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The Princess and the Frog Review: Disney You Went Too Far

I’m unapologetically on a soap box for this one.

Do you know how much I wanted to love this movie?  Really love it and not just for my kids sake but for mine?  I LOVE Beauty and the Beast.  I LOVE Aladdin.  I LOVE Little Mermaid.  I still have the Pocahontas cup I collected from Burger King round about 1993.  I’ve been glad to watch Beauty and the Beast 25 times straight with my girls and happy to take them to the play at Disney.  I wanted so much to like it.  I wanted so much for my girls to love it.  I loved that they are old enough to remember opening night and I wanted so much for them to buy the movie on DVD and watch it over and over.  But on the way home I declared to my girls I was sorry but we would not be buying it.  I’m feeling disappointed and let-down by Disney.  And here’s why…

Here’s the thing you have to understand.  I’m conservative but I get the fact that there is good guy/bad guy thing in Disney movies.  Ursula always kind of scared me but it’s easy to explain she’s just mean and octopuses aren’t really like that and it’s all fake.  Jafar always was just kind of stuffy to me.  Gaston was just full of himself and rude.  Even the witch in Cinderella can easily be explained away because there just aren’t witches like that for real.  But the bad guy in this movie?  Was just a guy and he was downright evil.  And I do mean EEEEVIILLL.  My problem with this movie boils down to the fact that the evil was just too evil. I’ll have to give you some background of the movie to understand but bear with me I don’t think I give away any huge spoilers.

The movie takes place in New Orleans.  The prince from another country has been cut off from his family and has come to America to live the good life.  Tiana is simply the daughter of hardworking parents with a dream to own a restaurant.  The prince is taken in by the bad guy in the movie Dr. Facilier down an alley into wait for it…a VooDoo shop .  The entire scene is standard Disney where the bad guy gets his scene/song.  Dr. Facilier reads the prince’s tarot cards and paints this grand picture of what his life could be like if he’d just make a deal with him.  The prince, still greedy and wanting to live the high life again, agrees.  The doctor then uses voo doo on him which is what eventually turns him into a frog.  It may not sound too bad on paper but you don’t just get the idea of voo doo..the words are literally written on the walls and it’s mentioned a few times by the doctor and the tarot card readings are the center of attention of the scene.  Emma closed her eyes on her own because the scene was so scary.  It just dripped with evil.  That’s really the only way I can explain it.  My sister Heather was there and I looked at her at the end, feeling very uncomfortable and said I didn’t like that..she mouthed Me either!

The movie went on and I have to say the good parts were good.  But intertwined were these scenes with the doctor that made me very uncomfortable and to me were unnecessary. At one part, they go see Mama Odie, another voo doo doctor in the bayou who has a good message to them and refuses to turn them back to humans so they can “dig a little deeper” and find what they NEED (he needs love, not money and she needs someone to share all her hard work with) and not what they want.  But in the midst, she is using basically witchcraft to look into the future to see what that might be that they need.  So even the person pointing them towards good is using witchcraft to do so.

At one point, Dr. Facilier needs reinforcements and goes to see some sort of almighty evil voo doo mask and agrees to hand over all the souls of New Orleans for them to torture if he’ll just release some more demons to help him find the prince.  They agree and these evil spirits are running rampant to find the frog.

And at the end, Dr. Facilier actually has a voo doo doll of the man he’s trying to harm and has a needle, getting ready to stick the voo doo doll.

All of it was just TOO MUCH.  I did not feel good about the fact that I had to walk out of a DISNEY movie, a CHILD”S Disney movie and even THINK about voo doo and tarot cards.  It was very unnecessary and disappointing that Disney felt the need to tie those themes in so heavily to the movie.

I GET that my kids are just kids.  I GET that that gave me the opportunity to talk about these things that I feel are evil.    I GET that my girls aren’t going to run out and start witchcraft. I GET that the voo doo and tarot cards were something that they BAD GUYS were doing.  But when kids watch something over and over, those things become comfortable and familiar and honestly, I just don’t think it was appropriate for them to be learning about them at their age  from a Disney movie.

