Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

This retelling of the classic children's picture book of the same name starts off pretty "paint by numbers irritating kid's movie" but give it a chance because as the family's bad day escalates so do the laughs.  By the end things are pretty surreal but hilarious and we were glad we persevered through the beginning.  And I really, really want a copy of Dick Van Dyke's book!  Nope, I'm not giving away the spoiler to that hint, you will have to find that comedy gold yourself.

Steve Carell and Jennifer Garner convincingly play 40 something parents struggling to balance mid life crisis', work and a bunch of school age kids and the kid actors are great too but Alexander's lisp is somewhat distracting (sorry kid!) rather than endearing.


Rating: We've never read the picture book so we enjoyed the movie for what it was.  We'll watch it again sometime in the future but likely to YouTube our favourite scenes more often.

Naughty bits: Alexander and the ... is suitable for above 5yrs or so.  There are lots of slapstick moments where characters appear to be injured (and would definitely be in real life) but no one is hurt so it's OK!  A little mild potty humour here and there spice things up a bit but overall a pretty clean family movie.  However nothing remains literally clean in this universe for long...

Snacks: Go out for Japanese BBQ together then come home and watch the movie.

Family In-quotes: "This day is so cursed"

Related Goodies:
The Book which inspired the movie

Incredibles 2

Some have argued that the golden age of Pixar is over and judging by their latest sequels (bar Toy Story 3) you would be inclined to agree.  So it was with a little trepidation that we took the morning off these school holidays to see Incredibles 2.  Would it disappoint like the Cars series?  Or would it pleasantly surprise us like Toy Story 3?

 Well... it lived up to it's name baby!  Incredibles 2 is pretty incredible.  A good story, great characters and plenty of action make for a great follow up to one of our favourite family movies.  Incredibles 2 picks up where part 1 left off and follows the family as they navigate politics, math and Jack Jack's new powers (OK spoiler alert but it's in the trailers!).

As we walked into the cinema there were multiple warnings that the film contains flashing sequences which could trigger epilepsy or sensory conditions and they are to be taken seriously!  This film is pretty full on and if the flashing sequences don't trigger your kid then the non-stop action may do.  However we loved the world of the Incredibles and the production design of part 2 is so cool.  I also want to live in a futuristic 1960's with today's modern technology!

Rating: We really enjoyed Incredibles 2 and will definitely watch it again when it hits digital release.  The chemistry between the family members is so spot on and makes you want to be one of Bob and Helen's kids just to be a part of it.

Naughty bits: See trigger warning above plus there is HEAPS of fighting in this movie.  More than the previous one!  Also a couple of sequences of sinister looking characters so I don't think Incredibles 2 is suitable for very young or sensitive children.  My youngest at 5years loved it but she is not sensitive at all LOL

Snacks: Chocolate chip cookies

Family In-quotes: "Num num, cookie!"

Related Goodies:
The Incredibles original movie.  ESSENTIAL viewing!

Peter Rabbit

aka General Hux's worst holiday ever.

The books are classics, the characters are beloved, what could go wrong?  Hmmm, where do I start...  To be fair kid 2 loved this movie.  But kid 2 is five and Peter Rabbit has cute animals, plenty of visual gags and bright colours so if you want your five year old to be entertained alone for an hour or so then Peter Rabbit is great!

But is Peter Rabbit good for the whole family?  Not so much.  We [parents and kid 1] were irritated by the random pop numbers which peppered the soundtrack, we were confused and bored by the abundance of obvious "comedians riffing with each other" scenes and the characters were SO contrived!  I would much rather watched a few episodes of The World of Peter Rabbit and Friends (link below) instead.
 
Rating: We will not watch this again and we are all secretly relieved that the youngest member is happy watching the Peter Rabbit TV series on Netflix and has not requested a re-view of the movie.

Naughty bits: There is much cartoon violence against CGI animals which very young viewers may find disturbing.  School age and above should have no worries unless especially sensitive to animals and threats made toward them.

Snacks: Carrot sticks and dip

Family In-quotes: "I've chilled out, man. I'm cool now"

Related Goodies:
The Peter Rabbit TV Series
Miss Potter movie
The World of Peter Rabbit and Friends TV Series