Granny Ranny's Coming Attractions

This sounds like so much fun, I had to write about it although if you don’t live in or near Minneapolis, it’s not something you’ll get to do.

In celebration of Barbie’s newest DVD, “Barbie™ Princess Charm School,” girls and their families will have royal fun with a Barbie™ Princess Charm School stage show and learn princess-worthy manners and etiquette in a fun and interactive setting. Girls will even have the chance to meet Barbie herself. 

Princesses-in-training activities will include:

• Princess Assistants to help girls practice their princess manners
• A coloring exercise to teach girls how to set a table for a proper princess party using place mats they can color and take home
• Make-up artists / face-painters to help Barbie® princesses-in-training get ready for their graduation photos
• A chance to meet Barbie® herself
• A play area to practice manners using Barbie™ Princess Charm School dolls

Performances are at 11 a.m., 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. For more information, visit http://www.mallofamerica.com/.

Saturday, September 10, 2011; 10 am – 5 pm

Shows will be held at 11 AM, 1 PM and 3 PM                      

Mall of America – Nordstrom Court

Raved reviews from two of our teen film critics. Here’s what they have to say:

I have to be honest, I was not looking forward to seeing this movie because I have never been interested in boxing or arena fighting of any kind, but this move is so much more than a cage fight. Right away you can see the tone of this movie from the steel yards of Pittsburgh and the grayness of Pennsylvania in the first scene.
The cinematography is great because there is s much symbolism and depth to the visuals. My favorite scene is the final fight because it is so emotional and I cried so much. The music in that scene is also amazing because it really adds a deeper quality of emotion.
When the movie first started, I thought I would give it 2 stars because I was expecting a typical boxing movie, but now I give Warrior 4 ½ stars because it is so amazing. This movie is for 13 and up because although it’s just a movie, the fighting is so realistic and graphic that it does a little disturbing. This movie is definitely not for everyone, but if you’re looking for a deep emotional movie, or if you’re in to MMA fighting, Warrior is perfect for you!

Reviewed by Raven Devanney, age 14, KIDS FIRST! Film Critic

Lionsgate’s new movie ‘Warrior’ is about two brothers—Tommy Conlon, (Tom Hardy) a navy officer who went AWOL from his unit after being the only survivor of friendly fire and Brendan Conlon (Joel Edgerton), a former UFC fighter and a physics teacher who is upside-down on his mortgage and suspended from his job for fighting for cash near a strip club. The idea that both are accepted into ‘SPARTA’ (the MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) competition of all MMA competitions) —is phenomenal. It was engaging in every way—even when it gets a little slow. The acting is fabulous. Tom Hardy does an especially excellent job playing the angry, pained character of Tommy and Nick Nolte is really moving as the recovering alcoholic father/coach. Not only is the acting great, but the score is great and the fight choreography is very real as well. I seriously recommend this movie for kids 12 and up. It has suggestive themes, very intense fight scenes and subject matter that would go way over the heads of kids under the age of 12.

Reviewed by Daniel Menengaz age 13, KIDS FIRST! Film Critic

Game Time, Tackling the Past is a made for TV film by Walmart and P&G Family Entertainment Initiative. This film is a touching story about a family with two brothers- one is a professional football player and the other is an assistant coach for his old high school football team. When a near tragedy strikes the family, the two brothers have to come together to rebuild their family.

I think this movie is very good. The cinematography is wonderful because it is done in a documentary style, which makes it seem more realistic. My favorite character is Mica because he really pulls Jake to his senses and helps him along the way.

My favorite scene is when the football players do cheerleading warm-ups to help improve their grace and agility on the field because it was really funny. I give this movie 3 out of 5 stars because it was good, but I did lose interest a little.

I recommend this movie for 13 and up because younger children will get bored.

Be sure to catch Game Time on NBC on Sept 3.

Credit: Raven Devanney, age 14, KIDS FIRST! Film Critic

Raven’s video review is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NlmP14ESQ0g

It’s Football Season again! And Fox Faith just released their film, The 5th Quarter to Blu-ray/DVD this week.

Storyline: When a close-knit family is nearly broken by tragedy, hope is restored by their eldest son who carries the weight of victory on his shoulders in THE 5TH QUARTER. In the spirit of The Blind Side, this inspiring true story stars Aidan Quinn (Legends of the Fall, A Shine of Rainbows) and Andie MacDowell (Four Weddings and a Funeral, Groundhog Day) who deliver emotionally stirring performances as the mother and father of Jon Abbate, a rising football star at Wake Forest University. Their lives are suddenly shattered when the family’s youngest son, Luke, is killed in a tragic accident. Inspired by Luke’s memory, Jon courageously leads the Wake Forest team to a series of last-minute victories ? leading to a thrilling climax that will “make you stand up and cheer” (NYC Movie Guru).

One of our KIDS FIRST! youth film critics reviewed it this week: “I just finished watching The Fifth Quarter and I enjoyed it. It’s about a boy named Luke who dies in an auto accident because of drunk driving.  The story is really about how the family copes with the loss of their 15 year old son and brother.

I really like the character John Abbate, Luke’s older brother, played by Ryan Merriman. The acting is superb. He couldn’t have done a better job.

