Bedtime Stories

Bedtime Stories

Who's in it: Adam Sandler, Courteney Cox, Jonathan Heit, Laura Kesling, Keri Russell

What's it about: As a child, Skeeter(Sandler) and his sister, Wendy(Cox), lived in their father's hotel. After is was overtaken, Skeeter was promised to be the head of it someday. 25 years later, he's still only a technician. Wendy is leaving for Arizona for a job interview and needs Skeeter to help watch over her children, Patrick(Heit) and Bobbi(Kesling). He takes the night shift while their teacher, Jill(Russell), takes them during the day. He tells them bedtime stories at night, but realizes that the stories come true somehow during the day. In an attempt to fix his life, he Skeeter tries to work their stories around to helping him.

What I Think: First off, Russell Brand was in this and I love Russell Brand! Anything with Russell Brand in it is worth watching. He's hilarious! Anyways, Sandler is also great in this film. I love the story and way that it works out. Heit and Kesling did pretty well for being children in this movie. Russell was great onscreen with Sandler. I enjoyed the plot and the different parts of the stories they told and the reenactments of the stories. They were all funny and I think that Sandler loved being all sorts of different characters during the movie.

Nim's Island

Nim's Island

Who's in it: Abigail Breslin, Gerard Butler, Jodie Foster

What's it about: Nim(Breslin) and her father, Jack(Butler), live on a deserted island in the Pacific. Jack is a scientific researcher and leaves to the ocean for a project. While he's out to sea, he gets hit by a monsoon and doesn't come home. Nim begins to worry and emails her hero, Alex Rover(also Butler). Agoraphobic Alexandra Rover(Foster) is the novelist of the heroic adventures of her made up character Alex Rover. Alexandra gets Nim's email for help and then faces her fear to go and help her.

What I Think: I think that Abigail Breslin is slowly taking the place of child actress Dakota Fanning. She is a wonderful little actress and I love her and her talent. My favourite actor of all time is Gerard Butler, so I loved this movie for that fact. I was sad that he wasn't in it much, but glad that he was in it even a bit. Foster is amazing and I'm glad to know and witness the different talents that she has. It's great to see that she can do so the different characters that are thrown at her. Great family movie!

The Tale of Despereaux

The Tale of Despereaux

Who's in it: Matthew Broderick, Emma Watson, Dustin Hoffman

What's it about: In the beginning, Roscuro(Hoffman) was a respected rat. He loved to stay with the cook of ships and make friends. When he came to a new world where soup was famed and almost worshiped, he ruined the bond between humans and rats. Rats were banned from the city forever as was soup. Despereaux(Broderick) was born and always seen as a small troublemaker. He never acted the way a real mouse should and always was curious about he world around him. He meets Princess Pea(Watson) and forms a relationship that will heal the bond that was broken by Roscuro and bring the pleasure of soup back to the city.

What I Think: Matthew Broderick amazes me. He is old, yet his voice is that of a young child. It stuns me how he can be a bumbling adult or an inspired child. Emma Watson has come a long way from being Hermione. I was impressed by her flexibility. I love Hoffman's voice most of all. It's so distinct and you can always relate to his character alot. I love that he always gets the best character and that was one of the best performances. I think that this was all in all a good movie and great for the entire family. Haven't read the book that it was based on by Kate DiCamillo, but I hear that it's good as well.

Horton Hears a Who

Horton Hear A Who

Who's in it: Jim Carrey, Steve Carell

What's it about: When Horton(Carrey), an elephant, hears a small voice upon a speck, he decides that he needs to help the owner of that voice. The voice belongs to the Mayor of Whoville(Carell) who finds it hard to believe that his huge town could possibly be a speck of another world. The jungle that Horton lives in thinks that he's crazy, as well as the world of the Mayor. Both are on a quest to save Whoville and it's all in Horton's hands to keep the speck out of danger from all of the dangers of his world. The non-believers are on the road to capture the crazy elephant that Horton is and get rid of the speck once and for all.

What I Think: I love both Carrey and Carell and I found it great that the both of them combined their talent in one movie, not to mention a family picture! The animation was great and I loved all of the detail that was put into this one movie. The comedic routine was very different and, like other movies that I love, it had the serious plot in with all of the comedy. My sister, Cassidy, enjoyed the fact that JoJo in the movie was played by her favourite singer, Jesse McCartney. JoJo only had a few small lines but she went back and played them all over and over again. Also, I thought that it was great that Seth Rogen squeezed his way into the movie.