All that said, I don’t want to totally bash the movie.  There are many redeeming qualities about it.  They were very clear through Tiana that hard work and love and family are important.  It was clear that how you look doesn’t mean as much as who you are on the inside.  The movie was very funny in parts, sweet in parts and just plain beautiful in parts.   Tiana, in fact, is the one that ended up smashing the voo doo necklace and saying “it’s not right”.  I applaud them for that.  I really do.  But again, why should a Disney princess be fighting against a voo doo doctor to begin with?  I think I would have even been ok with a “generic witch” casting a “generic spell” on them to turn them to frogs.

As a conservative parent, I feel it’s necessary to tell parents to proceed with caution.  You may not feel that it’s necessary to talk about to your kids about it but I did.    Even as an adult, one that loves books about vampires and werewolves and even one that loves other Disney movies I was UNCOMFORTABLE watching it and I honestly don’t plan to see it again.  Which is a shame.  Because Tiana is a lovely princess and the moral lessons are worthy.  Walking away though, I just can’t seem to wipe the uneasiness from my gut.  I just can’t.

Twilight Saga: Vampire Violence – Please explain

Heather and I were discussing this at 2:30am on the way home from the midnight showing….can someone please explain this reaction by a vampire when there is a threat?  Why the claw?  Don’t vampires BITE?  Shouldn’t he be baring teeth or something?  The only thing I could think is there getting ready to grab someone to bite them.

New Moon – Favorite Details

Ok, yeah, I had to go back and make a list of all my favorite “little things” from the movie. 

• Edward quoting Romeo and Juliet
• Jacob speaking Quileute to Bella. Oh my! I think that might have been my favorite line and I don’t even know what he said!! Someone tell me! I read somewhere Taylor is not telling anyone and there are only 4 people in the world that still speak Quileute.  I hope we get a translation soon!
• The end! I can’t believe they ended with Marry Me
• Emmett’s comment to Edward about him dating an older woman
• Eric crying during Romeo and Juliet
• Mike telling Jacob and Bella he needed to go home
• Alice saying I’ll be back when you put the dog out
• Mike telling Bella she needed to put a little protein in there
• Bella telling Edward to shut up
• Edward saying you can’t trust vampires…trust me
• Jacob crying in the final scene
• Loved that they kept the months just after Edward left in

New Moon Review

The short version?  New Moon was fantastic.  It blew Twilight out of the water 100 times over. 

The long version.

What I liked:

• Chris stayed so close to the book.  That by far is my favorite adaptation I’ve ever seen.  He took all the best scenes in New Moon and then made any other subplots work around it.  I recognized so much of the dialogue from the book and then there was other stuff that just made it better.
• The movie was so rich.  So nice to have that blue tint gone. 
• The acting was better.  I was a little worried that the stuttering manic Kristen we saw at the end of Twilight would be all we saw of her this movie but I was wrong.  She did a fantastic job.  And all the supporting actors were fantastic as well.  I was also a little worried about the werewolves but I felt like their acting was authentic.  Even Quil and Embry were funny.  Even Emily’s small part was great.  And Harry!  He was funny.
• Charlie was amazing.  He’s so funny and real.
• The makeup and hair was so much better.  I am in love with Victoria’s red curls!
• I loved that the setting was the same.  I guess I thought for some reason that her room might be different or the school or something. I don’t know.  Even with all the changes, a lot of it still felt like Twilight, which was nice. 
• Edward’s sparkling was SO much better.  I loved that one scene when they were taking them to see the Volturi and you got one small glimpse of his shoulder in the sun.  I really felt like he glittered!
• The cliff diving.  So much more authentic than I thought it was going to be.
• Bella learning to ride the bike.  Loved that Jake still had a sense of humor.
• The volturi.  Especially Aro.  He nailed his character.  The fight scene was cringeworthy and even as an addition, was perfect.
• The werewolves.  They were AMAZING.  Really.  So, so, so realistic.  I loved the color of Jacob.  It was so perfect.  And the way they fought. Everything.   It was just how I imagined and even better.
• Edward smiled!  It was so good to see him and Bella happy.  I know he’s a tortured soul and all but in the book he IS happy. 
• In fact, I loved all of the Edward/Bella interaction.  I felt like we got to see Edward’s devotion to Bella, not just Bella’s.
• JACOB!!!!  Taylor Lautner KILLED this movie.  Yes, he looked um, great (17, 17, 17) but his portrayal of Jacob was just amazing.  Huge kudos to him.  I loved the scene in the kitchen when they almost kiss.  It nearly tore my heart out when Kristen chose Edward.  Seriously, that tore me up much more than when Edward left Bella.  I knew Edward was lying.  But Bella? She means it.  She’d pick Edward over Jacob any day and wow, Jacob loves her so much.  And I love that Bella says she loves him but it’s just not enough and it broke my heart!

