High School Musical

Remember the movie which inspired Glee, a million boys haircuts and made the world realise they had missed musicals for too long but you are embarrassed to admit you guiltily enjoyed?  Yeah, that would be Disney's High School Musical. 

A very young Zac Efron sings, b-balls and dances his little heart out to impress his mathletic crush in a classic opposites attract (and no one approves!) love story.  However its Ashley Tisdale as the dastardly Sharpay who really steals the show in my opinion and the songs will be stuck in your head for weeks.

Rating:  While I can embrace over the top cheesy musicals, the kid was not so impressed.  "The problem is that it has too many songs in it".  Well, it is called High School Musical.  And it's a chick flick to boot.  We give this a once in a while viewing rating but should your kid get swept up into the drama, you may find yourself watching much more often.

Naughty bits:  This film is as clean as Sharpay's fabulous outfit; that is until clumsy Gabriella tips her lunch on it.

Snacks:  Something school cafeteria worthy - like pizza!

Family In-quotes: "Hip hop is my passion. I love to pop, and lock, and jam, and break"

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Bedtime Stories

 "Oh not more Adam Sandler" you may be groaning.  Yes more Mr Sandler, but this time he's toned it down [a bit] I promise.  And this movie has a plot and some great cameos (I'm looking at you Russell Brand you fabulous thing).

This time Adam Sandler plays the lovable uncle left with his niece and nephew for a week while his uptight sister is out of town.  He treats them to forbidden food and stories at bedtime.  Stories which come to life in weird and unexpected ways.

There is the predictable love/hate interest, the ridiculous showdown and the bad guys get their comeuppance, all done in a Sanderesque way.  Fans of the guy will be glad he didn't include too many off colour jokes for the kids, not fans may not want to kill themselves.

Rating:  We like a bit of Adam now and then so we enjoyed it.  We'd probably only watch this one once in a while but we loved the imaginative worlds he conjured and the over the top characters.

Naughty bits:  There is the usual crass Sandler language (Sir Buttkiss) but nothing too serious, not to mention the obligatory fart jokes etc.  There are a couple of scary monsters so young kids might get frightened but older kids won't blink an eye at this one.

Snacks:  Wheatgrass cake.  Nah, have some real food like a cheeseburger (Bugsy's favourite)

Family In-quotes: "For Frrrrreeeeeee!!!"

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Paddington

 @Peter Peterson - your request has been heard and actioned!  We sat down this Friday to watch Paddington; this time as a whole family.  Number 2 kid (nearly 4) is much younger than number 1 so she doesn't usually join us for movie night.  This time we made an exception because we'd heard there was nothing in Paddington to worry about and plenty of visual gags to keep her attention.  It turned out to be a good decision because she watched it several times in the days after that night and loved it every time.

Rating: Paddington works on a few levels.  Plenty of visual gags and crazy situations for the younger ones, some suspense for the older ones and some wise cracking dialogue for the adults.  I loved the banter between the husband and wife.

Naughty bits:  Paddington is as clean as Millicent's lab coat and suitable for all ages.  I'm gonna give the one incidence of drunkedness a pass.

Snacks:  Marmalade on toast

Family In-quotes: "Hello.  Is it me you're looking for?"

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TV Special

As we start a new year I want to share with you the TV Series we enjoyed in 2015.

We started with:

1. The Simpsons

We often remark that one's pop culture education is seriously lacking if they haven't seen The Simpsons but we understand that it's not everyone's bag so no judgement here.  The Simpsons follows days in the life of the Simpson family with humour sometimes touching moments (the valentine's episode anyone?)  And just as everyone enjoys only some flavours of ice cream we enjoyed only certain seasons of the Simpsons; 1-9/10ish are fantastic and after about season 20ish are great too.  The seasons in the middle are a little "meh" for us.

The Simpsons are suitable for older primary age kids up because there are some more mature themes on occasion and many of the jokes are in the dialogue.

2. Malcolm in the Middle
We are almost finished following Malcolm and his family's hilarious antics which is a little sad.  We will miss them and the laugh out loud moments.  I think the parents have been enjoying this one WAY more than the kids as many of the jokes are aimed at parents but our kids have loved it too.

Again Malcolm in the Middle is suitable for older primary age kids up because there are some more mature themes and occasional violence/law breaking.

3. The Spectacular Spiderman
I have a bit of a soft spot for Spidey but I hate it when they make him too serious (a la the Tobey McGuire movies) so The Spectacular Spiderman sounded like good watching.  Witty, lighthearted dialogue, countless mutant bad guys, ongoing underlying plots and fantastic animation made this great viewing for our family.  Its just tragic this series was cut so short (only 2 seasons!!!) by company acquisitions.

Although there is heaps of violence in The Spectacular Spiderman it is Spidey vs. crazy monster and totally cartoon so none of our kids have worried about it.

4. Star Wars Rebels
We had tried hard to get into The Clone Wars but finding it too serious and political we gave up.  Then a friend told us about Rebels so we gave it a go.  If you ever saw, and enjoyed, Firefly then Rebels should deliver some good feels for you; humour, action and a rag tag group of characters trying to make a difference in this ol' galaxy are some of the treats in store for you.

Happy Gilmore

OK so Adam Sandler's humour is getting a little old these days but I feel that I must stand up for the classics; and Happy Gilmore is over the top Sandler at his best.  The adults of the family were pleased that we still laughed at a lot of it and the kid just thought it was super weird (especially the dwarf in the dream sequence.  Good times).  I somehow feel this is the appropriate response to one's first exposure to Adam Sandler. 

Rating:  It's super immature and silly but you gotta watch this at least once.

Naughty bits:  This one is strictly for the older kid.  Lingerie shots, sexual innuendos, bad language, fist fights, drinking.  Yeah, there's plenty here to be warned about but overall the story is sweet and the bad guys get their comeuppance.  Watch together at your discretion.  IMDB has a great parent's guide which gives more details and helps you make an informed decision.

Snacks:  Subway

Family In-quotes: "Somebody's closer"

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New Year's Eve - Charlie's Angels

Bill Murray is back and this time as the lovable Bosley; colleague of Charlie's Angels, three kickass gals with hot bods and detective skills.  Well some detective skills, enough to bungle them through their investigation anyhow.

The girls go through many disguises, locations and costume changes in their quest to solve the case with a twist at the end.



Rating:  We like action/comedy movies and this one was a lot of fun.  So the plot didn't make a lot of sense but it didn't matter there were heaps of cool action moments and eye candy abounded. 

Naughty bits:  I recommend this for older kids as there are heaps of sexual innuendos and more mature content violence and costume wise.

Snacks:  Blueberry muffins

Family In-quotes: "Caffeine helps us program"

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New Years Eve - We Bought a Zoo

Dads are so hot right now and the hottest of them all is Matt Damon, or so implies the first 10 minutes of We Bought a Zoo.  The story goes a little something like this: Matt's wife dies, he goes a little mad a buys a small country zoo, spends a fortune doing it up and opens it to the public again.  It's a quiet drama with some family tension but there are lots of cool animals so that was a highlight.

Rating:  We will probably only watch this one once.  It kept our interest but I suspect will be too slow upon a second viewing.

Naughty bits:  This movie is as clean as the park inspector's ute.  A kiss here, some snakes there, a couple of mild curse words, nothing to worry about.

Snacks:  Pizza

Family In-quotes: "You know, everybody here thinks you're a dick. I don't know what that means, but I don't think that"

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