Posted by fitz in Childrens, DVD, Movies on Aug 13
Welcome back!
Hi all…
I don’t know many people (myself included) who didn’t run into a few problems in school growing up. Whether it was bullies, mean (or boring) teachers, “friends”, or anything else (the list was long in my case), it was never the ideal experience for anybody. Well, at least anybody I know personally anyway. There were always those “perfect” kids who could do no wrong, but I suspect karma rectified that situation with them later in life.
Based on the best-selling novel by Jeff Kinney, the movie Diary of a Wimpy Kid provides a glimpse into Greg Heffley‘s (Zachary Gordon) life as he enters middle school. He’s joined by his best friend and well meaning but clueless kid Rowley (Robert Capron) and together they try to navigate the complex waters of middle school. Of course, it’s not easy.
Greg has an older teenage brother Rodrick (Devon Bostick) who’s the drummer in the band Loded Diaper. Rodrick does everything he can to make his younger sibling’s life heck, including not bathing and sticking Greg’s face in his armpit. Rodrick is more than a bully in the house however, he’s also a source of amusement. Like when Rowley sees Rodrick wearing eyeliner and dressed for a gig with his band when Rowley says – “Wow. You’re lucky. My mom doesn’t let me play with makeup any more.”
Greg’s parents are well-meaning, but very strange. His mom (Rachael Harris) means well and tries to let her kids learn from their mistakes. At one point, she goes with Greg to a dance… And I can’t say that I remember a Mom & Son dance during my school career, but I’m pretty sure I would have been mortified at that age as well. Greg’s dad (Steven Zahn) tries to keep his boys masculine and prove that he can protect his family and house. To do this at one point in the movie, he goes so far as to splash kids he thinks are going to teepee their house on Halloween.
At school, things aren’t much better for Greg. He thinks he has all the answers to become a popular kid, but all of his schemes backfire. And by the end, Rowley is popular and has disowned Greg because of all the mean things that happen. Angie (Chloe Moretz, Kick-ass, upcoming Let Me In) is the school journalist who encourages Greg to think for himself and stop trying to be popular – but of course he doesn’t listen until the end.
Ultimately the story is about navigating one of those inevitable phases most of us go through of finding our way in the world. Each time the context changes, whether it’s changing schools or changing jobs, we have to figure out how to make things work again. With Kinney’s novel for source material and Thor Freudenthal’s (Hotel for Dogs) direction, I think the film worked pretty well illustrating the pitfalls of treating school like a popularity contest.
Though the film didn’t do great at the box office, it made more than $60 million at the box office with a budget of around $15 million (according to Box Office Mojo). That seems to be enough for a sequel to be in the works for March 2011 if everything works out.
“The Cheesiest Edition” package of Diary of a Wimpy Kid includes the Blu-ray, a DVD of the movie, and a DVD with a digital version on it. Also included in the packaging are a few pages from Rowley’s “Diary of an Awesome Friendly Kid”, which are just as endearing and clueless as Rowley is in the film.
On the Blu-ray and DVD for the movie are included some amusing and gross extras… Feature commentary with director Freudenthal and scriptwriter Gabe Sachs was interesting, but the Deleted Diary Pages were at times both disturbing and endearing. Though you might dismiss them as deleted scenes, the way they’re presented seems to me that they are much more than that.
“Fregley‘s Scavenger Hunt” was… sick and wrong on multiple levels. Fregley (Grayson Russell) describes the various things he’s found around school where you might not think to look. For example, one of his “treasures” is a piece of fudge under a girls’ desk. He put it in his pocket. And when he merged the fudge with three fries he found under a tree and invented “fudge fries”. I knew Fregley was weird, but I had no idea…
Another favorite of ours in the film was Chirag Gupta (Karan Brar) – the only kid in class smaller than Greg. In “Chirag’s Trail of Tears” you learn his secrets to dealing with bullies… Most of his approach depends on hiding in lockers, beneath the bleachers, behind the big kid in gym, and so on. Of course, hiding doesn’t always work – thus the “trail of tears” where he explains in gruesome detail the events he’d rather not remember.
But “Rowley’s Lost Zoo-wee Mama Cartoons” was probably my favorite of the 10 deleted scenes. It’s not as much a deleted scene as simply a collection of pictures of some of Rowley’s “Zoo-wee Mama” cartoons that were published in the school paper. You only catch a glimpse of the cartoons during the film, so it’s nice to see them included as extras. They’re actually pretty cute – mostly dealing with something bad happening to a character asking a question in the first panel and having something bad happen to that character in the last panel.
