DVD Review: Old Dogs

Rated PG

Starring Robin Williams, John Travolta, Seth Green, Rita Wilson, Kelly Preston

Dan and Charlie have been best friends forever and are co-owners of a successful sports marketing firm, living the high life. In the midst to closing the biggest deal of their lives, Dan's ex-wife Vicki (whom he married on a whim 7 years prior while on vacation, their nuptials not even lasting 24 hours) shows up, desperately needing someone to watch her 2 kids while she spends 2 weeks in jail for activist shenanigans. Dan quickly realizes, the children are his - the result of their brief nuptials 7 years ago.

Reluctant at first, Dan evenutally agrees, wanting to get to know the kids a bit (not to mention he never got over Vicki either). However as Dan struggles with figuring out fatherhood, him and Charlie continue to attempt to close their business deal.

In the end, they learn what's important in life (and it's not living the high life) and grow as people as well.

Much like Travolta's previous Disney family flick Wild Hogs, Old Dogs is geared towards the same audience catering more towards adults although kids will enjoy the youngsters meddling in their father's (and "Uncle Charlie's") life. It's definitely a feel good movie.

Tron: Legacy

Rated PG

Starring Jeff Bridges, Garrett Hedlund, Olivia Wilde, Bruce Boxleitner

Picking up just a few years after the original Tron left off, in the mid-late 1980s Kevin Flynn runs his arcade by day and does secret computer programming in the cyber world by night, all while being in charge of the huge software empire ENCOM he built and taking care of his young son Sam after the death of his wife. Flynn often tells Sam stories of his times in the virtual world with his pals Tron and Clu (a digital copy of himself to run things when he's not around).

One day though, Flynn doesn't come home and it seems he's gone missing for good. ENCOM is left to young Sam, in which Flynn's good friend Alan is in charge until Sam is old enough and Alan also steps in as a surrogate father for young Sam. When Sam is of age though, he has no interest in his father's company, only visiting about once a year to stir things up and so the company is mainly run by the board of directors who don't have the same vision as Flynn did, only caring about making a profit.

Alan approaches Sam one night saying he got a page from the disconnected number at Flynn's old arcade and encourages Sam to go check it out. Refusing at first, Sam gives into curiosity at the idea that his father might still be alive and goes down to the arcade. There, he gets accidentally gets transported into the virtual world that his father used to tell him so much about when he was a kid.

Mistaken for a "program" at first, Sam has to compete in gladiator-esque games in order to survive. Upon learning he is a "user" named Sam Flynn, he is quickly summoned into a meeting with the man in charge, who at first glance, appears to be his father, having never aged. We soon learn though that it is Clu and not Flynn who runs things around here, however Flynn is still very much alive but in hiding and that it was Clu who paged Alan in an attempt that someone from outside would come in order to lure Flynn out one last time.

Sam eventually escapes from Clu, with the help of a young woman named Quorra who has been Flynn's companion and apprentice all these years. She takes him to his father, however they have a bigger problem on their hands - when Sam arrived in the virtual world, the portal to the outside world was opened. While the portal is only open for a short period of time, they believe that Clu is trying to crossover in order to perfect a new world as he sees fit. Together, the 3 must race Clu to the portal before it closes so that they can escape and close it before it's too late!

While nearly 30 years after the original was released, Tron: Legacy is a smart and fun sequel. I must say, I enjoyed this one much better than I had the original as it much easier to follow without nearly as much computer programming speak as the original had. The visuals are stunning and make the virtual world fun and thrilling. The plot, unlike the original, is simple enough for even kids to grasp and follow what is going on. The music - done solely by electronic/techno gurus Daft Punk - is brilliant and upbeat, really conveying the perfect emotions. Michael Sheen is also amusing in a small role stylized after the likes of Ziggy Stardust. And if you've never seen the original Tron or it's been years since, no worries - they nicely bring the viewer up to speed with a montage of newsreels and such describing the events at the end of the original and Flynn's bedtime stories to young Sam about the virtual world give you insight as to what happened as well.

This is a great, visual film that the whole family can watch together and enjoy!

Tangled

Rated PG for some animated violence

Starring Mandy Moore, Zachary Levi, Donna Murphy

An old witch named Gothel finds a flower with magical power and by being near it and singing to it she is able to make herself young. When the local queen, who's pregnant, falls deathly ill the King's men search for a cure, coming across the magic flower. After making a broth from the flower, the queen gets healthy and gives birth to a baby girl with shining blonde. Gothel quickly realizes that the baby girl's hair has the same magical powers as the flower and decides to kidnap her and raise her as her own daughter in a hidden tower in order to stay looking young forever.

