Jun 6 2014

Disney Movie Review – Maleficent

Photo courtesy of http://www.disney.wikia.com

This past weekend I was in Texas for a family wedding and had a few hours free before the big event. My husband, my boys and I decided that would be the perfect time to check out Disney’s latest movie, Maleficent. I had no idea what to expect of the movie, and I was very pleasantly surprised. It reminded me a lot of Wicked in the idea of telling the story from the villain’s perspective. My husband really enjoyed the fantasy-like quality of the film and there was just enough action for my boys to enjoy it as well. I would definitely recommend seeing this movie!

A couple of things to be aware of if you are taking very young children…this movie contains a lot of dark and scary images including war scenes and an attempted murder. In spite of this there is no real gore or blood shown. For a more detailed description and reviews, please check out this link.

Have you seen Maleficent? Did you enjoy it? Please leave a comment!

May 16 2014

Disney Movie Review – Million Dollar Arm

Photo Courtesy of http://www.facebook.com/milliondollararm

Today I was lucky enough to spend some time seeing the new Disney movie, Million Dollar Arm, with my oldest son. We’ve been eager to see this movie for weeks ever since we saw the first preview. My son is a huge sports fan! Over the years he’s played a variety of sports like soccer, baseball and flag football and knows more about the NFL than most grown men I know. We had high hopes going into this movie and we weren’t disappointed!

WARNING – SPOILERS FOLLOWING THE PHOTO!!

Photo Courtesy of http://www.facebook.com/milliondollararm

Million Dollar Arm is a heart warming film based on a true story about a sports agent who tries to save his failing business by traveling to India to recruit a cricket player to play major league baseball in the United States.

My 11-year-old son and I really enjoyed this show! The two-hour film moved along at a steady pace and kept us entertained throughout. This movie had moments that were funny, touching, sentimental, romantic (which was met by loud groans and a couple shouts of “gross!” from some young boys in the audience) and inspiring! While the story line and characters weren’t quite as well-developed as some other classics like the movie Rudy, you couldn’t help but become invested in these individuals and root for everything to work out well for them.

A few things to be aware of when taking young children to this film…there is minimal bad language, no violence, no nudity, some alcohol use, some sexual innuendo that would go over the heads of very young kids and some scenes of vomiting. Million Dollar Arm showed positive and meaningful messages about the importance of family, fun, love, perseverance and going for your dreams. Overall, this feel-good sports movie would be terrific for the entire family!

For more detailed information about the film and its content, check out this link.

Have you seen Million Dollar Arm? What did you think? Please leave a comment!

Apr 20 2014

Disney Movie Review – Bears

This weekend I had the pleasure of seeing the new Disneynature film, Bears, with my eight-year-old son. He really wanted to see this movie after watching the preview a few weeks ago. At first, I was a little reluctant fearing that this was going to be like so many other Disney movies and something terrible was going to happen to these adorable bears. But my son was really eager to go, so despite my reservations, I decided to brave it anyway!

WARNING – SPOILERS FOLLOWING THE PHOTO!!

Photo Courtesy Of Disneynature http://nature.disney.com/

The movie runs a little over an hour and follows a mother bear and her two cubs during their first year of life. The movie was filmed in Alaska and the scenery is stunning! The narration is very well done and the story moves along at a steady pace. I was pleasantly surprised to see that all of the bears survived. However, they encountered several harrowing experiences like avalanches, wolves, near starvation and other more aggressive bears. My son and I were very nervous for the bears’ survival several times throughout the film. I would definitely recommend this movie for families, but keep in mind that it might be too nerve-wracking for very sensitive children to watch. As bear lovers and living in bear country ourselves (in fact my son’s school was on lockdown earlier this year due to a bear on the playground!), we really enjoyed this movie!

What about you? Have you seen Bears and what did you think? Please leave a comment!