What I didn’t like:

• First and foremost, the worst part of the movie was the stupid scene when Aro reads Alice’s mind and sees Edward and Bella running through the forest.  Seriously?  That’s how she knows Bella is a vampire?  Dumb, dumb, dumb.
• Makeup was a *little* sketchy.  At one time I saw Edward’s hand looked a little dusty.  Also the Volturi makeup was a tad weird for me.
• Not a huge fan of the music placement.  Seemed like good songs on their own but not entirely crazy about them in the movie.
• The elevator ride to the Volturi.  The music was really weird here, it was unnecessary screen time and it felt more like a ride down to the Spa.
• I have to admit the kissing between Edward and Bella seemed a little awkward.  Maybe that’s the point.  Maybe Edward can never truly relax around Bella.  But compared to Bella and Jacob?  Sorry, don’t care for much screentime of them kissing.  Boo.
• Jasper still seemed odd in this movie.
• Alice’s scarf and outfit in Italy was weird.

The things I didn’t like were very, very nitpicky.  I just felt like Chris did an AMAZING job at sticking with the book.  In fact, I would almost say that I liked this as much or even more than New Moon.  Then again, it was my least favorite of the 4 so possibly some things that didn’t translate well on paper went over much better visually.  I don’t know.  All I can say is I’m extremely happy with the movie.  I wish I could write down what I loved about every single scene and all the quotes that were so funny and moving.  Maybe I’ll continue to do some posts about it just to get it out of system.  In the meantime, I’m trying to figure out when to get back to the theater to see it again!

The Proposal

I remember months ago being in the theater and seeing previews for The Proposal  (Let me just throw in here we saw the preview for New Moon!). Always a Sandra Bullock fan (well, almost always), I knew it was going to be a must-see.  Throw in some Ryan Reynolds and well, it’s no surprise I jumped at Jill’s invitation to go Saturday night on opening weekend.

I was expecting cute.  And a little funny.  Maybe You’ve Got Mail kind of funny.  Something to make you smile once in a while.  But ya’ll.  This movie was SO FUNNY.  I know it looked like I’d been crying for the past two hours when I walked out of the theater.  And I guess I had because I laughed so hard so many times I was crying.  And clapping.  It was that kind of funny.

Sandra tends to play characters that are a little clumsy.  She’s good at the physical comedy.  In the movie she was supposed to be playing uber successful, snotty, domineering Book Editor in Chief (?).  In one scene, she has to get up from a kneeling position with 4″ heels and Sandra made it funny.  And maybe not quite how that character would have done it but it was still funny.  So, yeah, I’m not sure if she hangs on to the character 100% the whole time but then again, her character does make a bit of transformation and her clumsy and off-the-wall antics are the only thing that make you like her outside of her general attitude.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen Ryan Reynolds in anything except for Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.  But let me tell you, the guy is FUNNY.  He delivered his sarcastic lines to perfection.  Loved the line with the dog in the bathroom and also “Hence, the boat.”  With the romance? Eh, not sure he’s a Richard Gere but he sure is pretty to look at and did I mention funny?