In rememberance of their lost daughter, every year on her birthday the king and queen light thousands of magical lanterns. The girl, Rapunzel, has seen these glowing lights from her tower and dreams of the day Gothel will let her out so she can see them in person - in fact, it's the only thing she wants for her upcoming 18th birthday. But of course Gothel says no, out of fear of losing her key to looking young.

That all changes though when the handsome young Flynn hides out in Rapunzel's tower after stealing a tiara from the kingdom and abandoning his co-conspirators. Rapunzel makes a deal with him - escort her to see the magical lights and she'll tell him where she hid his loot. Of course, in true fairytale fashion, the two begin to fall for each other as Flynn begins to drop his charming bad-boy persona. Meanwhile Gothel, furious at Rapunzel's rebellion of leaving the tower plots to get her to return.

Disney has done it again, creating a vibrant, colorful film with a cute spin on a classic fairytale much in the way they did over 20 years ago with The Little Mermaid. Another great animated film of 2010 for the whole family!

DVD Review: Prince of Persia - The Sands of Time

Rated PG13 for action violence, some innuendo

Starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Gemma Arterton, and Ben Kingsley

Taking place in Ancient Persia, we witness a young boy courageously standing up to the King's guards at they attempt to punish another young boy. After a chase in the streets, the King sees the boy's worth and courage and after learning he has no family, decides to take the boy in as his 3rd son.

Flash forward maybe 10 years later, the boy is now young adult Prince Dastan who is quick to battle with the gifts of strength and agility. The 3 Persian princes lead an attack on neighboring sacred city Alamut as they are led to believe the city is supplying weapons to enemies of Persia, however none are found. Dastan does come into possession of a pretty cool looking dagger though while Alamut Princess Tamina has agreed to marry one of the Princes as a way of bringing peace between the 2 cities.

At the ceremony after the Alamut attack, the king is mysterious poisoned and Dastan is framed. He flees the city with the help of the Princess who learns that Dastan possesses her city's sacred dagger. Eventually, as they learn to work together, she comes to tell him why the dagger is so important - with special sand only found in Alamut it can turn back time. Realizing this could prove his innocence, Dastan is determined to plead his case to his uncle, however he learns of more betrayal and deception.

Based on the popular Prince of Persia video game series that has been around since the late 80s, this one actually wasn't that bad and was a decent stand-alone action adventure movie, like a live action Aladdin. The cast and characters were likable, the relationship between Dastan and Tamina was amusing (think Han Solo and Princess Leia where they can't stand each other at first but grow to like one another) and the story/plot was fun and kept a good pace once it got going. It was extremely predictable though.

While a bit dark and violence at times for younger kids, families with somewhat older kids will enjoy watching this one together.

Toy Story 3

Rated G
Starring Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack, Blake Clark, Don Rickles, Estelle Harris, John Ratzenberger, Wallace Shawn, Jeff Pidgeon, Jodi Benson, R. Lee Ermey, John Morris, and Laurie Metcalf

Our story picks up shortly after the 2nd movie - Buzz, Woody, Jessie and the rest of the gang of Andy's toys are playing together in Andy's wild imagination adventures. Due to a montage via home video footage, we see Andy beginning to grow up and fast forward and he's now 17 and getting ready to go off to college. Stuck in the old forgotten toy chest for so long, the toys make a few last attempts to get Andy's attention, in hopes of one more rendez-vous with him, but with no such luck.

Andy's mom tells her son to go through his toys and everything else in his room and decide what he's taking to college, what can go in the attic, what can get donated to the daycare and what should be thrown out. While he decides to take his old pal Woody to college with him, the rest of the toys he puts in a trash bag to take up to the attic... however mom mistakes the bag for trash and promptly places it on the curb. In an attempt to rescue his friends, Woody dashes out to save them, in which they all wind up being donated to the local daycare.

While the rest of the gang is thrilled to be welcomed by the rest of the daycare toys and are thrilled to learn that there's no owners and always kids who'll play with them, Woody insists they all go back to Andy's as they're still Andy's toys and he didn't mean for them to get thrown out or donated. Wanting a second chance to get played with, the gang decides to stay so Woody sets out for home on his own. Soon after he leaves though, him and the rest of the gang learn that Sunnyside Daycare isn't all it's cracked up to be - the new toys get stuck in the Caterpillar room with the toddlers who don't know how to properly play with toys and strawberry smelling leader Lots'o Huggins Bear isn't the gentle old sweet wise bear they first thought he was!