I have to say that though the Blu-ray quality is excellent, it’s a bit of overkill in this case and there weren’t any additional features on the Blu-ray that weren’t also on the DVD. So the benefits of Blu-ray, beyond better picture quality and providing a little additional downloadable content, was minimal.
That said, we really enjoyed the film as a family. We missed it at the theater and were looking forward to seeing it on DVD. Now that it’s available, I’d recommend it to anyone looking for family-friendly fare to watch together. Look for Diary of a Wimpy Kid at your favorite rental or retail counter.
This article first appeared at BlogCritics.org here.
–Fitz
p.s. Pick up the movie and books from Barnes & Noble!
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Posted by fitz in Books, Childrens on Jun 23
Hi there!
Kids’ books are a funny thing sometimes. One book might provide an exciting adventure but be light on substance while another might have too many lessons packed into a story that won’t hold a child’s interest. Lately however, there have been many authors who have provided great fiction with just the right level of moral lessons, history, or mythology – the Harry Potter series from J.K. Rowling and the Percy Jackson series from Rick Riordan are great examples and two of our current favorites.
But Frank McKinney isn’t someone I would have expected to write or been involved with one of those “just right” books for children. McKinney is the author of multiple best-selling books, including The Tap, Burst This! Frank McKinney’s Bubble-Proof Real Estate Strategies, Frank McKinney’s Maverick Approach to Real Estate Success, and Make it BIG! 49 Secrets for Building a Life of Extreme Success. The closest a child might come to one of these books is as an impromptu step stool or booster seat.
However, McKinney was inspired by his adventures walking his daughter Laura to school through the years. As a father, I certainly understand the power of spending as much time as possible with your kids and their imaginations as they grow up. They grow up so fast that it’s far too easy to miss things if you don’t.
That’s just one of the lessons hidden inside Dead Fred, Flying Lunchboxes, and the Good Luck Circle (or just Dead Fred for short). The book tells the story of Ppeekk (pronounced “Peekie”) Rose Berry – a thirteen year-old girl forced to relocate from Indiana to Florida. Walking to school on her first day of school, she encounters a strange little man on the back of a cement truck who blows a magical smoke ring. Soon after that, she encounters a dead fish who comes back to life in her hands and talks to her. And that’s just the beginning…
It took a long time to work through this book with my two daughters, ages 5 and 9. Not because the book wasn’t entertaining or well written, but because things kept getting in the way. Finally we managed to find the time to get all the way through Ppeekk’s story and her adventure with her friends Mini Romey, Quatro, and the rest of the gang – and it was well worth the effort!
Dead Fred leads readers on a magical journey above, around, and beneath the waters of an inlet near Ppeekk’s house into Dead Fred’s underwater kingdom of High Voltage. Dead Fred, also known as King Frederick the 9th, was regent of an area teeming with ocean life. But there’s a problem. Dead Fred has been deposed by Megalodon, a huge, evil prehistoric shark who wants to turn everyone above and below the water into joyless zombies.
As Ppeekk and her friends learn more about what they are capable of and what Megalodon and his minions (vicious crabs and remora fish) are capable of, they begin to understand the dire situation that High Voltage finds itself in. Dedicated to helping Dead Fred save his kingdom, the kids learn just as much about themselves as they do about the amazing creatures beneath the sea as they struggle to find some way to get rid of Megalodon for good.
We had a lot of fun reading this story. Even my five-year-old daughter was engrossed right away – as soon as Dead Fred spoke, she was hooked to the end. In the book’s 300 pages, kids learn about many of the creatures of the sea as well as how to treat themselves, their friends, their parents, and the world around them. And what was amazing was that it wasn’t preachy at all – the message seemed very genuine and organic, not forced.
If you’re looking for a fun book with many great messages for kids, Dead Fred, Flying Lunchboxes, and the Good Luck Circle by Frank McKinney and Kate Mason presents a perfect opportunity to read together. Great characters, amazing adventures, and learning opportunities await within! For more about the book, be sure to check out Dead-Fred.com.
This article first appeared at BlogCritics.org here.
–Fitz
p.s. Pick up this and other books from Frank McKinney at Barnes & Noble!
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Posted by fitz in Books, Childrens, Music on May 18
Hi again!
