appropriately named "Haunted Halloween" because everything Halloween is haunted and comes to life.  But before we get there, Sarah (Madison Iseman) is in charge of her brother for the weekend.  Her brother, Sonny (Jeremy Ray Taylor) and his friend, Sam (Caleel Harris) have started a rummage company.  The get their first job and inadvertently open an R.L. Stine (Jack Black) book releasing the mannequin, Slappy.  Slappy insists on being part of a family with a Mommy (Wendi McClendon-Covey) a and siblings, all of the Halloween characters.  The unleashing of the monsters is terrible.  This movie gets distorted by too many monsters going every which way.  In the end it is credited to a weather anomaly, but pretty gruesome until they can get them all back in the book, and finish the story of one of Stine's first manuscripts.

Movie Review: ***Goosebumps (2015)

This is a classic retellng of R. L. Stines's (Jack Black) Goodebumps stories with the monsters coming to life and preying on a town.  This is after Slappy, a mannequin is set loose and he then lets all the other monsters lose.  Zach (Dylan Minnette) a neighbor and Hannah (Odeya Rush) Stine's daughter, help in recapturing all the monsters.  They can only do this by typing a new story, on the original typewriter, which happens to be at a school where there is a prom dance taking place.  Lots of monsters, maybe even too many.

Movie Review: ****^Monsters, Inc. (2001)

When two monsters befriend a child, who is suppose to be toxic to monsters but in fact is not; things get all turned around.  The monsters use doors to visit children, and harvest their screams as the monster world is powered by human emotion.  This movie deals with the power of friendship, and that sometimes there are better ways to get what you need.  Voice talents include John Goodman as Sulllivan and Billy Crystal as Mike.  The little girl, Boo is portrayed by Mary Gibbs.

Movie Review: ****^The Christmas Orange (2012)

This is a delightful movie from Covenant Communications.  Rose (Bailee Johnson) is an orphan, but she has found a very nice orphanage.  All of that changes with a flu plague.  Several of the girls pass away, as does the mother (Nancy Stafford) of the ophanage.  There is no one to replace her, and so all of the children are sent away.  Some are taken in by families, but the older chlidren such as Rose are sent to other orphanages.  Rose goes to Irongate which is run by a strict master, Mr. Crampton (Edward Hermann).  His brother, Joe, (Bruce Newbold) is a less invested member of the management, but is not as harsh.
Mr. Cramptom comes off as unfeeling, because his adult daughter has run away and has no contact with his father.  Rose's curiosity often gets her into trouble, and sent to the attic.  However all the children look forward to the orange's brought by Joe Christmas morning.  Rose is so excited she gets up in the night to smell and admire the oranges.  She is seen, and consequently is denied an orange.  How the other girls respond changes Christmas for them all.
This movie is touching.  Christian Vuissa is part of the production team.
Tony and I both enjoyed this film  It is based on the book by Linda Bethers.

Movie Review: ****Swiss Family Robinson (1960)

This is a classic Disney with a shipwrecked family and pirates.  It lead to a creation of a tree house at Disneyland.  It featured adult actors as well as child stars.  Father (John Mills) and Mother (Dorothy McGuire) with there three sons, Fritz (James MacArthur), Ernst (Tommy Kirk) and Francis (Kevin Corcoran) make life as best as they can on a deserted island.   They find all they need, and a wide assortment of wild animals from several different continents.  They also rescue a girl from pirates, Roberta (Janet Munro).  This creates jealousy between Fritz and Ernst as they both vie for her attention.  Then there is the issue of

those pesky pirates, so the family prepares for them, but almost find themselves unprepared, as they had let their guard down for a day of recreation.

Movie Review: ***^Muppets Most Wanted (2014)

Muppets Most Wanted:

I found this a delightful movie.  Again we have a frog who is unwilling to commit to Miss Piggy, but then another from; an evil frog, who is able to disguise himself as Kermit, while Kermit takes his place on the most wanted list.  The evil frog is able to travel with the Muppets, while Kermit is in the Gulag, and work in a life of crime as he works his way up to steal the crown jewels.  Kermit thinks he is forgotten, because the rest of the troupe do not realize he is missing, until they decide Kermit is acting strange.  In the end, only Kermit can save the day.

This movie is cute, especially if you like Muppet humor.

Movie Review: Baby's Day Out

In this movie Baby Bink is played by twins, Adam and Jacob Worton, and is so cute his smile carries the show.  Three kidnappers, pretend photographers, run off with the baby, Eddie, Norby and Veeko (Joe Mantegna, Joe Pantoliano and Brian Haley).  This is a baby vs three bumbling crooks movie, with the baby being one step ahead throughout.  The kidnapping goes well, but then the baby crawls out the window, and is on his way to many adventures.  His parents (Laura Flynn Boyle and Mathew Glave) are of course heart broken and worried, and do all in the power to get him back.  Fred Thompson plays the head of the FBI.  The nanny (Cynthia Nixon) has been reading the same book to the baby every day for 100s of times, Baby's Day Out.  The baby goes on many adventures, visiting pages from the book, including a taxi ride, a bus ride, to the zoo (where a gorilla befriends him) to the park, to a construction site, and finally to the old soldier's home.  It is when the nanny hears where she has been, that she realizes he is reenacting the book, and knows where he will be next.  Baby comes home safe, and when the baby sees where his book is, the kidnappers had taken it to calm him down, the police are turned on to the location, and they are caught as well.
This book is fun.  It puts the baby in horrifying situations, but all comes out right in the end.  The charm of the movie is how baby escapes so many close calls, while the kidnapper, trying to recapture him, always fail and get beat up as a result.  Written by John Hughes.

