Prince of Persia

So I went to see the new Disney film, Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, yesterday with my brother, mother, niece, and my conscience.  No I am not telling you that it was the best movie I've seen from Disney.  However, it was good...not awesomely great, but good.  I loved the character that Jake Gyllenhal plays.  It was not stagnent like many action characters can be.  Gyllenhal's characte is Dastan... an orphan that runs amok and is given a chance to become Prince of Persia by the sheer force of personality and courage that he displays when the king first sees him.....The movie itself seems to be Moses meets Aladin with a ton of gymanstics thrown in for good measure.  I really liked Dastan and Gyllenhal filled those shoes wonderfully...my problem is that without Gyllenhaal I wouldn't have watched the film.  The other characters doesn't seem to be as strongly represented.  You mostly see Dastan and his search for a way to save his family.  Princess Tamina, played by Gemma Artenton, could have been a great foil for Dastan if we could have seen her "grow" more as Dastan does.  The relationship between those character reminded me of The Scorpion King...hostile, hostile, hostile-- until her people's life depends on him.  I would say that it was worth the ticket for the movie but not the popcorn.  I don't think that I will be buying this movie for my house collection..maybe for the school collection- no cussing, no sex, no nakedness, no major problems- except the deaths that happened- but not my personal collection for family...I think that it had the potential to be great but it fell a little short of my greatness mark.

How to Train Your Dragon

So I took the kids to watch the 3D version of "How to Train Your Dragon" and I have to admit I liked the movie.  The extra charge for the 3d glasses and 3d experience just wasn't worth it to me.  I think that I would have enjoyed it with the regular version playing as well as I did the 3d.  Besides it would have been cheaper. I am not saying that no 3d movie isn't worth the price of the ticket, but this movie didn't have enough "effects" for the extras.  There was only a couple of instances in which the 3d was nice...and that was mostly in the beginning and in the commericals.  It was like the movie was not given the extra uummmph that was needed to make it a great 3d movie.  That being said, I really enjoyed the movie.  I plan to take my second grade students to watch it and I know they will enjoy it.  I would like to point out though that if you read the book....the movie wasn't like that.  The ending was pretty different even though some of the events were placed in it. But I think that this was one of the few movies that doesn't leave you saying "that didn't happen" or "in the book.....happened instead."  So I would recommend this movie...especially for the 10 and under group.  My darlings are 9 and 10 and they enjoyed it.

Alice in Wonderland...new

So I went to see the new Alice in Wonderland movie and I have to say that it wasn't bad.  The cartoon from Disney really got on my nerves because half of the time it didn't make sense. This version was actually decent in my opinion.  I wouldn't say that is was the best Disney movie but for an Alice flick it was cool.  I liked the Sy Fy version better but that is neither here nor there.  Based on theater seats in my town, others liked it too.  I think that overall the new Alice was a strong character that didn't seem too dopey.  Johnny Depp as the Hatter was great.  It gave a new meaning to madness..or breakdown in this case.  The acting was well done and the CG was great.  I loved the fact that the Red Queen had such a hugh head and that the White Queen wouldn't hurt a living thing..but had no problem with the dead..lol.  Because the Alice movie is set after young Alice has grown up, the movie is a little more mature than the animated version.  The Hatter is heard to say "You are always either too tall or too short" and at one point it looked like he wanted to kiss Alice.  ***Spoiler***** The Jabberwocky's head bounding down the stairs made me glad that it was rated PG...but that was the only "Parental" advice needed.  There wasn't any cussing or nakedness..not to mention no making out or anything else that I wouldn't like to see for a kid's movie.  So I would say:  thumbs up as a family movie.