I would say that this movie is for kids 13 and up. There is one little tiny extremely short scene showing some surgery that is disturbing, but there is also a lot of talking and emotion and crying, of course. Any kid younger than 13 would not appreciate that.  However, older kids will appreciate the amazing acting.

By Sam Connan, Age 13, KIDS FIRST! Film Critic. Sam’s review is available here:

Jessica Alba makes a quite an impression as spy Marissa Wilson, calmly defending herself from the evil Timekeeper even though she is over the top pregnant and checks into the hospital immediately afterwards to give birth. The theme for this movie offers a pretty traditional fare, enough to put my boy friend to sleep in the first 10 minutes. But, all the kids in the audience clearly enjoyed it – laughing at all the jokes and many spoke about how much they loved it as they exited. This is, if nothing else – a kids’ movie. The 4D “aroma-scope” aspect didn’t work at all, at least not for anyone in my theater. Those scratch and sniff cards were a bust, sorry Robert, nice try. They all smelled the same – like pink bubblegum. My advice, put those things away and just enjoy the movie. Our favorite character was the talking robot dog with the Australian accent (Ricky Gervais) and one-liners that steal the show. The storyline is about a retired spy, Marissa, who is called back into action when the Timekeeper threatens to destroy the world. Her two step children (Rowan Blanchard and Mason Cook) make the pivotal turn from disliking her to loving her once they are brought into her secret spy world. I loved seeing Carmen and Judi (Alexa Vea and Daryl Sabara), stars of the original Spy Kids, return for a cameo appearance. It’s not the best movie of the summer but you could do worse if you are looking for a film for your young children. Recommended for ages 5-8.

This question was posed to the Kids Marketing Group I belong to on Linked In. What To Do With The Kids Special Report posed this question and received suggestions from hundreds of people from around the world with more than 300 different books recommended.  I found that all but of the books suggested have been released to DVD and most are included in our KIDS FIRST! Top 100 list. Here are the top 10 suggested: 

  1.  Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown
  2.  Stone Soup by Marcia Brown
  3.  The Giving Tree by Shel Siverstein
  4.  The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams
  5.  Where The Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
  6.  Curious George by Hans Augusto Rey
  7.  The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
  8.  Charlotte’s Web by Elwyn Brooks White
  9.  Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin Jr. & John Archabault
  10.  Green Eggs & Ham by Dr. Suess

Goodnight Moon was produced by HBO Home Video (2005) in a wonderful version with guest stars such as Susan Sarandon, Tony Bennet, Natalie Cole, Billy Crystal and Patti Labelle. The kids and celebs collaborate in presenting classic bedtime stories including, the title story, Goodnight Moon. It’s truly an evergreen title. Weston Woods/Scholastic also created an anthology that is distributed through New Video and contains Goodnight Moon, A Creature Was Stirring and Gladys Goes Out to Lunch.

The Velveteen Rabbit has been produced by a number of companies. Last year, in our Film Critics Search Campaign, we featured the one starring Jane Seymous and Tom Skerritt, directed by Michael Landon Jr, produced by Feature Films for Families and distributed by Anchor Bay.

Where the Wild Things are was released as a feature film by Warner Bros and is now available in DVD or Blu-Ray. There is also a shorter version included as part of an anthology with other Maurice Sendak stories (The Nutshell Kids and In the Night Kitchen) produced by Weston Woods and available through New Video. There is also a version from Rabbit Ears narrated by Meryl Streep (2003).

Stone Soup was included in an anthology released by Weston Woods called, The Amazing Bone and Other Caldecott Classics. Other book based videos included are Where the Wild Things Are and Googles.

The Curious George books have been turned into many DVDs and are available through Universal both as a TV series and as DVDs. Recent DVD releases include: Curious George Goes Green, Curious George: Follow that Monkey!, Curious George: A Very Monkey Christmas, Curious George: Beats the Band and More, Curious George: Camping with Hundley, Curious George: Sea Monkey. Weston Woods also includes it in an anthony which includes Curious George Rides a Bike, The Great White Man-Eating Shark, Flossie and the Fox, The Happy Lion and Cat and the Canary.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar was released by Disney in 2006 as part of an anthology of Eric Carle’s most popular stories including Papa, Please Get the Moon for Me, The Very Quiet Cricket and I See a Song. It is also included in the HBO DVD Goodnight Moon and Other Sleepytime Tales and New Video’s Strego Nona…and More Caldecott Award-winning Folk Tales (Scholastic Video Collection 2004).

Charlotte’s Web, the classic story of loyalty, trust and sacrifice was released as a feature film by Paramount i 2007 starring the young Dakota Fanning with Julia Roberts playing the voice of Charlotte. It is available in DVD and Blu-ray.

Chicka Chicka Boom is offered as part of a collection through New Video which includes four animated children’s books  (Trash Town, Rosie’s Walk, and the Caterpillar and the Poliwog) produced by Weston Woods.

Green Eggs and Ham is part of the Seuss collection released by Universal that includes The library says that it contains:
The Cat in the Hat, The Lorax, Pontofell Pock and His Magic Piano, Green Eggs and Ham, Sneetches, Zax, Grinch Night, The Grinch Grinches and Cat in the Hat and The Hoober-Bloob Highway.

If you are a new parent or grandparent or well-meaning auntie or uncle, your efforts to wow the child in your life will be well rewarded by including some or all of these to your DVD library. All are available online at amazon.com.