Though this is a book review for Michael Franti‘s book – What I Be – I have to preface the review bits with a story… Feel free to skip ahead to the review bits, but I wanted to provide a bit of context.
In March 2010, my wife and daughters went to the John Mayer concert at the Pepsi Center in Denver, Colorado. Opening for Mayer was Michael Franti, the lead vocalist for Spearhead. My girls were just as excited about Michael as they were about seeing John Mayer, though I had never heard the song “Say Hey (I Love You)” before we purchased the tickets for my youngest daughter’s 5th birthday.
When they arrived at the concert, they were met inside by a lady we only know as the “John Mayer Ticket Fairy.” And when this nice gal discovered that this was AJ’s first rock concert, she gave the three of them front row tickets on the spot. To say the least, everybody had an amazing time during the concert and both my daughters were brought on stage with several other kids in the audience to dance and sing with Michael.
We will never be able to top this concert experience. But I think Michael has made friends for life.
When my wife discovered that Michael had written a children’s book – What I Be – she asked me to see if I might be able to get it to review. So I asked the nice folks who handle the press for Mr. Franti if they’d mind if I did so and they were kind enough to send not just one copy, but four! We’ll be donating a copy to the elementary school my daughters attend as well as the Pikes Peak Library District in our home town of Colorado Springs.
So what is What I Be? What I Be originally appeared as a song on Michael’s album Everybody Deserves Music and was adapted as an illustrated children’s book later. The story emphasizes the journey of self-acceptance that we all go through as kids and even as adults by taking on the characteristics of nature, which is a great analogy that just about everybody can probably understand.
Far too often, I think we look at nature but don’t see it for what it is. We consider ourselves apart from nature, when in fact we wouldn’t be here without it. So though the book centers on the journey of self, I think there’s also an environmental aspect to the story that shouldn’t be overlooked.
The main message is to share those qualities with others you most want to be associated with. Enjoy life and share laughter, wash away the pain of others, and generate clean air like the tallest trees. Understand your heritage, share the fruits of your labor, feel emotions like waves on the ocean… How can you argue with those sentiments? Through the use of analogy, metaphor, simile, and expressive, descriptive adjectives kids will connect with this book on multiple levels.
Ben Hodson illustrated the book beautifully in a style that evokes the openness of Michael’s message and makes it very kid-friendly. He’s illustrated other book such as Pigs Aren’t Dirty, Bears Aren’t Slow and Other Truths about Misunderstood Animals,” which has such an intriguing title I had to order a copy.
Also included with What I Be is a CD featuring Michael, his son Ade Franti-Rye, and their friend Youssoupha Sidibe singing along and playing with the text of the book. It’s fun to read along with Michael and listen to Sidibe playing a Kora (Senegalese harp).
If you’re looking for a colorful, fun book as a gift for some young reader, What I Be lays a beautiful foundation for further discussion of self acceptance and an awareness of our connection to nature. Definitely good messages all around. For more information about Michael Franti, Spearhead, or his book, be sure to check out his website at MichaelFranti.com.
This article first appeared at BlogCritics.org here.
–Fitz
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Posted by fitz in Childrens, Movies on Mar 31
Hi there!
Dreamworks Animation has had some hits and misses over the years, but their latest film – How To Train Your Dragon – manages to not only capture a great adventure on screen, but do it in a fun way with a lot of heart. Tough combination to pull off, but they managed. And the fact that the movie pulled in nearly $44 million in its opening weekend has to count for something!
We saw How to Train Your Dragon in 3D on an IMAX screen at an AMC theater in Glendale, AZ last Friday night. And though sometimes IMAX makes things too big to keep track of everything going on, I enjoyed this one. And the 3D was used to pretty good effect (as opposed to in Alice in Wonderland (2010), which IMHO used it poorly).
The movie centers around a young Viking named Hiccup (voiced by Jay Baruchel who’s having a very busy year for movies!) and his unorthodox approach to killing the dragons who have been razing his island village for seven generations. He helps out Gobber, the village blacksmith (voiced by Craig Ferguson), and creates little mechanical wonders to help him kill a dragon and take his place among the village warriors. Those warriors include Stoick, the village chief (voiced by Gerard Butler), who also happens to be Hiccup’s Dad.
During one dragon raid, Hiccup uses one of his devices and hits one of the beasties attacking the village – a fast, invisible dragon known as a Night Fury. Though no one in the village believes he hit it, Hiccup heads off into the woods to try and track down where it may have landed. And when he finds it, his experiences with the dragon change everything he believes in.