Betty White completed this movie and made it fabulous.  Everyone know the caliber of actress she is.  In this movie, she played a quirky but heartfelt 90 year old grandmother of Ryan’s character.  And man, was she great.  And funny of course.

This movie is a definite must-see.  It’s going down as one of my favorite romantic comedies ever.   And for those that haven’t seen the preview, here ya go. And the best part? That’s not all the funny parts.

Even better? Here are some outtakes!

17 Again Movie Review

I’ve tried to give this review a little time.  I really don’t want every other sentence to be Zac Efron is so HOT.  But I’m still thinking it could turn out that way.  Let me try to hold back and get a decent review out.

Heather gushed about the screening last Monday and the ever dependent movie critic, she was right.  I was gushing about it as soon as the credits were rolling.  And no, not just about how hot Zac Efron is.

The movie basically is about a guy named Mike who gets his girlfriend pregnant in high school, gives up a basketball career to raise a family and grows to resent his wife.  Twenty years later they’re divorcing and he wishes he could do it all over again.  He gets his wish and is put back in his 17 year old body.  He thinks he’s been given his chance to be 17 again only to learn he was sent back to save his family.  His older daughter is dating the uber popular but bully basketball star while his younger son is the recipient of his bullying.  He poses as the new guy in school and helps them through their troubles as their new friend.  And not to mention he wins his wife back in the process.

Well, let me tell you.  It sounds a little campy but it was a fantastic movie.  Here are my thoughts:

• Zac (yes, because we’re on a first name basis) said in an interview that this was a transitional movie for him and I couldn’t agree more.  At 17 he is a popular, confident basketball player that apparently can dance too.  And yes, he does even get out on the basketball floor and does a dance with the cheerleaders.   Sound familiar? But then you see him playing a 37 year old the rest of the movie and he honest to goodness was believable.
• His best friend played by Thomas Lennon (I Love You, Man; Hancock; Reno 911!) was absolutely hilarious.  Him and Zac were a great comedic pairing.  The “You look like Clay Aiken” line was one of my favorites. And paired up with Melora Hardin (Jan from The Office) was gold.
• Zac’s character Mike being 17 Again and in his family’s life made for some well, interesting dynamics.  On the one hand, he’s fighting for his daughter telling her how much more she’s worth than her current boyfriend and she ends up falling for Mike.  You were plastered to the back of your chair at times when the two of them were together going “Ewwwww!”  Which was odd because there is Zac, hot guy himself, with a beautiful teenage girl and you’d think they would be the two you’d be rooting for but you can imagine how awkward those scenes were.  And then there is Mike with his wife.  Except now he’s 17 again and he looks JUST LIKE he did when he was 17.  His wife is automatically drawn to him and in one scene they end up dancing and almost kissing.  On one hand you’re rooting for them because he’s winning his wife back but part of you is weirded out because she’s 20 years older than him.  And then ANOTHER part of you is cheering because OMG Zac is with someone 20 years older than him.  RAWR, where’s my cougars at??

All that to say, it’s a funny, heart-warming, clean movie that you should go see!

Review: Bedtime Stories

As part of our free movie tickets, Heather and I took the girls to go watch Bedtime Stories tonight.  We really wanted to see Tale of Despereaux and thought for sure that Bedtime Stories would be a little hokey.  After seeing the raining gumballs, I thought it would be a fantastical tale that only the kids would enjoy.  But let me tell you, we were pleasantly surprised.  We had the entire theater to ourselves and Heather and I found ourselves laughing.  Really Loud.  A lot.

I would skip this part if you don’t want completely spoiled.  Basically Adam Sandler’s character has to watch his niece and nephew for a week.  Each night they come up with a bedtime story and the next day, the stuff that the kids come up with come true the next day.  But not literally.  For example, in the story, it rains gumballs.  The next day, it appears to start raining in his truck through the sunroof but it’s actually a candy truck that has wrecked on the bridge above them spilling the gumballs.  All of it is stuff like that.