Woody has to go back and rescue his friends before things get much worse!

Once again, Disney and Pixar have done it again - creating a wonderful family film that all can enjoy. It's got hilarious moments and pop culture references, homage to a lot of the previous Pixar films, excitement, thrills and even touching moments that really pull at you - everyone I know that's seen it has sad they teared up during the movie at one point or another (I know I did at one part in particular near the end).

Kids will love all the excitement and adventure that this one continues to offer in the same fashion as the previous installments, and parents will be laughing at all humor thrown in that kids might not get (the scenes with Ken doll are pretty hilarious, as he's very metro-sexual despite repeatedly refusing to admit and comes to terms with being a girl's toy!).

Also, keep your eyes open for all the "easter eggs" in the film - there's references GALORE (here's a link of ones just seen in the trailers)! In one scene the Pizza Planet truck makes an appearance, as well as other toys and versions of characters from other Pixar movies (there's quite a bit of toy cars resembling the vehicles from Cars). There's also a rumor going around online that one of the little girls seen in the daycare is a slightly older Boo from the upcoming Monsters Inc 2, as Pixar likes to sneak in a character from an upcoming movie as a teaser. And keep your eyes open during the scenes with the garbage men - one of them is actually the neighbor boy Sid from the first movie, all grown up but still wearing his skull t-shirt!

This was definitely a great way to tie up the Toy Story franchise and while they could have ended it on a sad, emotional note, I'm glad they didn't - like one teen sitting further down the row from us commented at the end, ending it that way could have scarred the little kids that were watching (it was pretty emotional!). Not to give away the ending, but I'm pleased with how this part of the Toy Story turned out.

DVD Review: Tron

Rated PG for adult themes, tense moments

Starring Jeff Bridges, Bruce Boxleitner, Cindy Morgan, Dan Shor, David Warner

Video arcade owner Kevin Flynn is a former ENCOM software engineer who has created several video games that became popular after another ENCOM employee, Ed Dillinger, stole them from him. Knowing the files have his name on it, Flynn continues to hack into the ENCOM system and find them to prove he is the rightful creator of the games. After Flynn's most recent hack attempt, Dillinger and his Master Control Program (which has a mind of its own) decide to shut down access to the level group Flynn had access to, thus locking out fellow software engineer Alan Bradley who was working on a program called Tron which would serve as a watchdog program and keep even the Master Control Program in check.

Frustrated, Alan and Flynn come together, with the help of ENCOM employee Laura. They sneak Flynn into the building so he can distract the MCP and hack in long enough to grant them all level 6 access so Alan can get his Tron program up and running, which would help find the files proof that Flynn created the games and not Dillinger.

MCP does not like though and decides to physically trap Flynn into the the world of Bytes and Bits. Having to band together with other "user controlled" programs, including Tron, Flynn must fight for his survival and work with Tron to defeat the MCP from the inside in order to escape back to his world.

Released in 1982, I'm sure this sci-fi action adventure film was groundbreaking and in a lot of ways it reminded me of Bladerunner or The Running Man. Viewing it almost 20 years later though, it's extremely dated and the graphics and special effects are just laughable. We can only hope that the upcoming Tron: Legacy film has much better, updated graphics than the original.

I have to admit, while this is a Disney film and was marketed towards families, if I had watched this in the 80s as a little kid, I would have been extremely bored and confused as to what was going on. This is definitely not a movie meant for kids, as they most likely won't understand much of what's going on.

If you like classic sci-fi films from the 80s, this is one you might be interested in.

Alice in Wonderland

Rated PG for some scary moments, fantasy violence

Starring Mia Wasikowska, Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Anne Hathaway, Crispin Glover, Michael Sheen and Stephen Fry

In this Alice story, Alice is now 19 years old and her father has recently passed. For the past 10 years, she has been having the same "nightmare" where she visits a strange place. She thinks she is going crazy, however her father always told her that "the best people tend to be a little bit!" Her mother accompanies her to a formal outdoor party, which Alice soon learns is to be her engagement party to a boy named Hamish, who's father was partners with her father and now is the sole owner of their trading firm. When Hamish pops the big question in front of all the guests, Alice panics and is distracted by a strange white rabbit she had noticed several times throughout the gathering. She excuses herself and chases after the rabbit and ends up at a rabbit hole and falls in.

