The Last Air Bender (2010)

The last airbender is pretty bad. Based on a tv show on ABC kids and then written, produced and directed by M. Night Shyamalan I was expecting… something odd. The plot is that there are four clans of benders. They can bend water, air, earth or fire eg do some wushu moves and throw water, air etc around. Then there’s the avatar the one who can bend all of these elements and who is supposed to ensure balance but he’s been missing a while. In the avatars absence the fire clan get cranky and decide to take over. This doesn’t really deliver as a kids movie. The dialogue is so poor its like they gave the script to a transition class and got them to do the rewrites not to mention the acting. OUCH.

Shaun the Sheep (2007)

After appearing in A Close Shave with Wallace and Gromit Shaun has his own show.

This show is great, its funny and best of all there IS NO SINGING!!! If you have kids get this show you wont have to face the glare of the glitter plastered all over High Fives faces or put up with the enthusiastic singing of The Wiggles.

There is also no talking just noises here and there. So seriously what are you waiting for. It’s also not insulting to children like a lot of kids shows are and I know a lot of adults who watch it too. Shaun is fun for the whole family.

Top Ten Kids Movies I Watched Every School Holidays – by Guest Ryzyu

The Goonies – GOONIES NEVER SAY DIE!
The Last Star Fighter
Labyrinth
Ladyhawke
Willow
The Princess Bride
The Dark Crystal
Star Wars [Original]
Flight of the Navigator
Never Ending Story
Highlander

(Ok so it’s 11 but its my freakin list!)

Where The Wild Things Are (2009)

Absolutely brilliant, it’s an homage to the book (Where The Wild Things Are – Maurice Sendak) and adults who read the book will really enjoy it. This was one of my favorite books as a child and I have been dying to see the film. It is worth the wait! Max Records is excellent as Max, he is so believable! It also stars Catherine Keener as Maxs mum and a cameo from Mark Ruffalo. The voices of the monsters are nicely brought to life by James Gandolfini, Paul Dano, Lauren Ambrose and Forest Whitaker.

Director Spike Jonze is careful to warn audiences that this is not a kids movie and I’d have to agree. I think it might feel too slow and long for 90′s children with extremely short attention spans, it could also be a bit too dark for children. It deals with some heavy concepts that might be a bit depressing or overwhelming for littlies. There is a lot more heaviness to this then the book – monsters with issues, dealing with people problem is something the book didn’t touch on. The book has a message but is more lighthearted then the film.

The monsters are amazing, they are just like the book, the details were lovingly recreated and you really just wanna hug one of em! I loved Max’s costume it was spot on, everything style wise marries up really well with the book.

It was gorgeous, I loved it.

The most disturbing thing for me was the names of the monsters (who are not named in the book) – Carol? Bob and Terry? – did I miss something!

9 (2009)

This film is based on the short film of the same name released in 2005. 9 is a stitch punk rag doll who awakens in a post apocolyptic, his scientist creator has died and 9 is alone. Humanity has been overrun by its scientific and mechanical advances and their creations run riot amongst the stark remnants. The humans are gone and stitch punks are alone to deal with the machines that caused the death of humanity.

Directed by Shane Acker and produced by Tim Burton and Timur Bekmambetov I had big expectations and they delivered. This film is amazing. The CG is incredible, the story is brilliant, the voice acting is excellent, they paid attention to the details. Its probably ok for kids over 13 years old as it it quite dark and could be scary for younger children.

(Edited from Wiki) This film made clever use of viral marketing. In April 2009, the movie’s “Scientist” began making journal entries on a Facebook page called “9 Scientist”. Daily thoughts and images of his inventions are updated frequently. The “9 Scientist” Facebook page seemingly references events leading up to the release of the movie 9.

Most recently, a new viral campaign promotional website for 9 has been launched. It sheds some light upon the background of the 9 world.

Invader ZIM (2001)

After angering the rulers of his home world Irk, Zim is sent on a secret mission to earth. Where the annoyed rulers of Irk known as ‘the tallests’ (because they are the tallest) hope to never hear from him again. Zim has no comprehension that his banishment is due to him destroying his own planet in Operation Impending Doom 1. Zim is excited and determined to succeed in destroying Earth and returning home a hero.

Accompanied by GIR a malfunctioning SIR Unit (Standard-Issue Information Retrieval Unit) who isn’t much help Zim enrols in a school where he is instantly recognised and outed as an alien by Dib a child obsessed with the paranormal. Luckily for Zim no one believes Dib and the two become arch rivals.

This show is like a cartoon black comedy, its dark and could be too dark for young children. I think it would be great for 13 year olds and older. It was funny and very entertaining. Invader Zim was created by comic book writer Jhonen Vasquez the guy behind JTHM (Johnny the Homicidal Maniac), I Feel Sick and Fillerbunny. JTHM and Squee being my personal faves.

Suckily Invader Zim, was canceled with only 27 half-hour episodes due to its dark tone and violence despite its good ratings. Vasquez called working with thousands of people at Nickelodeon instead of by himself, “absolute misery”.