Rating: 
Based on a series of books by Cressida Cowell, the story in the film has changed a bit from the novels (from what I’ve heard, people don’t ride the dragons in the series), but the author was pleased with the results. We’ll have to pick the books up and give them a read now that we’ve seen the movie version.
Is the story original? Yes and no. At the heart of the story, it’s a matter of self-discovery and proving your own worth to yourself and the people who care about you. For a movie aimed at kids, I have to say it’s a great message regardless of whether it’s been done before. But the concept of having a tale of dragons and Vikings is definitely pretty cool.
The animation was solid, the characters were fun, and flying with Hiccup and Toothless was a blast in 3D. I know the adults I was with enjoyed it just as much as the kids did. And the voice acting was very solid: Butler, Ferguson, Baruchel, America Ferrera (Ugly Betty), Jonah Hill, Kristen Wiig, and more. It’s tough to get a convincing Scottish accent unless you’re a Scot like Butler and Ferguson and they did it beautifully.
If you’re looking for a good movie to take the kids to, it’s tough to beat How to Train Your Dragon at the moment. I know we’ll be picking it up on DVD when it’s released, but we might have to sneak another viewing at the theater before it disappears!
–Fitz
p.s. Pick up some books and other items from Amazon!
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Posted by fitz in Art, Books, Childrens on Nov 25
Hi all!
When you have young children, you are often fighting a battle between entertaining them and educating them. The younger they are, the less attention span they typically have, which means that entertainment often occupies the lion’s share of the job. As they get older, they are more able to entertain themselves. So what, you may ask, does this have to do with a book about Picasso‘s art?
Touch and feel books have been around since the 1940s. Pat the Bunny by Dorothy Kunhardt has been a perennial favorite for parents since first being published in 1940. It includes actual materials for readers to experience themselves, such as a bit of fake rabbit fur and a piece of sandpaper. Since then, I know we’ve seen many different variations on this theme, including Tails by Matthew Van Fleet, which includes not only physical “tails” of various furry or bumpy types, but also a “scratch-n-sniff” stinky skunk tail, which has been a favorite for both of my girls.
Catch Picasso’s Rooster and the rest of the “Touch the Art” series merges the tactile appeal of other “touch and feel” books, but also introduces works of art – in this case those of Picasso, Rousseau, van Gogh, and others – to a young audience. This combination of entertainment and education works on a couple of different levels.
First, by integrating colorful works of art and a simple, rhyming story, youngsters who are having the book read to them are engaged by visual and auditory cues as well as tactile ones as they touch the various materials on a given page. For example, on the page featuring Albrecht Durer‘s “Hare” painted in 1502, the authors reinforce that it’s a bunny in the picture through the text (“Rooster, rooster! Stop running away! I hid near a bunny sleeping in hay.), the picture, and a scrap of fake rabbit fur integrated into the picture. We enjoyed working through the book with my youngest who’s not reading yet, but loves interactive books such as this one.
Second, the books have lasting value for more independent readers, since they include facts about the painting and the artist in a section titled “Artifacts” at the end of the book. My eldest daughter loves art and is fascinated learning about classical painters such as Rousseau. And we learned that Rousseau didn’t start painting seriously until he was 40 and he taught himself how to paint by copying paintings at the Louvre Museum in Paris.
If you’re looking for holiday presents for youngsters, I can’t recommend this series enough. As children grow, they can get more and more out of these books as their skills develop. Catch Picasso’s Rooster will sit proudly on my kids’ bookshelves for a few years as they grow and learn. And now I want to check out the other books in the “Touch the Art” series! Look for these books at your favorite bookseller.
–Fitz
p.s. Pick up these great books below!
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Posted by Andrew in Books, Childrens, Music on Nov 23
Heart. If you’re like me, the word evokes images of Ann and Nancy Wilson on stage, rocking guitars, and vocals in such classic songs as “Barracuda,” “Love Alive,” “Little Queen,” “Alone,” and on and on… For 30 years they’ve been entertaining us with their music, so we know they’re talented.
Now I know they have other talents, such as writing and illustrating childrens’ books! Dog & Butterfly expands on the classic song from Heart and shares the story of a puppy learning the secret of going after a dream. Perseverance. Now if only more books could tell the heart of a story quite as simply as the Wilson sisters.