Adam Sandler was hilarious as usual.  But it wasn’t TOO much Adam you know?  Big Daddy almost crossed the line for me a few times but in this, he was funny without being inappropriate with the kids.

Keri Russell was a huge surprise.  I have always been a huge fan of Keri’s and I didn’t know she was in it.  I’m not sure I would have thought to cast her but she fit the role perfectly and did really, really well.

The one actor I really enjoyed though was Russell Brand.  I found him funny but slightly annoying in both Forgetting Sarah Marshall and the MTV Movie Awards.  But here, he was a great compliment to Adam and we laughed more over the stuff he said than anything else.

The greatest part is the funniest parts are NOT in the trailer.  Loved that.  Emma and Lexi declared it a winner as well.  Emma says she “loved it”.

Here’s the trailer in case you haven’t seen it.

I Am Legend

One reason I was able to stay up and busy myself while I waited on stuff to run at work was I rented I Am Legend off PPV. And people, let me tell you, it was a fantastic movie!! Now, I don’t really want to tell you about any more of it unless you want to be spoiled. If so, click on to Read More.

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Horton Hears a Who! Review

Randomly I decided to take the girls to the movies.  I didn’t even know what was playing but had heard a movie that started with Horton was out.  That’s how much I knew about it.  No clue it was Jim Carrey or Steve Carell, probably my two favorite comedic actors.  Within about an hour, we had picked up Heather and were off.

I was pleasantly surprised.  I loved the story of the movie, the themes woven in, the comedy and even the “bad guy” is a clumsy bird that is funny.  It’s a clean, family-friendly movie that I think is appealing to all ages.  The only little thing I didn’t like is the kid who stood up to his mom at the end.  I get that she was in the wrong but it was almost the glory-moment and it was all about defying a parent.  A little border-line there.  Other than that, there really wasn’t anything to complain about.

One funny thing that happened is at the end when all the people were chanting, the little girl behind us in the theater said, “Everybody chant! We are here!  We are here!”  It was pretty cute.  She was serious.

Lexi clapped at the end and Emma was stuck like glue to the screen the whole time.  I think they both really enjoyed it.  And I did too.

August Rush Soundtrack

I bought the soundtrack to August Rush today after seeing the movie on Tuesday and have been listening to it while I clean.  It is an absolutely gorgeous soundtrack.  It opens up as the movie does with the little boy talking and man, that put me right back to the theater and made me want to go see it again! 

For those that have seen the movie, you’ll appreciate the songs Louis sang in the club, the solos Evan/August played in the parks, the duet Louis and Evan/August did in the park, August’s Rhapsody and the song from the church with the little girl’s solo.  The other songs are good, but those are the ones that stood out to me. 

If you haven’t seen the movie, you’ll still appreciate two of my favorite songs from the soundtrack.  The first is "This Time" that Jonathan Rhys Meyers sings in the movie and on the soundtrack.  I knew I liked it in the theater but I appreciate it even more after reading the lyrics.  The other one I think worthy of buying is a 7:49 song called August’s Rhapsody which was the center stage of the movie.  It’s really gorgeous.

There are some other familiar songs that were redone including Raise It Up, God Bless the Child and La Bamba.

If you appreciate an acoustic, celtic, gospel, orchestra sound, or even jazz this is definitely a soundtrack you should look into.  Buy August Rush: Music From The Motion Picture here.

On a very side note, I just read that Jonathan Rhys  Meyers was arrested recently. Oh well, he’s still hot and can sing!

Sweeney Todd is coming

I was only 12 when Edward Scissorhands came out but I remember watching it quite clearly.  I was pretty young and that movie was kind of dark for a preteen.  Or at least that’s how I recall several of the scenes that were literally dark as he created his masterpieces.  I do remember liking the movie quite a bit but I never appreciated Johnny Depp’s portrayal of Edward Scissorhands until I was much older.  Johnny Depp’s acting is like no other.  He may not be the best out there, but surely he is talented and quite unique.