Wall-E

Wall-E

Who's in it: Ben Burtt, Elissa Knight, Jeff Garlin

What's it about: The world has been left for ruin and robots are being used to clean it up. The human race blasted off to space in hopes of the world returning to it's natural state. Wall-E(Burtt) is the last of the cleaning robots and has created a world of his own. When EVE(Knight) arrives from the mothership, he falls in love with her. She is only interested in finding sign of life on Earth. Wall-E gives her the plant that he found and she is picked back up and taken to the mothership. Wall-E holds onto the ship and finds himself among humans again. The captain(Garlin) is going to go back to Earth and start life over but AUTO, the autopilot on the ship, will not allow it. In hopes of returning to Earth, the captain puts all of his hope into the hands of Wall-E and EVE.

What I Think: This movie jumped straight to the top of my favourites. There was not alot of dialogue in this movie and it didn't really need any. The message that this movie is sending to people is crucial and we all need to begin to realize that this is exactly what the world is heading for. Epic disaster is in store for us. The animation was superb. I know that they worked very hard on every bit of detail that the designers could and it really paid off. This is one of the best movies I've ever seen and I will never get tired of it!

Bolt

Bolt

Who's in it: John Travolta, Miley Cyrus, Susie Essman, Mark Walton

What's it about: Bolt(Travolta) has always been on the set with his human Penny(Cyrus). He, however, has never known that his whole life has been filmed. His character on the show is a super dog who beats through evil to save his beloved Penny. After escaping from the set in hopes of saving Penny, he suddenly finds himself on the streets of New York City. Here he meets Mittens(Essman), an alley cat that has been without a home for a long time. Together they make their way across the United States with Rhino(Walton), an adventrue-seeking hamster they meet along the way, to find Penny again and reunite the two friends once more.

What I Think: I love everything that Pixar does. They just get better and better every time they do something new. The story was great and the depth of the characters was even better. I thought it was great that you could feel along with everything. The voiceovers were very clear and easy to understand. Good actors and actresses were chosen for each character and that's sometimes hard to find for an animation. I think that the tone of voice fitted every aspect of the character they portrayed. Loved the music that was involved.

Rain Man

Rain Man

Who's in it: Dustin Hoffman, Tom Cruise, Valeria Golino

What's it about: Based on the true story, Raymond Babbitt(Hoffman), or more well known as Rain Man, is an autistic genius. He is stole from his asylum home by his newly found brother, Charlie(Cruise). Along with Charlie and Susanna(Golino), Raymond sees the world for what it is. He experiences things that he'd never knew existed in the 30 years he'd been living. In a fight to get custody of his brother and the estate left to Raymond by their father, Charlie changes his ways in response to the ways of his childhood hero, the Rain Man.

What I Think: This story was so great. I was impressed by Hoffman's performance as a highly intelligent, yet mentally challenged man. To show that such a wonderful man could change one of the most deceitful men in only 2 hours time, is an amazing feat for a film maker. Cruise did an amazing job as the jealous and younger brother. I was impressed at Hoffman's consistency of the actions he had to perform to be Rain Man. Great movie of a great man.

Fluke

Fluke

Who's in it: Matthew Modine, Samuel L. Jackson, Nancy Travis, Eric Stoltz, Max Pomeranc

What's it about: Tom(Modine) dies in a car crash that he barely remembers. His soul is transferred to a newly born homeless puppy. As he grows up as a dog, he meets Rumbo(Jackson). They have their own adventrues until Rumbo dies from a gunshot. Now he's remembering that his best friend and business partner, Jeff(Stoltz), was the one that killed him. In a desperate attempt to save his wife, Carol(Travis), and his son, Brian(Pomeranc), he must find and fix everything that he's ever done.

What I Think: This was one of my childhood favourites. I first saw it in Ohio with my family on a summer trip. I didn't quite remember it as well as I thought I had, and was slightly surprised about the ending. I thought that the story was well thought out and played. A little much at times, but nothing more than a movie today with all sorts or weird and different scenes. I was impressed that a 1995 movie was done so well. The special effects during the soul transfer was kind of sad, but I loved it all the same. Great performance by Pomeranc and Travis. Stoltz could have acted a little more evil to portray the character that Fluke thought he was.