Animation
Animated movie reviews
Ice Age: Continental Drift Review
Can a prehistoric squirrel really cause an earth-shattering event? That’s what happens in this fourth segment of the Ice Age series. When Scrat, (the squirrel) chases his beloved acorn, he inadvertently causes the continents to drift apart. So now Manny, Diego, Sid, and Sid’s Granny embark on a new adventure as they travel on their iceberg ship; facing many challenges while exploring a new world. Ice Age: Continental Drift is an entertaining, fun movie for kids of all ages.
Rating: 4 and 1/2 buckets out of 5.
Release Date: December 11 2012
MPAA Rating: PG
Best Age Group: 5+
Sexual Content: Mild
Violent Content: Moderate
Crude or Profane Language: Mild
Drugs and Alcohol Content: None
Will Kids Like It? Yes
Talking Points:
This movie not only exciting and fun, it highlights some great family values and lessons throughout the film. There are some relationship issues amongst the characters, for example; Manny and his teenage daughter (Peaches) have some father/daughter conflicts, however Peaches comes to realize how much she loves and needs her father. Sid and his Granny have an adorable relationship, he takes care of her and keeps her safe.
Sid is a positive, upbeat character. He says, “Bad news is just good new in disguise.”
Peaches, the teenager, is influenced by peers to gossip and turn away from a friend. Peaches regrets her decision and learns the true value of friendship. She eventually comes to her friend’s aid when he’s trapped on a high ledge; Peaches says, “You don’t leave a friend behind.”
Kids in the theater were laughing at the humorous parts of the film. They were thoroughly entertained!
Sexual Content: Mild
- Peaches flirts with another teenage Mammoth, she comments on how “hot” he is.
- Two character’s kiss.
Violent Content: Moderate
- Captain Gutt, the villain in the film, may scare young kids. He threatens to steal all of Manny and his friends belongings.
- Capt. Gutt and Manny have several battles. Gutt uses a sword-like weapon, and his sharp claws when fighting.
- Two character’s slash at each other with their claws.
Crude or Profane Language: Mild
- “Holy crab,” is said once.
Drugs and Alcohol Content: None
Will Kids Like It? Yes
Overall this is an innocent entertaining movie for youngsters. It highlights the value of family, friends and teamwork! It touches on parent/teenage conflicts, and the importance of communication!!! Depending on the child I recommend this film for kids ages 5 and up. Parents need to be aware that the villain in the film may scare younger kids.
Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs Review
The main characters, Manny, Sid, Diego and Ellie are all back in this third film of Ice-Age series. Manny and Ellie are expecting their first baby, so now Sid begins to wish for a family of his own. When Sid stumbles upon 3 dinosaur eggs, he takes it upon himself to become their mom, which then leads him to a strange underground world. Now Sid’s friends, led by a 1 eyed weasel named Buck, must rescue him from the constant danger of dinosaurs.
Rating: Four out of five buckets
Release Date: October 27, 2009
MPAA Rating: PG
Best Age Group: 4+
Sexual Content: Mild
Violent Content: Mild
Crude or Profane Language: Mild
Drugs and Alcohol Content: Mild
Talking Points:
Kids will love the humor. While Scrat was on a desperate hunt for an acorn, he gets distracted by a female squirrel, which leads to a romantic love affair. Kids in the theater thought this part was hilarious.
The 3D affects are terrific, which added a lot of depth and detail to the film.
Parents can relate to Manny and Ellie’s excitement and nervousness of having their first baby. Manny is very anxious because he wants things to be perfect when the baby arrives. In their way, they’re baby proofing the house.
The theater was packed!! I interviewed kids ages 5 to 9, who all loved it. Some comments I overheard kids saying were, “That was awesome, I loved that song, that was the best movie ever!” I gave it 4 buckets.
Sexual Content: Mild
- Mild potty humor. When Ellie’s newborn daughter is born Sid says, “it’s a boy,” then Diego says, “that’s his tail.”
Violent Content: Mild
- Kids may get scared when several large dinosaurs chase Manny and his friends. At one point Sid is picked up and tossed around bumping into trees and rocks.
Crude or Profane Language: Mild
- Words such as “idiot” and “cheeare used.
Overall, it’s a cute, entertaining movie for kids ages 4 to 9. The movie stresses the significance of family, and the importance of helping family and friends out in time of need.
How to Train Your Dragon Review
This is a heartwarming, animated story about a Viking teenage boy named Hiccup. He is a softhearted, sweet boy, who doesn’t fit in with his tribes tradition of killing dragons. When Hiccup encounters a dragon, instead of killing the dragon, which he was supposed to do, he develops a loving relationship with him. While bonding with the dragon, he names him Toothless, and does everything he can to try and stop his father, and their tribe, of slaying this dragon and all the other dragons.
Rating: Five out of five buckets
Release Date: October 15, 2010
MPAA Rating: PG
Best Age Group: Any age
Sexual Content: Mild
Violent Content: Moderate
Crude or Profane Language: Mild
Drugs and Alcohol Content: None
Talking Points:
The relationship between Hiccup (the boy) and Toothless (the dragon), is similar to a boy and his dog. While Hiccup is feeling insecure, lonely and rejected, because he’s not like all the other Vikings. Toothless is always there for him; being a very loyal companion and friend. Toothless even risks his life for Hiccup. I couldn’t wait to get home and cuddle with my dog.
The movie could bring up some good parent-child discussions. Hiccup’s dad, the leader of the tribe, is a very big, strong, tough, leader; he wishes his son was more like him and the other Vikings. Though he loves his son very much, he has a hard time relating to him. Hiccup has a hard time communicating with his dad as well. Initially, Hiccup doesn’t tell his dad about Toothless, he even considers running away. In the end they both realize their mistakes, and learn to appreciate and accept each other for who they are.