Even worse is that despite the merch making lots of $$$ Vasquez doesn’t see a dime as all rights to Invader Zim merch is owned solely by Nickelodeon.

Invader Zim won an Emmy, an Annie, and the award for Best Title Sequence at the 2001 World Animation Celebration awards. It also garnered seven other nominations. Due to the continued fan base and above average DVD sales since cancellation Invader Zim has been labelled a cult hit.

Bedtime Stories (2008)

Skeeter Bronson (Adam Sandler) is a handyman at the Hotel his dad used to own but had to sell. Skeeters sister Wendy asks him to look after her kids Bobbi and Patrick for a few days and he agrees. He tells them a bedtime story which the children add to enthusiastically.

Everything gets interesting when the events in Skeeters real life begin to mirror the bedtime stories and can he manipulate the stories for his own gain?

Its a funny and entertaining family movie.

Fact:
Between December when if first opened and February the film had grossed $206,108,939 worldwide.

G-Force (2009)

What a rollercoaster ride! Kah-ray-zee!

So it could just be me (and most probably is) but I was stressed out of my brain. I have two guinea pigs Mila and Sooki and I was worried for those movie piggies. Bing (see his work on you tube) is a steady fave of mine. Whenever the day is blue, I youtube bing. His dancing and singing makes everything feel like a bowl of sunshine. But I digress. Of course the film is adorable, cute, funny, overamped, entertainment for the kiddies.

Five minutes in, my brain went… hang on a sec… there’s something different about this. So after some consultation I ascertained it was Jerry Bruckheimers latest offering which explains the difference. The quality of this is amazing. The cinematography, the angles, the views, the strong themes in Jerrys work recur in this (friends pulling together to solve a problem etc.), the characters are so believable, there are a few cheap laughs (ooh a guinea pig farting super funny for the kidlets) but these are underplayed.

The film doesn’t rely on the cheap humour, there are funny things to entertain the kids but the script, the themes and the characters are solid. The characters are treated with respect by Bruckheimer, the child viewers are treated with respect, the script plays up to them, not down to them and is not insulting. There’s no innuendo to entertain the parents because its not necessary. The film is so well done, its funny, clever and entertaining in its own right.

I was stressed out of my brain i’ve watched since The Bourne Identity! At least during this I could drink and eat. I had a whole box of popcorn at the start of The Bourne Identity and a whole box at the end. So like I was saying it was stressful – there’s a lot of close calls for these tiny piggie heroes, sensitive kids might find it stressful like I did but for anyone whos older then 10 or not a freak like me, they’ll laugh their asses off!

Fine piggie viewing.

Sooki and Mila gave it 4 fingers up (they have no thumbs) so thats like a 10 out of 10. They’re also waiting for Hurley and Buster respectively to call. I’m really not sure how to approach this with them.

Penelope (2006)

This is a fascinating fairy tale that could perhaps in some parts be a bit harsh for really young children. Penelope (Christina Ricci) is born with the nose and ears of pig due to a family curse. Her parents Franklin (Richard E. Grant) and Jessica (Catherine O’Hara) do what every well meaning rich parent would, they fake her death and hide her away from the world in their mansion. Its said that the curse can only be lifted if one of her own learns to love her, her parents taking into account their mass wealth realize that in order for the curse to be broken Penelope must marry a rich a blue blood. They turn their attentions to finding such a man to fall in love with her. Penelopes path crosses with Max (James McAvoy) who isn’t a blue blood but has pretended to be in order to snap a photo of Penelope for Lemon (Peter Dinklage) an obsessed reporter. Penelope’s life turns upside down and she decides to escape into the real world. Is the world ready for Penelope?

The cameos in this are amazing with Reece Witherspoon, Nick Frost, Russell Brand, Lenny Henry and more popping up here and there. This film is quirky, magical and delightful. Its a beautiful fairy tale.

The absolute stand out for me was Peter Dinklage who has the most soulful face i’ve ever seen. He manages to convey a depth of emotion I don’t think most Hollywood actors are capable of. He is utterly brilliant in this as he was in ‘In Bruges’.

Ponyo (2009)

This film from Studio Ghibli really delivers. Ponyo is a simple story of the friendship between a boy called Sosuke and a fish called Ponyo. Its told extremely well and despite the long running time and English subtitles the children in the audience remained spell bound to the end. Which is impressive considering a large number of them would have been too young to read the subtitles. Its just a really delightful film that captures the essence of childhood. Its full of wonder, magic and real life. Its told in a traditional Japanese style which is just so refreshing from the usual disney kids films with the overpowering music and constant visual bombardment that often detracts from the story. I would really recommend seeing it in the original Japanese with the subtitles despite all the big names they got to the voices. I haven’t seen the English version but doubt it would be a patch on the Japanese one. Its genuinely enjoyable for adults and children alike and it doesn’t need to resort to tacky jokes and innuendo to keep adults engaged. This film is just delightful, its fun, heartwarming and refreshing.