Coraline

Coraline

Who's in it: Dakota Fanning, Teri Hatcher, John Hodgman, Robert Bailey Jr., Keith David

What's it about: A new house means a new life to Coraline Jones(Fanning). Her mother(Hatcher) and father(Hodgman) are working on a plant information guide and are never wanting to do anything with Coraline. She walks around and meets her neighbor, Wybie(Bailey). Wybie gives her a doll that he found that looks exactly like Coraline. When she finds a small door that leads her to another world with a fmaily the exact opposite of hers, she begins to become happy. The only problem is they have buttons for eyes. The cat(David) that she meets tells her of the awful side of her new world and now it's up to her to save her family from the evil on the other side of the door.

What I Think: This is based on the novella by Neil Gaiman. I love the claymation of this movie. I saw the trailer for this one and couldn't help but want to see the rest of it. My boyfriend and I saw it for Valentine's Day. I was very excited to see something that was very different and rarely made anymore. The storyline was perfect and the twists were great. I was completely shocked at times at the movie because the trailer didn't really give anything away except that it was going to be a great movie. I love the voiceovers and the different actors and actresses were perfect for each role.

The Secret Life of Bees

The Secret Life of Bees

Who's in it: Dakota Fanning, Queen Latifah, Alicia Keys, Jennifer Hudson, Sophie Okonedo, Paul Bettany

What's it about: After accidentally killing her own mother, Lily(Fanning) has always felt empty. She only has a few of her mother posessions left and decides to go with her nanny, Rosaleen(Hudson), to Tiburon, South Carolina. There she meets her mothers old friends August(Latifah), June(Keys), and May(Okonedo). The three of them take Lily and Rosaleen in and make them right at home. Here Lily learns the life that her mother led and what really happened in contrary belief of her abusive father, T-Ray(Bettany).

What I Think: This movie was based on the novel by Sue Monk Kidd. I read the novel in high school and swear that it was the best book I have ever had the priviledge to read. It's mostly for girls though. This movie was a little off, but it got through the main idea of the novel. I loved Fanning most of all. She was exactly the way that I had pictured Lily in the book. It's amazing how Kidd would use such a simile for the human race beign like a hive of bees. Extraordinary book and 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!

Trapped

Trapped

Who's in it: Kevin Bacon, Charlize Theron, Stuart Townsend, Courtney Love, Pruitt Taylor Vince, Dakota Fanning

What's it about: Always wanting to bring families back together, Joe(Bacon) is targeting a new family. Karen(Theron) and Will(Townsend) are separated by a presentation that Will must make, leaving Karen with their only daughter Abigail(Fanning). Joe, his wife Cheryl(Love), and his other partner Marvin(Taylor) work together to keep the family apart for 24 hours in order to make them realize that they need to spend more time together. What Joe didn't find out is that Abigail has severe athsma and must be medicated several times every day. After finding this out, the family works together to bring everything to a stop before someone gets hurt.

What I Think: I have to say that the one thing that I really liked about this movie was Kevin Bacon. He really brought out his character. I also loved the spiderweb tattoo that was around his bellybutton. I loved the acting from everybody. Theron is absolutely gorgeous, as is Love. Townsend's accent left me breathless and his wit left me wanting to know what he would do in other situations. They really sold themselves in this movie and I want to definitely see more movies with the like of them in it.