Currently browsing the "Family Fare" category.

Big Miracle

Joyful Noise

Joyful Noise is full of, well, joyful noise – at least when the music is playin’. Unfortunately, the movie slows down quite a bit between numbers. In other words, you have to be willing to forgive a heaping spoonful of preachy dialogue and contrived plot to truly enjoy the show. Don’t get me wrong. It’s a sweet, warm-hearted flick that should satisfy fans of the music competition genre (i.e. Gleeks). It’s just not as good as I hoped or expected it to be. I blame the trailer, which gives up all the best lines and high notes.

War Horse

A boy and his horse are at the center of this Steven Spielberg family drama, adapted from the Tony winning stage play, which was an adaptation of a children’s book. It is a typical Spielberg film, tugging on your heartstrings to the emotive strains of John Williams. Set in the beautiful English countryside, a strapping young lad, Albert, witnesses the birth of an amazing horse and watches as he matures into a gorgeous thoroughbred. Then in a stroke of luck, when he comes up for sale, Albert’s father is crazy enough to buy him, instead of a plough horse, which is what they really need. But unfortunately, World War One soon separates the young man from his beloved steed named Joey, and the film follows this incredible animal’s odyssey through the war and finally (and miraculously) back to his favorite human.

We Bought a Zoo

It’s a good thing Matt Damon didn’t succumb to warnings about working with children and animals. Because without Matt Damon, We Bought a Zoo could have been really lame. Instead, it’s a heartwarming family film that manages to tackle some pretty big issues without getting too sappy or sad.

Damon plays Benjamin Mee, a young widower struggling to raise his two kids, Dylan, 14, and Rosie, 7, in the months following his wife’s death. Desperate for a change of scenery and a fresh start, Mee moves the family out of the city and into a fixer-upper in the country that happens to be situated in the middle of a zoo that also needs some major fixer-uppin’.

The Adventures of Tintin

Isn’t Tintin supposed to be a dog? C’mon, I can’t be the only one who thought The Adventures of Tintin might be some new animated twist on the tales of a certain German Shepherd named Rin. My bad. The movie is actually based on a popular European series of comics created in 1929 by a Belgian artist known as Herge’. Tintin is not a german shepherd. He’s actually a curious young reporter-detective-adventurer who, along with his dog Snowy (a fox terrier), gets caught up in the wild and wacky world of criminals, villains, artifacts and treasure. He’s part “Brenda Starr”, part “Indiana Jones”.

From a purely visual standpoint, The Adventures of Tintin is rather stunning with its use of motion-capture technology. But the story itself falls a bit flat, even at the direction of the almighty Steven Spielberg.

Hugo

Martin Scorsese’s new child friendly adaptation of “The Invention of Hugo Cabret” called simply Hugo is the second film I’ve seen this month that is a paean to the world of silent film. Unlike The Artist, however, this one is neither silent nor is it in black and white. It is full, glorious color and even available in 3D. (I opted for the 2D version.) It is the story of an orphaned boy (Asa Butterfield) who lives in the secret chambers of a Paris train station keeping all the clocks running on time, while hiding from the over-zealous station master (Sacha Baron Cohen) who has it in for unaccompanied children.

The Muppets

It’s time to play the music. It’s time to light the lights… Oh, nostalgia take me away! I grew up with the Muppets and have fond memories of them. So when I heard there was a new Muppet movie coming out after all of these years I was excited to relive a little bit of my childhood. But I was also worried that it wouldn’t live up to my Muppet memories. Let’s face it, most things from our childhoods rarely do. But I am happy to report that The Muppets are just as fun now as they were back then.

Puss in Boots

Like a lot of people in the northeast, I got shut out of going to the movies Halloween weekend because of a freak October snowstorm. So what did I go to see this past weekend? Puss In Boots! That’s right, the cartoon cat seduced me, and I obviously wasn’t alone. Puss won the box office for the second week in a row even though Tower Heist was expected to take the top spot.

The Mighty Macs

Weak as it may be dramatically, it’s hard not to appreciate and support The Mighty Macs – mostly because it’s all-too rare that we see a sports movie featuring women beating the odds to become unlikely champions. It’s been nearly 20 years since A League of Their Own – and that one still had a guy at the helm (Tom Hanks). With The Mighty Macs, it’s girl power all the way. It’s Sister Act meets Hoosiers… let me explain:

Real Steel

Real Steel is essentially Rock ‘em Sock ‘em Robots (those of you of a certain age know what I’m talking about) with Hugh Jackman. And you know what? I’m okay with that. I can see why this movie is number one at the box office for the second week in a row. It’s a fun movie that’s got heart.