The story begins with a puppy playing in outside among the trees, the flowers, and the butterflies. But no matter what the puppy does, it can’t quite seem to reach the fluttering beauties flying above their heads. Mama dog and Old Man cat watch from the sidelines, waiting to see which of the puppies finds the secret first.
When the puppy finally tires itself out and falls asleep in the grass, it awakes to find a butterfly resting on its nose. It stays very still until a sneeze scares it off, but that isn’t enough to dampen the excitement that it caught one! Perseverance, patience, and a little luck paid off!
This short book is beautifully illustrated with water colors to further add texture to this wonderful story. I think it’s impossible to go wrong with pictures of puppies, cats, and butterflies when creating art for children. My two daughters, both aspiring artists, loved the detail that made each picture unique to complement the story.
If you’re looking for a good “bedtime” book, Dog & Butterfly should be right up your alley. It’s a wonderful book filled with sunshine, optimism, puppies, and butterflies… what more could you ask for? Check it out at Amazon.com and support the Wilson sisters so they can create more inspired works for the next generation!
–Fitz
p.s. Pick up the book and other CDs below!
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Posted by fitz in Books, Childrens on Aug 18
Do you have kids?
Thanks to my daughters, I’m always on the lookout for creative childrens’ books. Sometimes I find books that are light on art, but strong on story. And other times the books are long on lessons and light in fun. No, Never! has about the perfect balance of art, lessons, and story.
No, Never! tells the story of Daisy, the dalmation. Daisy doesn’t like to do anything she’s asked to do. Most parents have dealt with this situation at one time or another. Daisy’s Mom doesn’t lose her patience with her daughter – instead she simply asks what Daisy would do. And, armed with that information, Daisy’s Mom explains that you don’t get to write great books or climb mountains without taking care of the goals that are important “now” to learn how to take care of the goals that are important “later.”
This is an important message for kids of all ages. It’s even a good thing to remember as an adult!
Lee wrote the story and did all of the illustrations herself, as she’s done for her other books such as: The Tutu Ballet, which won 2nd place in the Readers Views Literary Awards (2008); The Cake Thief, which won Best 2008-Children’s Picture Book at Books and Authors.net; and The Rabbit and the Snowman, which won Best 2008 – Children’s Fiction from Books and Authors.net. She’s written 20 different childrens’ books and I hope she doesn’t stop any time soon.
The art is done with watercolors in a very warm and kid-friendly style. The colors are bright, character expressions are easy to read, and the art just pops off the page. Combine that with her straightforward, easy to read writing style, and I think Lee has another book that’s bound to win an award.
I hope my kids got the message, but I know I did. Be sure to find a copy of No, Never by Sally O. Lee at your local library or bookstore or by shopping online. If you’re interested in learning more about Sally Lee’s works, check out her website at LeePublishing.net.
–Fitz
p.s. Click below to pick up some of Sally O. Lee’s great children’s books from Amazon!
[amazon-product align="left"]1594576157[/amazon-product]
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Posted by fitz in Books, Childrens on Apr 30
Hi there!
As a parent and a lover of books, I have to say it was quite difficult to face the fact that one of my children might want to… chew… on my books. Though I love food (as is evidenced by my waistline), I was never one to eat books. From an early age I learned to revere books and treat them with the care that such things required. So when I heard about this board book that actually encouraged a child to chomp on it, I had to check it out!
Books Are for Eating Reading follows the design pattern of other board books to a point. The art is warm and friendly, with a picture of a baby eating the very book you are reading about. The text is easy to read and colorful. There’s a big hole in the book in the upper left corner. And on the two right-hand corners you have a red rubber corner at the top with a bumpy texture and a blue rubber corner at the bottom with a texture of wavy lines. OK, so maybe this isn’t your normal board book.
Suzy Becker is the beloved author and illustrator of All I Need to Know I Learned from My Cat where you learn all the simple life lessons your cat can teach you but you may have overlooked. Things like “Know all the sunny places” and “Make your own hours”, both of which are very valuable lessons whatever age you might be.
Books Are for Eating Reading takes the same general formula and applies it to a younger set of readers. For example, who can argue with “Crayons are for writing, not biting” or “Feet are for stomping, not chomping”? If you have children of your own or nieces or nephews, these are pretty common sense things that you really do have to teach your kids if you want to have any hair left to pull out when they become teenagers.
