Movie Review: **^A Kid in King Arthur's Court

Calvin Fuller (Thomas Ian Nicholas) plays baseball (poorly) for the Knights.  Merlin needs a champion to save the kingdom, and mistakingly pick this ball player.  So this film is about the funny things that happen when  someone from the modern world, with no medieval skills, is thrust back in time.  Calvin falls for the younger princess (Paloma Baeza) while her older sister (Kate Winslet) is to marry the champion of a tournament.  However she already has a love, just not a royal.  This movie has the made-for-TV feel.  In loses itself in the middle, with a rescue scene which is too far fetched.

Movie Review: **The Adventures Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother

Gene Wilder portrays Sigerson Holmes, Sherlock's younger, smarter, but sometimes bumbling brother.  The humor misses sometimes, but actually works other times.  The funniest part is where Sigerson visits a Lord's home, and can't help himself but snitch some food on a table, and then he snitches more, and more, and knocks the dish on the floor.  He is covered with sauce when the Lord finally comes to talk to him.  too much boob grabbing, especially for Sheri.  This is rated PG but this was a bit much, and happens several places in the movie, outside of clothing of course.  Dom Deluise has a part as a bad guy blackmailing Jenny Hill (Madeline Kahn) who is the fiance of the Lord, but also Sigerson's love interest.  Marty Feldman portrays the police sergeant helping Sigerson.
Gene Wilder also wrote this movie based on Conan Doyle's characters.  Wilder also directed.

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: ***^Lemony Snicket's Series of Unfortunate Events (2004)

This movie of Lemony Snicket's Unfortunate Events takes scenes from the first three books.  It also adds a few scenes.  It comes back to the end of the first book for its ending.  Not being true to the story, this movie is true to the characters.  The three Baudelaire children are wonderful.  Jim Carry makes an excellent villain as Count Olaf.  And the relatives are wonderful, Meryl Streep as Aunt Josephine and Bill Connolly as Uncle Monty.  The scenes with Uncle Monty are my favorite.  I really enjoyed the most deadly viper.  I still do not like the forced wedding.  Catharine O'Hara plays Justice Strauss.  In the movie the wedding is foiled differently than in the book.  In this case Klaus comes to the rescue rather than a left handed signing.  I have fun with this story.

Movie Review: ***^Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets (2017)

This is a movie based on a French Comic, which is why I had never heard of the characters.  However the plot is very interesting.  It involves a welcoming station some 400 years into the future.  This center has people form all over the universe.  However it has an area which has been sealed off form review of the administrators.  This film has federal agents, Valerian and his partner (Dane DeHaan and Cara Delevingne) who must uncover what is going on before everything goes to pot.
This is an incredible special effects show, and has some incredible action.  In the middle they put in a pole dancing scene which really doesn't need to be there.  There are many interesting creatures which always fascinate me.  Overall this film is passable.  I read someplace it is not doing well domestically despite a big budget.  It hopes to make up for this in the foreign market.  The director also directed Fifth Element, Luc Besson.

Picture Book: Yertle the Turtle by Dr. Seuss

This story is included with three others in a Dr. Seuss Book.  This is the story of a turtle who decides he is ruler of all he sees.  The higher he gets the farther he sees, and so uses other turtles as stepping stones, and caring about the inconvenience he is causing for others; until one of the turtles at the bottom burps.  Sometimes if you use others, all you have influence over is the mud.  Dr. Seuss has great insight in this story, and it is well told, drawn and rhymed.