Arriving in a strange room, she must figure out the puzzle of how to squeeze through a tiny locked door. Once on the other side, she is greeted by The White Rabbit, a dormouse, a dodo bird, and Tweedledee and Tweedledum. Despite them acting like they know her, she don't recall ever meeting any of them. Confused as to whether The White Rabbit brought them the "right" Alice, they take her to Absolem the Caterpillar to let him decide. See, in this version of Wonderland (or Underland as they say it's called), the evil Red Queen has overthrown her younger sister, the White Queen and has been ruling with an iron fist, offing people's heads for reason or another. And well, Frabjous Day is coming soon and it is told that a hero named Alice will slay the Red Queen's wicked beast - the Jabberwocky, and free everyone from her rule.

"I'm not that Alice! And even if I were, I can't kill anything and I won't!" Alice cries. She also seems convinced that this just her having another one of her nightmares, as the people and place are exactly the same.

Believing that Alice is back, the Queen sends her right hand man - The Knave of Hearts - with the Bandersnatch, Jubjub Bird and solider-like playing cards to retrieve her and stop her. While they capture most of Alice's group, the Cheshire Cat shows up and helps her escape, taking her to the Mad Hatter and March Hare and rejoining her with the dormouse. The Mad Hatter is able to explain to her what went wrong, trying to get her to remember her previous time in Underland ("You were so young back then... you even kept calling this place Wonderland!"). But soon enough, it seems that everyone who comes in contact with Alice gets capture by the Red Queen's lackeys. Before being captured, the Mad Hatter gives her directions to get to the White Queen who can assist her in preparing to fight the Jabberwocky. But Alice would rather rescue the Mad Hatter and innocent beings the Red Queen has captured.

Is this Alice indeed the "right" Alice? Will she end up fighting the Jabberwocky? Will she stay in Underland?

Now some have complained that Tim Burton took the classic Alice stories and turned them upside down. Others have criticized it for being nothing like the original Disney version. What you must understand going into this one is that no, it is not a remake of the classic story nor an adaption. You could almost consider it to be "the next chapter" in the Alice story, as it takes place years after the events of the original stories (which we see in a flashback segment). The characters are all still there, however Wonderland is a much darker place than now than we may recall.

I personally loved it. The story was great, the characters were amusing and the scenery and details were definitely works of art! Oh and there's lessons for everyone that you shouldn't make choices for yourself based on what others think is best. Be responsible and make your choices for you.

Now this film is being offered in both 2D and 3D formats. We saw it in 3D IMAX and while I can't really say if the 3D enhanced it any, the IMAX was well worth it, as it really made you feel like you were in the movie, and this one of those movies where that effect really works great!

Little kids might be a little scared by the Jabberwocky and Bandersnatch, but other than that, this is a great film for a family outing!

Bolt

Rated G
Starring John Travolta, Miley Cyrus, Malcolm McDowell, Susie Essman, Mark Walton, Diedrich Bader

Disney's latest animated holiday flick is about a dog named Bolt and his owner Penny. Bolt can save the world with his lazer vision, super strength fast speed, high jumps, and loud bark while rescuing Penny. What he doesn't know is that he's the star of a popular tv show and all his powers are just special effects. In an attempt to boost ratings, they end in the latest episode in a cliffhanger, with Penny being kidnapped. Bolt is desperate to save her and so he escapes, out in to the real world, where he starts to realize, with the help of a stray cat and a hamster in a ball, that the world he thought he knew wasn't reality.

It was really cute - kids will love it, as will anyone who's an animal lover. It does get a little sad, but as with all Disney movies, it does have a happy ending, so nightmares here!

Wall-E

Rated G

Starring Ben Burtt, Elissa Knight, Fred Willard, Sigourney Weaver, John Ratzemberger

In the future, earth because has become covered with trash from products sold by the Buy N Large corporation (think Walmart). In an effort to clean up it's mess, the corporation creates a space hub for earth's inhabitants to live, while hundreds of WALL-E's a garbage collecting robots, have been left to clean up the mess. Years pass, and only WALL-E remains, still working hard to clean up the mess, while collecting trinkets and treasures out of the mess. One day, another robot, named Eve shows up, on quest to find proof that life is once again sustainable. WALL-E falls in love with her and shows her all his findings.