This book is one I will put on my list of those I typically purchase for new parents, alongside Goodnight Moon, Guess How Much I Love You, and any of Sandra Boynton‘s board books (The Going to Bed Book, Opposites, Doggies and Horns to Toes are among our favorites). Board books are meant to be used and abused by the little ones and I think that Books Are for Eating Reading will survive that trial just fine.
So if you have kids or are looking for good books for toddlers, I highly recommend Books Are for Eating Reading. Give it a bite try!
–Fitz
p.s. Pick up any of these books at Amazon:
- Baby-Durable Books (prathambooks.org)
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Posted by fitz in Books, Cartoons, Childrens, Movies on Apr 21
Hi all!
In 2008, we read The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo with our daughters as a bedtime story. In this fairy tale, Despereaux is a small mouse with big ears and a bigger heart who finds himself in the midst of an adventure involving a princess, a rat, and a kitchen girl. It was recommended to us after we read The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, also from DiCamillo.
The story wove a compelling tale of love and loss, family, honor, and betrayal. So when we heard that they were turning it into a movie, we were all very excited and wanted to see what they’d do with it. And when we saw The Tale of Despereaux at the theater, we loved it.
Rating:
But here’s the thing about the movie. It’s not the book. Or rather, it’s the book with a more streamlined plot and changes here and there to make it more fitting for the screen. So if you’re expecting a page for page faithful adaptation of the book, you’ll be disappointed.
That said, it’s still a powerful movie about a small mouse with big ears and a bigger heart who finds adventure in the Castle of the Kingdom of Dor. And the DVD presents it beautifully. We were able to fall in love with Despereaux, Roscuro, and Miggery Sow all over again.
What caught me off guard the first time we saw the movie were the changes that made the various plots and characters fit seamlessly into a single thread. In the book, the story was segmented much more and you had to keep the three main plots straight. You were first introduced to the mouse Despereaux, and his family. Then you were introduced to Chiaroscuro (or simply Roscuro), the rat. And then you were introduced to Miggery Sow, the poor girl from the country of the Kingdom of Dor. Woven through these were the stories of the Princess and the King and Queen, and of how soup was outlawed in Dor after the Queen died of fright at the sight of the rat Roscuro.
I’m not knocking the book at all. We really enjoyed it. But it was meant to be read, not written directly for the screen. So when Gary Ross began to take the story and rework it for the film, it had to be streamlined a bit. And to make the transitions less clunky, we had the characters of Andre (the chef) and Boldo (the Spirit of the Soup) added, who were not in the book.
So the transition from novel to screen was interesting for me. As I said, we really enjoyed both techniques for telling the story as a book and as a film.
In addition, the voice cast for The Tale of Despereaux was fantastic. With Matthew Broderick as Despereaux, Dustin Hoffman as Princess Pea, and Tracey Ullman as Miggery Sow, they started with an amazing core of players. Then you add Emma Watson (Hermione Granger from the Harry Potter movies) as Princess Pea, Kevin Kline as Andre, and Stanley Tucci as Boldo as the next wave of voice actors. And then the list goes on… Robbie Coltrane as Gregory, Tony Hale as Furlough, Frank Langella as the Mayor, Christopher Lloyd, as Hovis, Bronson Pinchot as the Town Crier, and Sigourney Weaver as the Narrator… This was a dream cast.
Add to that the absolutely gorgeous artwork, both as backgrounds and set pieces as well as the gorgeous stylized 3D rendering of the characters and the world. And you have an animated feature that is almost as much art as the story. It was interesting to compare The Tale of Despereaux to some of the other features coming out last year. When you compared this movie to Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who! or Kung Fu Panda or WALL*E, it stands out because of the way the artists chose to design everything. Whereas those others were done to be photo-realistic, or styled in a Dr. Seussian manner, etc., the feel of Despereaux harkens back to the early years of Disney features like Snow White and the Seven Dwarves or Sleeping Beauty merged with modern technology.
All of these elements came together to create a magnificent animated feature that will be played again and again at my house for the indefinite future.
In addition to the movie on the DVD, you also get a number of extra features.
We were amazed to see the more than 10 minute clip from Curious George 2: Follow That Monkey! among the bonus features. This was the longest sneak peek I’ve ever seen on a DVD, and definitely made my family add it to the list of movies to watch for on DVD this Fall. Like the first Curious George feature back in 2006, this one captures the spirit of that loveable monkey.
