Happy Feet Two (2011)

Kung Fu Panda 2 (2011)

I keep searching for great kids movies. I'm a big lover of them, and I want stuff to be able to watch with my kids. There's just something in the formula that works for some, and doesn't for others.

Here, Jack Black's voice really threw me off. I know he's this quirky guy with this half smile (or, as I prefer him, the "SPRAWL" guy from The Jackal), and it just felt like there was too much Jack here. As a counter, take Megamind (2010), you know it's Will Ferrel as Megamind, but he pulls it off so well that you entirely forget about who's doing the acting. Maybe that's the competent that this was missing: honest character, and the ability to lose myself in the characters and story.

Cars 2 might be good, but I really wish Pixar would have done an Incredibles 2. :)

Mars Needs Moms (2011)

I'm constantly looking for new movies to watch with my kids, especially ones that I'll enjoy too. I've reviewed some recently that just weren't enjoyable by adult audiences and I think that's hard to swallow given how much credence is allotted to box office success, and if the parents aren't in theatres, the kids aren't either.

Mars Needs Moms delivers a movie that I enjoyed, and my kids did too. I didn't check the MPAA rating before I started watching it, but looking now it's PG, which would have clued me in to the possibility that the thematic elements might be concerning. As it were, my youngest got a little freaked out during some scenes, but all-in-all was probably OK.

I read an article awhile ago that said the effects can take awhile to sink in for children. I remember about 2 months after seeing Despicable Me, my youngest started wearing a toque everywhere like the main character Edith, so I can definitely see that the effects take a while.

Noting the MPAA rating now, I've been struggling with a way to determine age appropriateness for animated films, and I think G ratings are going to generally be for younger ages (say, 5 or 6 and under) where as PG ratings might be for older kids. This is something for me to keep my eye on in the future.

The movie itself was good. Throughout the movie I kept wondering if it wouldn't have been better as a live action film, since it really had the live action feel. While the credits rolled, they showed all the actors on a motion capture stage in full motion capture gear, so the whole thing was motion captured, which clearly improved the final product. With movies like Avatar doing this too, I can't help but wonder how many movies in the future will follow suit, if you pardon the pun. Maybe Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within would have been a much better film too!

Gnomeo & Juliet (2011)

You take some Gnomes, a bit of pun, an ancient story, some great voice actors, and it'll be just like Toy Story but in a yard?

Well, not quite. But hey, I'll watch all of these damnimations looking for great ones. Bolt, Megamind, older classics like Toy Story? This one is Gnot it.

Rango (2011)

"It's 'E' motion capture."

That's all I could think of. Johnny did so much talking about 'E' motion capture, that's all I could think of when I was watching this.

I'm more of a Johnny-before-pirates-of-the-caribbean-Depp fan, and Rango incorporated a lot of the drunken swagger of Captain Jack Sparrow swagger. I guess it worked, and a lot of people might find it appealing if they're Pirates fans, but I could have done without it.

Also, as best as I can tell this was billed as a kids movie, yet I didn't think it was quite right for my 3 and 6-year-old. Maybe it's more the 10-14-year-old age bracket. Movie rating industry: maybe we need expanded ratings?

Rio (2011)

OK, can someone call Pixar, and tell them to buy all the other kid's movie houses? Seriously...

OK, OK, I know that won't happen. So listen up: parents (you know, they're like kids, only bigger) take kids to movies or show kids movies. If the parent is not entertained, chances are you won't get their kids to your movie next time! Pixar seems to have this awesome balance of kid-friendly excitement and fun along with adult-oriented humour. Other movies too do this, like Bolt which used generic terms like 'Cat' and 'Dog' in reference to various characters "Hey, listen Cat..." which I thought was great with the interplay of those terms in modern slang (think Randy off American Idol: "Yo! What's up dog?!").

Anyway... see my previous review for meatballs... some of these are just garbage.

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2010)

It was all right, but with the caliber of some of the better kids movies out there, I expected more out of this one.