Upon seeing a plant WALL-E's kept alive, Eve takes it and goes into standby mode, where days later she is wisked away by a giant space ship. WALL-E, thinking she is in danger, latches onto the ship and gets taken into space and the space hub, where humans have turned into obese blobs have had computers dictate their entire lives for over 700 years, never needing to leave their mobilized chairs. When the auto-pilot computer, acting on secret instructions given many years before by the corporation, tries to prevent the people from returning by stealing the plant, WALL-E, Eve, the portly captain, and a band of broken robots stage a mutiny to regain control and go home.

It was really really cute! There's not much dialogue, but with the animation and interaction of the robots, it doesn't need it. The robot relationship between Eve and Wall-E is really cute and Wall-E's way of living on a deserted earth is clever as well. Pixar goes the extra mile in a few of the space scenes just to show off how visually amazing they can be, but it's well deserved!

The satire messages of what happens when big corporations take over the world and people relying on technology too much are also pretty clever.

This definitely a good, harmless film to take the kids too, and if you're a fan of the Disney/Pixar films, you'll like this one just as much as the others.

National Treasure: Book of Secrets

Rated PG

Starring Nicholas Cage, Jon Voight, Helen Mirren, Justin Bartha, Ed Harris

This sequel starts out with the assassination of Abe Lincoln in a flashback. Ben Gates and father surprised at a lecture when presented with a missing page from the diary of John Wilkes Booth listing their relative Thomas Gates as one of the consiprators of the Lincoln assassination. In their quest to save the family name and clear their ancestor, the Gates and Co, including Abigal and Riley, go on another global treasure hunt which sends them searching for clues in Paris, England, DC and the rumored President's Book of Secrets.

It had the same wit and cleverness as the original, as well as the same Indiana Jones type history adventure the original had also. This is probably going to be the main family Christmas movie this year. Expect a third installment in the future as well, as it clearly alludes that there will be another treasure hunt.

Enchanted

Rated PG

Starring: Amy Adams, Patrick Dempsey, Susan Sarandon, James Mardsen, Idina Menzel, Timothy Spall

In Disney's latest family film, we start out watching animated Giselle and her forest friends create a Prince Charming, as Giselle sings about the qualities she'd like in the man and how she'd like to have her 1 true kiss. By chance, she meets Prince Edward. The 2 immediately fall in love and plan to be wed the next day. Jealous of her beauty, Queen Narcissa (Prince Edward's step-mother) sees Giselle as a threat and tricks her into falling down a magical well to a place where there is "no happy endings" - that place, is Manhattan and New York City. Scared, wet and cold, Giselle tries to find her way back to the castle and her home Andalasia. In her search she comes across Robert and his young daughter (who is the only one to believe she really is a princess). Together Giselle teaches Robert about love, while he teaches her about reality.

Disney pokes fun of all the cliches it's built over the years with fairytales, which made this movie pretty funny, not to mention cute. The musical number in the park was hilarious, as was Giselle's chipmunk friend Pip, who can speak in the animated world, but has to resort to charades in order to communicate in the real world.

If you're looking for a good family film for the holidays - definately check out this one!

The Game Plan

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson stars as Boston Rebels quarterback Joe "The King" Kingman. He lives the life of a celebrity, having a huge bachelor pad covered in memorbilia of not only himself, but Elvis as well. Despite what the father on the team tells him, he thinks he has "the life." Then, after a huge new years party, the next morning a little girl named Peyton shows up on his doorstep, claiming to be his daughter from his short-lived marriage and will be staying with him for a month while her mom is in Africa. Over the course of the next few weeks, Joe goes from being a bad dad, leaving his daughter unattended at a nightclub opening, to being a concerned parent, looking after her and actually taking part in her life and the things she enjoys. Then comes the twist, where all is not as we think it is.

The little girl that plays Petyon is adorable and steals the show, holding her own against the other football players, Joe's agent Stella (Kira Sedgwick for tv's "The Closer") among others, while The Rock shows just how charismatic he can be.

For a Disney family film, it was pretty cute and clever. I'd recommend it for a family night.

Ratatouille

very very cute! disney and pixar have done it again!

the characters are very 3 dimension too and not just static like most animated films have been lately. sadly though, with all the blockbusters coming out this summer, it's likely to get swallowed up.

but it's a really good movie for the whole family - i highly recommend going to this one.