“The Tale of the Tale of Despereaux” allowed DiCamillo, the writers, designers, animators, and so on, a chance to talk about many of the different design choices made for the film. The most interesting of these for me was where they got the idea for the stylized drawing style of the characters and backgrounds. They used paintings from Vermeer, Brueghel, and Hieronymus Bosch to bring this fairy tale, medieval world to life. Also, it was great to see the voice actors playing together, especially Kline and Tucci as Andre and Boldo. They looked like they were having a grand time as those characters! The care that the actors, designers, and everyone else associated with the film approached the project was easily seen in the final product.
The “Interactive Map of the Kingdom of Dor” allows you to explore Dor with your DVD remote a bit. But the “Top Ten Uses for Oversized Ears” was a bit disappointing. I was hoping for a more lively feature and instead was presented with a static list with a picture for each item.
In addition, there were two DVD games aimed mostly at children – “Despereaux’s Quest Game” is a pattern matching game where you are presented with different parts of Despereaux’ escape from the dungeon to save the Princess Pea and have to match things up to the selected choices; and the “Build-a-Boldo Game” enables you to formulate the correct recipe to make Boldo, the Spirit of the Soup, rise out of the pot to help Andre.
Overall, The Tale of Despereaux was one of my favorite stories and movies of 2008 and one I think we’ll be enjoying at my house for many years to come. We give it a solid 4 out of 4 stars. I would highly recommend it to anyone with children (or adults) who appreciate a good fairy tale. Be sure to read the book as well!
–Fitz
p.s. Pick up The Tale of Despereaux on DVD starting April 7, and be sure to look for the book as well!
p.p.s. If you’re looking for another great book from DiCamillo, be sure to check out The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane!
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Posted by fitz in Art, Books, Childrens on Mar 04
Hi all!
Snobbles the Great: A Snooze Patch Story is about Snobbles, a fruit-eating snake who saves the other snakes of Snooze Patch from a terrible mongoose. Jason Dobkin and Erika Gragg combined a mix of art techniques with a rhyming narrative to create a unique product. The goal of the book is to inspire parents and teachers to incorporate creativity and art into daily activities.
Unfortunately, I have to say that it didn’t work for me. Though we really wanted to like Snobbles, it didn’t really work for me or my family when we read it together. Somehow the artwork ended up being underwhelming (or overwhelming, which I’ll talk about in a minute) and the story falls apart in the second half of the book.
I do respect Dobkin & Gragg’s approach to try and inspire artistic expression. The idea of combining multiple artistic disciplines of painting, sculpture, photography, stage design, lighting, and cinematography is a good one. But in this case, it often produced images that were far too busy to enhance the story and inspire creative expression.
For example, on the first page the opening image of Snooze Patch reveals very little to contribute to the text – “Sneaking and sliding around in their sleep, dreaming of sweet little morsels to eat, sensing the sun rise over them brightly, six snakes in the Snooze Patch slithered slightly.” I would expect to see one or more snakes waking up and see a sun breaking over the horizon. Instead, we see a strange building in the distance, a desert valley with some rocky peaks beyond it, and a few snake holes and cacti.
A couple of pages later we’re introduced to the main character of the story, Snobbles. The only thing in the picture hinting that Snobbles is the main character is that he’s not blurry in the background of the image like the other snakes and features.
And later in the book, Snobbles and his friend Scoot (a scorpion) go into an underground tunnel that appears to be inspired by an acid trip from the 1960s. Bright colors and weird mushrooms and stalagmites against a bizarre swirl of colors in the background. My children didn’t find it inspiring as much as confusing.
Beyond the art, we found the rhyming story to not always rhyme well or consistently. And the evil mongoose, the bad guy of the story, seemed to lose the ability to speak in complete sentences with phrases like “Me catch you and eat you, you can’t escape me.”
On the second to last page, the authors decided to not only include two stanzas of the rhyming story on a single page, which was confusing, but introduce new characters from the Snooze Patch. All of a sudden we were introduced to Snack Mamba, Snoo-Billy Doo, Snoliver, Snattle-Tale, and Snaggletooth. Where’d they come from?
Overall, I applaud the authors’ attempt to come up with something inspiring. Unfortunately, they ended up with an uneven art project and a story that could have been better arranged. Better luck next time.
–Fitz
p.s. Do check out this book at Amazon or your local bookstore if you’re interested. They do use some intriguing art techniques for the images!
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