April 7, 2008
Guest Review by Mari Peacock
Rated PG for some scary images and mild innuendo. 2007, Romantic Comedy. Mari’s Critique: 
In musicals or Disney cartoons and the like, everyone bursts into song and/or dance as beautiful music begins to play in the background. They are always on key, have perfect hair and clothes and it all seems like a normal occurrence. This is not so in real life. I have on many occasions started singing in the store or while walking or wherever I happen to be (my own made up song of course) or have danced along to the elevator music playing in most grocery stores and have gotten many strange looks. Most of the time I don’t realize I’m doing it until people either start giggling or completely and totally ignore me. I usually make up new words using primary hymn tunes.
In Disney’s Enchanted they bring to real life the make-believe world of cartoons and all their fruitiness and happily-ever-afters. They do a great job of making fun of themselves and the typical Disney Princesses.
Giselle (Amy Adams) is a cartoon princess living in Andalasia who is rescued by Prince Edward (James Marsden) and they immediately fall in love and prepare to be married the next day and live happily… well, you know. However, the wicked stepmother, Queen Narissa (Susan Sarandon) doesn’t want him to ever marry or she has to give up her throne. She throws Giselle into a fountain and sends her to modern-day New York City. Prince Edward and his “friend†Nathaniel (Timothy Spall) follow after to rescue her.
Giselle meets Robert (Patrick Dempsey- Dr. McDreamy, Hello!), his daughter Morgan (Rachel Covey) and his girlfriend (Idina Menzel- the original Elephaba on Broadways’s Wicked) and becomes entangled in their lives as does Prince Edward, Pip the talking chipmunk, Queen Narissa and Nathaniel.
The adventures run rampant as lives and loves are questioned, mixed then found again as the land of make-believe and real-life collide.
It is quite a silly movie, but the good kind of silly that adults and kids can all enjoy! It was written, re-written and directed by several different people. Alan Menken composed as Stephen Schwartz (Of Wicked fame) served as lyricist.
July 31, 2007
Two Brothers
Two Tigers, and of course Guy Pearce as a hunter. Rated PG for mild violence. 2004, Drama/Family. Cin’s Critique: 
If you liked Homeward Bound with two dogs and a cat, you’ll enjoy Two Brothers about two tiger cubs. Separated when young, each tiger is followed as they have different experiences, and ultimately are reunited. This is a heartwarming tale that my children really liked. Okay, okay, I liked it too…
Guy Pearce only makes a couple of brief appearances in this movie as the hunter that found one of the cubs when it was a baby, and checks on it here and there throughout the story. A good family movie!
July 18, 2007
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint. Rated PG-13 for sequences of fantasy violence and frightening images. 2007, Adventure/Fantasy. Cin’s Critique: 
What can I say? I love the Harry Potter books; I love the Harry Potter movies! The movies do not exactly follow the books, but how could you expect to fit all the content of these wonderful books into even a very long movie? Not possible. The books coming to life on the big screen is magical, literally…
In this fifth installment, Harry again wards off dementers, learns wizardry, and battles Dark Lord Voldemort. Many reviews say this is the best acted movie for the young stars, many say it was hard to follow, many say it was a redemption after the fourth movie. Me, I say it was wonderful beginning to end. I had a huge grin on my face the entire 2 ½ hours just out of sheer excitement of being there in front of the big screen!
Sorry for a horribly unhelpful movie review here. In my very biased opinion, this movie of course is a must see! If you have seen it, let me know what you think.
April 2, 2007
Planet Earth
Just the previews for this superior miniseries on The Discovery Channel are enough to give you chills! I actually saw a trailer in the movie theater last week, it’s pretty unusual to see a TV preview in that setting, and it caught my interest. Now, I like watching nature shows as much as the next person, but let me just say “WOW!” After watching five hours of Planet Earth, I am convinced that you will love it as much as I do.
Planet Earth is broken down into eleven episodes: Pole to Pole, Mountains, Deep Ocean, Deserts, Ice Worlds, Shallow Seas, Great Plains, Jungles, Freshwater, Forests, and Caves. I have watched five so far and been utterly amazed. Enough to watch each one a second time with my kids (who also love it) so that I can record it!
Educational and beautiful, offering a unique look at our planet, don’t miss this series on The Discovery Channel. Every Sunday during April with two new episodes each week. Want more? Check out the official website at www.planet-earth.com.
February 9, 2007
Akeelah and the Bee
Keke Plamer, Laurence Fishburne, Angela Bassett. Rated PG for some language. 2006, Drama. Cin’s Critique: 4 *
I remember the one and only spelling bee I participated in. I was in fourth grade. I don’t remember how far I made it, but I do remember the word I missed. Platypus. Yep, as in duck billed platypus. And yep, I’ve known how to spell it ever since.
This was a great family movie! Even though it wasn’t animated, my 3 and 5 year old boys watched it with me and stuck through most of it. Hunter started spelling words that he knew, and Colton got out his pencil and paper to “write”. It made me look forward to the time when I’ll be helping them learn the word lists for their own spelling bees.
Akeelah and the Bee is about a girl from an inner city school that has to enter the spelling bee as a consequence for missing too much class. She is afraid to do well; not wanting to be labeled a nerd or a know-it-all. However, with the help from her spelling coach (Fishburne), she finds within herself the desire to make and achieve her goals. This was an inspiring movie that I would recommend watching with your family. My favorite part of the whole show was this quote:
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? We were born to make manifest of the glory of God that is within us. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.”