While he has had many successful films in his career, I still think I like him as Jack Sparrow in the original Pirates of the Caribbean best though.  He has this way about him in movies to be weird and dark and twisted and yet at times to be so handsome and charming at the same time.  I think the way he played Jack Sparrow was that perfect combination.  Sort of off his rocker yet attractive.

And coming this Christmas, there is going to be yet another one of these unique characters he’ll be playing in Sweeney Todd.  It’s the story of a man who had the perfect life and then it’s all taken away and he’s thrown in jail. He’s changed into a new man, bent on getting revenge.  He’s called the demon barber and his victims are taken in his chair.  It’s sure to be a holiday hit and I’m sure another Johnny Depp classic.

You can visit the official Sweeney Todd movie site or visit Sweeney Todd on MySpace to view the trailer or get more information on the movie.

Go see August Rush NOW

I came through the door, sat down to watch the rest of house and now sitting down to tell all you lovely people that this movie was worth my NINE dollars to see it. It was great, fabulous, wonderful, touching, beautiful, romantic, sweet, amazing, unique, heartwarming, heartwrenching, breathtaking…should I stop now? Do you get it? You need to go see this!

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Conversations with God

We watched Conversations with God last night and I was a little hesitant to be honest.  Any movie out in Blockbuster with the word God in it has to leave you a little skeptical I guess. 

The movie was dull at times as we listened to the man basically give motivational speeches.  But the words he was saying..you wanted to listen very carefully to what he said and weigh them against what you believe to be true.  The movie had a sometimes slow plot and was almost boring and many times depressing but they tried to keep it interesting by switching the scenes between timeframes.  I can’t say I was wowed by the movie but it definitely had its moments.  Many that kept you thinking long after the movie was over.  I especially like how it brought out the issue of the poor and homeless and how we view them.  I think this would be a great conversation starter on many topics in youth groups or any number of bible study groups.  I’m interested to read the books.  And of course part of me is suspect about the authenticity of what he claims and yet, I am drawn in to think all these things are truth.  If God really said them, I want to know what He said.  I feel like in some ways, the movie was a big advertisement for the books and in others, gave you a great rags to riches movie that actually had a lasting impression.

If anyone has seen this movie or read the books I’d be interested in any thoughts you have.

**After a cursory google/amazon search, it doesn’t appear the book has been accepted by the general Christian crowd but who knows…

Laughing Your Way to a Better Marriage

Mark Gungor is a speaker/singer/former pastor who speaks on marriages.  Somehow my parents found him on Life TV or something like that.  It was an hour or so show.  It was so funny my mom went straight to his web site and bought the 4 disc DVD set.  I’ve watched two of four of the discs and let me just say, this is HILARIOUS.  It was the kind where you clap your hands, slap your knee and nudge your partner kind of laughing.  You should watch it whether or not you have marriage issues, it is just extremely entertaining and even eye-opening.  Simple things you thought only you and your partner goes through seems to be a universal issue.  He talks in one about the “Tale of two brains”, talking about the differences between men in women in things like communication and s-e-x drive.  In the second disk it is called “Yo Momma” giving the top 5 list of ways to have the best s-e-x you’ve ever had.  Yes, it’s very entertaining and I highly recommend it…

Wow, that was not good

I’m sorry folks if I’m the only one, but I did NOT enjoy High School Musical 2.  Too many rip offs from Grease and Dirty Dancing and not enough action.  It wasn’t until about an hour and half into it that anything actually good happened.  I do have to say I think Kenny Ortega did decent on the group dancing but what was with the producing of the songs?  They sounded like all electronic or something.  I’m not music expert so I don’t know how to describe it.  And the only song I actually would listen to is the one Troy and Gabriella sang right before she left.  I don’t know, maybe I’m finally too old to enjoy movies like that but I’m glad I didn’t pay $9 for it.   Although, I do have to say Mr. Troy was lookin’ awfully cute.  Made it easier to sit through all two hours.  And Troy and Gabriella were cute together through the first part of the movie.  They should have broken up earlier and created more drama!