[Barksum]

I'd be interested in hearing your reviews on movies any of you have seen recently. I try to read up about movies before the kids see them, and we often pre-view movies and decide if the kids get to see them. Still, I'm ALWAYS on the look out for any suggestions from fellow parents, particularly special needs parents. It doesn't have to be an in-the-theaters-now movie, either. Anything you can rent is worth a review, too.

So, any good movies out there?

Any to avoid like the plague?

Be sure to say WHY you like/dislike a movie.

I'm drawing a blank on movies I've seen recently.... ROFL I'll have to think about that while I'm folding laundry!

[Indy]

Avoid Transformers if you have little kids - lots of sexual inuendo and cussing. Awesome graphics in iMax theater. Lots of action.

Avoid Public Enemy if you don't like violence - VERY graphic. Great guy movie and teaching older sons how bad crime can end a life. It was a teaching movie for V.

Harry Potter was good for 12 and up.

[kay]

UP was wonderful. I don't remember the ratings, but I think it would be good for all ages. Some sadness, some scariness, but very well done. (Depending on the kids, I think the dogs might be frightening.)

[kretzklan]

My 12 year old was bored stiff by UP...I also thought it was quite long for the story line...but for littler ones - it's great. Although I have to say that my AD kids didn't actually get the story line at all!

I saw Slumdog Millionaire in the theaters and loved it so much that I bought it and watched it again with the kids. It's a judgement call with your own kids but mine handled it well. Again, AD dude and dudette didn't get the sad parts (or didn't connect to them) - but they did have good questions later. I've noticed that all three of my kids have chosen to watch it again in their own private TV time...

I watched Seven Pounds with my oldest. The love story was a little 'much' - but the story itself was wonderful.

[Lorraine123]

I recently went to see "My Sister's Keeper" with a friend of mine. Definitely not a kids movie, but I have to say it was very moving. I highly recommend it for all parents of children with special needs.

[arkansas parent]

Originally Posted by Indy

Avoid Transformers if you have little kids - lots of sexual inuendo and cussing..

DH took T to watch Tranformers a couple weeks ago. After they left for the theater I asked DD what the rating was. When she said PG 13 I nearly had a heart attack. DH doesn't think about things like that. He didn't expect it to have sex stuff in it. I wanted to KILL him. Thankfully T didn't understand it.( at least that is what I keep telling myself)

[SuzBerg]

My recommendations are more for YOU Barki than the kids...... I TOTALLY agree (as usual) with Lorraine, I LOVED Sister's Keeper. VERY SAD but as the mom of a medically fragile kiddo it was very moving to me and I related a lot to the movie (and the psycho mom that will do anything for her kid, though I wouldn't go as far as the mom in the movie did).

And just for fun, entertaining Chick Flick's....I recommend "Confessions of a Shopaholic" and "Bride Wars". Both are cute, without needing to solve a mystery, teach a lesson, or serve a political agenda, you can just sit and watch them and forget real life for a while!

[jessnboys]

I took M to see the new Ice Age. He LOVED it! (9 yo w/ dev. delay). I was not very impressed. There were funny parts, but it wasn't as good as the first 2.

I'm taking a group of boys to see G Force this weekend. I'm hoping I can get into guinea pigs saving the world...lol

[aspenhall]

My dd LOVES Transformers...But she's 8 and has different triggers.....the tongue was a bit much, as was the 30 foot tall male backside in a thong!

[ajjhmf]

We said no to Transformers because of all the leg humping they put in. Too much for kiddo to handle. I would certainly prescreen to see if it's not good for your kids.

Up was awesome, although there is a death at teh very beginning that if your kids are sensitive to films, may start them crying and ruin the movie for them. One little girl at Disney left the theater when she burst into tears.

Harry Potter, good as always, but is darker like the book is. I would let DS see it if he had finished the book yet. It's PG and there is nothing bad. Just the usual wizarding world stuff.

I haven't seen anything else. We rarely take the kids more than once or possibly twice a year. And at home they stick to Pixar, Disney and, of course, Star Wars.

[Barksum]

Tonight at dinner we were discussing which Barbie movie was the best. I know you ALL are into Barbie here! LOL

The hands down fave Barbie movie is Barbie Nutcracker. No one was that impressed with Barbie Christmas Carol or Barbie Mariposa. However, Barbie Rapunzel, Barbie and the 12 Dancing Princesses, and Island Princess Barbie were all thought to be fine, but not as good as Nutcracker.

