KIDS FIRST! News

Free Willy: Escape From Pirate’s Cove from Warner Home Video. It’s time to save an orca again, and this time it’s in a film starring Bindi Irwin and Beau Bridges. While the concept of saving the whale is similar to the other “Free Willy” films, you don’t ever find yourself bored. This might be because anyone following Irwin’s career knows that she’s truly passionate about animals, both on and off the screen. It adds a dimension of sincerity to the film.

It’s hard to believe it’s her first feature film debut since Irwin’s acting is so natural. In this engaging film, young Kirra joins her eccentric grandfather (Bridges) in South Africa at his rundown amusement park by the sea. An orca, which Kirra names “Willy,” gets stuck in their lagoon and can’t be freed until they find Willy’s pod. Things get tense when the wealthy amusement park owner down the road wants to buy Willy and their own funds get tight, making it difficult to feed the orca. It’s up to Kirra and her buddy Sifisu to find the pod and free Willy.

This DVD models respect for humans and respect for nature. It directly addresses why animals need to be in captivity sometimes, but if at all possible it’s best for them to be free.

KIDS FIRST! Child Juror Comments: It was a really good movie, and it was fun to watch because there were orcas and a penguin. The rivals treated each other poorly by calling each other names. Kirra and Sifisu become good friends and are nice to each other. They helped each other do different tasks throughout the movie like when the one kid helps Kirra free Willy.

I think my friends would like this because it’s a fun movie to watch. My favorite part was watching Englebert swim. It was live action, and it looked really good. The sound was really clear. Some people would like the music, but I didn’t. I loved when the guy was running away because they tried to poison then Willy came and bit him in the butt. The bad guy stood up and cut his back on the cannon and had to get stitches.

Look for Free Willy 4: Escape from Pirate’s Cove in a store near you.

Big Bad Boo Productions has joined the KIDS FIRST! team. With offices in LA, NY and Vancouver, Big Bad Boo is an animation company providing production services and production services for partners around the world. Some of its popular titles include Animaniacs, Tiny Toons, Bat Man, Being Ian and Yvonne of the Yukon.

Leading family entertainment producer and distributor Chorion is partnering with ScrollMotion, creators of the Iceberg Reader and a leading developer of original iPhone applications, to bring its “Mr. Men and Little Miss” classic books to the iPhone and iPod Touch. Available now in iTunes, the digital books expand upon the traditional children’s book reading experience by incorporating scrolling image exploration, interactive controls and a voice recorder.

The titles currently on offer are: “Mr. Happy,” “Mr. Tickle,” “Mr. Bump,” “Mr. Messy,” “Mr. Mischief,” “Mr. Perfect,” “Mr. Funny,” “Mr. Grumpy,” “Little Miss Sunshine, Little Miss Chatterbox, Little Miss Giggles, Little Miss Stubborn,” “Little Miss Fun,” “Little Miss Naughty,” “Little Miss Bossy,” and “Little Miss Trouble.” The book apps are available for $3.99 each, with an introductory price of $1.99 each for “Mr. Tickle” and “Little Miss Chatterbox,” and can be downloaded on iTunes.

A video demo of the applications is available here.

This deal marks Chorion’s first iPhone and iPod Touch app license for the Mr. Men and Little Miss brand.

Here are some interesting statistics the creative team offers regarding the production process:

“Ice Age Three” used 6.7 million render hours – the equivalent of 764 years on a single computer 24 hours a day seven days a week

Blue Sky employees ate 1935 donuts on “donut fridays” and 1290 bagels on “bagel mondays” during production.

The film used 18,000 man weeks of work – the equivalent of 1 person for 346 years!

Rhythm Child: Eat a Bowl of Cherries. Old, classic songs take on new sound with Rhythm Child in “Eat a Bowl of Cherries.” It’s tough to listen to without dancing around. This delightful CD comes with a shaker instrument so kids can play and sing along to favorite songs. The catchy tunes are backed up by percussion, guitars, bass, organ, sax and horns, providing a wide range of sound.

Rhythm Child: Eat a Bowl of Cherries is being considered for a Grammy nomination. Check out its website at www.RhythmChild.net.