He has a charming relationship with Astrid( America Ferrera), his “girl buddy,” who later becomes his girlfriend. Initially, she’s the only one that knows about Hiccup’s relationship with Toothless.
Sexual Content: Mild
- Innocent flirting.
Violent Content: Moderate
- A main concern for many parents with younger children, (4 and under), are the intense battle scenes. At the end of the movie there is a massive battle involving a very large, scary dragon. This may scare younger kids, as it did in the theater.
Crude or Profane Language: None
Drug and Alcohol Content: None
When I interviewed people in the audience, some comments were:
A dad said, “The trailer was deceiving, it seemed more comedic, but this was intense, especially for my 4 year old.”
A mom said, “ I liked the message of communicating and not fighting.”
Overall this is a wonderful animated movie. It’s suspenseful, but yet sweet and endearing as well. I recommend this for kids ages 5 and up. I give 5 out of 5 buckets.
Hotel Transylvania Review
It’s hard for a father to let his little girl go out into the world and start her own life. Dracula (voice of Adam Sandler) had an especially hard time with that; you’d think by the time his daughter turned 118 years old he’d let her go, but that wasn’t the case. It all started after his wife past away and Dracula realized that he was the sole parent of his beautiful baby girl, Mavis (voice of Selena Gomez). He was going to protect her no matter what it took; though he became a little bit too protective. Dracula believed that all humans were evil, so he turned his castle into a high end resort for monsters, hidden away from all humans, which kept his daughter safe and secluded. However, things dramatically changed when a young man discovered the posh resort, and fell madly in love with Dracula’s daughter. Dracula desperately tried to keep the young man away from his little girl, which wasn’t an easy task. Hotel Transylvania is wonderful, hilarious, heartfelt film for the whole family.
Rating: 5 out of 5 buckets
Release Date: January 29, 2013
MPAA Rating: PG
Best Age Group: 5+
Sexual Content: Mild
Violent Content: Mild
Crude or Profane Language: None
Drugs and Alcohol Content: None
Will Kids Like It? Yes
Talking Points:
I loved this movie! It’s about parents loving their kids unconditionally and wanting them to have a content life with no difficulties or worries. Dracula eventually came to realize that children need to discover things for themselves and face their own trials that life brings. Dracula said to his daughter, “the worst thing is seeing you unhappy.”
Johnny, the boy who fell in love with Mavis (Dracula’s daughter), respected Dracula and his wishes. This was hard at times because he was so in love with Mavis and wanted to be with her.
The film is very funny and sweet,though also sad in parts. Dracula’s wife died when Mavis was a baby. She left Mavis a note which described the value of love, and that it only happens once in a lifetime.
There was some potty humor as one of the monster’s continuously passed gas; one even urinated on the furniture. Kids in the theater thought that was funny.
Sexual Content: Mild
- Mavis and Johnny kiss.
- We see a pair of bees in bed on their honeymoon.
Violent Content: Mild
- Dracula tried to keep Johnny and Mavis apart, which caused some chaos throughout the film.
- When we hear the story of Mavis’ mom’s death, we see a burning building with men and women holding torches. As I previously mentioned, Dracula and the other monsters felt that humans were evil. They eventually came to realize that wasn’t true.
Crude or Profane Language: None
Drugs and alcohol Content: None
Will Kids Like It? Yes
Overall this was an entertaining, humorous film, one that parents don’t need to worry about their kids seeing. You can sit back and enjoy the show…you may even shed a tear.
Happy Feet 2 Review
Have you ever seen your child being bullied? Well Mumble, The Master of Tap, saw his son Erik being bullied, because he couldn’t dance. Feeling depressed and lonely, Erik ran away, and came across The Mighty Sven, a penguin who could fly. Erik’s father, Mumble, may have been a good dancer, but he could not fly, and he certainly could not compete with Erik’s new role model, Sven. However, when a massive iceberg broke and slammed into the emperor penguins’ bay; the penguins were trapped. So then Mumble, Erik and friends had to rescue the victims. Happy Feet Two is an entertaining fun movie for kids of all ages.
Rating: 3 out of 5 buckets
Release Date: March 13, 2012
MPAA Rating: PG
Best Age Group: Any age
Sexual Content: Mild
Violent Content: Mild
Crude or Profane Language: Mild
Drugs and Alcohol Content: None
See a clip of my review here, plus the Breaking Dawn review!
Talking Points:
At some point in our lives we may have experienced what it’s like not to fit in. Mumble desperately wanted to let Erik know that he will eventually fit in, and make his contribution to the world. This could spark a good parent-child conversation.
The movie is filled with great messages for youngsters to hear. In one scene Erik sang a song about how his father had inspired him to keep striving to make a difference, even if things seemed impossible. Another great parent/child conversation.
The music was fun and entertaining in the film. Kids in the theater were dancing in their seats; they had happy feet too!
I never saw the first Happy Feet movie, and I really enjoyed this movie, though it was about a half an hour too long. I noticed the kids in the theater were getting antsy too.
Sexual Content: Mild
- Two male characters had affection for each other. This could spark a conversation with your kids.
- One character said, “I’d never have an egg with you.”
Violent Content: Mild
- Penguins formed an ice ramp to try and fly out of the hole they were trapped in; it didn’t work, but they kept trying, though they fell to the ground each time.
Crude or Profane Language: Mild
- They said, “fluff” instead of the f-word…”fluff off.”
Drug and Alcohol Content: None
Overall Happy Feet Two is an entertaining, heartwarming film with a message of the importance of love, acceptance, and determination. Appropriate for any age!