Dh and I were fans of Dr. Who back in the day, and have enjoyed the new Dr. Who series. So far our fave episode of the New Who is "Blink", with the assassin weeping angels.

Another Brit show we like is Primeval. Sci fi series about time portals that allow various animals from throughout evolutionary time periods to pop into and out of our time. The sub plot that grows is that the main hero guy's wife is inside the parallel timelines and seems to be involved in planning various nefarious deeds. This is not for the kiddies who might be frightened by primeval beasts devouring people. Additionally the plot might not really click with them. We are waiting for the next season to be released on DVD.

The kids' all time fave cartoons are Looney Tunes, followed closely by The Pink Panther. They will belly laugh regularly while watching those. Ds(11) yells at the screen, urging the coyote to, "PUSH THE BUTTON!! Push it NOW!!!" in the hopes that the coyote will prevail against the road runner. They all are interested in the Latin names of animals now, thanks to Road Runner and Coyote. And they can sing some opera, too. "Kill the waaaabbit, kill the waaaabbit...."

Pink Panther's appeal is that there is so little talking and yet such great story lines. The kids all find that fascinating.

I think we've also seen just about every make of Jules Verne's Mysterious Island. Some were pretty cheesy. I didn't know that there were SO many Mysterious Island movies and spin offs of them.

The last movie Dh and I saw in the theater was the new Star Trek movie. We agreed that it was a good movie, but not for the kids. When Kirk takes the car for a spin we knew right then that there was no WAY we'd ever let the boys watch the movie!! My kids would see that and believe that they, too, could drive around. And then there were the relatively minor 'romance' scenes with all that green skin that wouldn't be appropriate for the younger crowd.

Looking forward to hearing about G Force guinea pigs. I couldn't see much plot evident in the commercials for that one, but am willing to suspend judgment.

Anyone seen Night at the Museum 2?

[AmyAnne]

Let's see....

Austin recommends the new Harry Potter, which he saw with a friend so I did not see. He also loved Ice Age, which he saw with DH, who was not impressed with it.

As a family we have seen.... "Bedtime Stories", which was cute. "Inkheart", which Austin liked better than we did... I had trouble following it and we were all yelling at the TV at the stupidity of the characters. "the Last Mimzy" which STANK.... it was a screaming advertisement for bad parenting consequences.

DH and I are 3/4 of the way through "Swing Vote" which is unimpressive, especially because of the parenting/ social services themes. We also saw SLumdog Millionaire, which is good if you can make it through the first 40 minutes or so but I would not recommend for kids. Also, I saw Land of the Lost which was insanely stupid, so I would only recommend it to people who grew up watching the show as kids, out of loyalty to the show.

[ajjhmf]

I'd forgotten we took J and some friends to see Night at the Museum 2. It was a fun movie that I would have taken my almost 5yo too. In the spirit of most kids movie sequels, it's pretty much the same idea but with a few new characters thrown in.

[Original Mike]

So far, this summer, we've seen four movies. Here are my thoughts...


"Night at the Museum 2" -- not a bad movie, but the first one was better. R and I went to see it and he loved it! Almost nothing objectionable in it and some really cute scenes.

"UP" -- R and I both really liked this movie. There is some sadness at the beginning, but the plot lightens up as the movie progresses. The characters are really great, too! (I defy ANYONE not to like "Doug the Dog").

"Public Enemies" -- A, RC, C, and I went to see this one. Very intense with lots of violence, including violence against women. Johnny Depp gives a tour de force performance and the movie holds your attention throughout. Definitely not for kids!!

"Harry Potter" -- All four boys liked it, but RC and I both thought it was not up to the standard of the previous movies. It was almost like they just "phoned it in". There are some good scenes and the visuals are awesome, but the plot just seems forced and they leave out a LOT from the book. One of the major characters dies at the end, and that might rattle little or sensetive kids.

[chucklebelly]

A great one to rent is Kit Kitteridge: An American Girl. I cannot recommend it highly enough. We saw it in the theatre when it was out last summer and loved it. I wasn't even sure I wanted to see it since I'm not keen to give any money to the whole American Girl empire, but I was so glad my partner made me go. It's the story of a plucky young girl who wants to be a reporter during the 1930s and about how she and her family cope during the Great Depression. We loved how compassionately it treated those who are less fortunate. It's a G rated movie with no questionable content whatsoever.