Movie Review: ***Surf's Up (2007)

This is a movie about penguins surfing, but more importantly about reaching for your dream.  It features two penguins geared for a surf competition, Cody Maverick (Shia LeBeouf) and Tank Evans (Diedrich Bader).  Tank is the current champion.  We also have a girl interest, Lani Aliikai (Zooey Deschanel.) and her uncle, the old surfing sage, Zeke Topanga (Jef Bridges) and a crazy chicken (Jon Heder).  Makes for a very wild ride.  The movie is often presented with a documentary type style, which I really didn't care for because it seems to get in the way of telling the story.

Movie Review: ***Ice Age Collision Course (2016)

This is a the fifth in a series of Ice Age movies.  In this movie our Ice Age friends are faced with an asteroid headed to earth with sure extinction results as happened with the dinosaurs before.  This time the mammals are headed for destruction, but a sort of adventurer weasel, Buck (Simon Pegg) has figured out that they are doomed if they don't do anything.  This is a show also about relationship.  Our mammoth family (Ray Romano and Queen Latifah) is facing a daughter (Keke Palmer) getting married to a strange mammoth (Adam Devine), the saber teeth tiger (John Leguizamo and Jennifer Lopez) decide to have a baby, the sloth meets someone, the grandma sloth finds true love.  This movie is underscored with the nut chasing what ever it is, who gets in a space ship and knocks all the planets and everything around.  This character has been featured in many cartoons.
I took three boys, Skylar is three, he laughed the most, Jessi 6 says he was just angry, and Tony was mildly amused.  There were a couple spots of potty humor, but it didn't overwhelm the story.

Movie Review: ****Finding Dory (2016)

Just back from Finding Dory and had a good time with the grandkids.  We went to the sensitivity challenged showing, and a few of the kids had difficulty getting settled at the first, but everyone was accepting, and the settled in, and we all had a good time.  We had Skylar, Bronnie, Tony, Miranda and Sheri and I.  The show was entertaining with these sea creatures telling the story of how Dory (Ellen DeGeneres) found herself in the ocean not knowing where she was from.  Nemo (Hayden Rolence) and Marlin (Albert Brooks) go with Dory to find her parents.  We meet some new characters in this show, including the whale, Destiny (Kaitlin Olson) that taught Dory how to speak whale, and Hank (Ed O'Neill) the Octopus, really septipus because he lost one leg in the kid zone of the theme park.  There is plenty of peril, and strange twists, as Dory's quest takes her to a fish sanctuary, where Sigourney Weaver announces that the goal of the institute is the "rescue, rehabilitate and release."  There is a very cute scene where hank drives a baby carrier, and then later a truck.  This film talks about the importance of family, and coming home.

Movie Review: ***^Zootopia (2016)

Zootopia          I was pleasantly surprised with this movie.  It was much different than I thought it would be.  I had in my brain something like a zoo, but this was about an animal land where animals lived in peace and harmony, until someone stirs the pot for their own political gain.  More than that, it was about a bunny who wanted to be a police officer, and having to fight her way through prejudices.  Her boss wanted to assign her as the meter maid.  However the bunny also has to deal with her own prejudices; her beliefs about what a fox could do.  Great fun, and the reminder about our prejudgements is important.  This is an animated Disney movie and includes the voice talents of Ginnifer Goodwin and Jason Bateman.  This movie is OK for families.  There are a couple scenes of animals going crazy violent.

Movie Review: ***^The Jungle Book (2016)

The animated version of the Jungle Book was not my favorite Disney movie.  However this presentation was new and very entertaining.  The story did not follow the book, nor the original Disney totally and the changes were well received.  The action can be very intense.  Shere Khan (Idris Elba) is very mean and ruthless.  Mowgli (Neel Sethi) is not totally helpless.  Although he is encouraged to stifle his human creativity, it is this that saves him in the end.  Balou (Bill Murray) adds a breath of fresh air to a movie that would have been too intense without his addition.  Bagheera (Ben Kingsley) provides the stability and wisdom of many years.  It was Bagheera who found Mowgli, and brought him to the wolves.  It is also Bagheera who advises Mowgli to defeat Shere Khan by fighting like a human.  King Louie (Christopher Walken) is probably the scariest character of all.  He is just so big.  However, when your house comes tumbling down it is not good.  Kaa (Scarlett Johansson) the scary snake has an hypnotic quality, as Johansen does in real life.
This movie was enjoyable.  Tony wanted to go so we took him.  I think he enjoyed himself.

Movie Review: ***Charlotte's Web (2006)

Charlotte's Web is a classic book, and this movie version does it justice.  This is a live character movie.  The animals of course must be computer generated, and gives the opportunity for many famous actors to have a swan song.  The voice actors include, Oprah Winfrey, Julia Roberts, Kathy Bates, Reba McEntire, Robert Redford, to name a few.  Of the character actors Dakota Fanning plays the little girl, Fern.  This is a show with great entertainment, with the theme that life goes on.  Charlotte the spider passes away, but life goes on in her children in the egg sack.  Tony has enjoyed this movie several times.  His class read the book in school.

Movie Review: * Norm from the North (2016)

Tony and I visited the theater this last weekend to check out this movie.  Tony loved it, and I was a bit disappointed with it.  Too much potty humor for me.  Who knew Lemmings could pee so much and for so long.  I guess they needed long pees to milk the crowd for more laughs but I must admit it didn't work with me.  This seemed to be a propaganda piece about the environment geared to elementary school age kids.  Such movies really disturb me.  However there was something there about saving grandfather which was pretty cool.  When getting home my wife liked how the movie was.  I gave it a D,  My son a B, not even potty humor could save this dribble.