KIDS FIRST! News

KIDS FIRST! youth film critic Gabriella Chu (age 14) shares her insightful review of made-for-TV family film Game of Your Life, which NBC will air on Friday, Dec. 2. The film’s lead, Titus Makin Jr., came by to visit with KIDS FIRST! youth film critics for this week’s Coming Attractions radio show, and talks about himself and the movie. Check it out (here) as many times as you like, as the episode continues to stream on the VoiceAmerica Kids Channel.

Game of Your Life
Reviewed by Gabriella Chu
(See her full review on video.)

Game of Your Life is an inspiring movie about a bunch of teens who are accepted into a prestigious video game-designing school. The teens are divided into groups to compete among each other to design a video game. The movie focuses on one group in particular, made up of Zach Taylor, Sara Ramirez, Donald Wallace and Phillip Reese. The movie depicts the struggles and difficulties of teamwork, especially with Zach (Titus Makin Jr.), since he’s always preoccupied with helping his father keep their home because the bank is about to foreclose it, and designing another video game for the head of the school, Marcus Bentton. Will Zach stay committed to his team even though he is working on many other things as well?

I enjoyed watching the struggles of the team. The movie shows that in order for a group to be successful, all members have to be involved. As the movie progresses, Zach straightens out his priorities and learns that he shouldn’t be so focused on saving his home because the meaning of home is friends and family and not the physical house you live in. Moreover, the movie makes a comparison between games and life. In life, you always have to choose between options, just like the game Zach and his group designs.

I recommend this movie to kids 10 and up. The subject matter of the movie will most likely appeal to tweens and teens. Game of Your Life is an uplifting made for TV family film presented by Walmart and P&G. Watch it on Friday, Dec. 2 at 8/7 central on NBC!

To view the trailer, visit http://bcove.me/g6mnatlq           

Photos: Zach (Titus Makin Jr.) and Dr.  Lambert (Lea Thompson) in Game of Your Life (top); Gabriella Chu (bottom)

Settle in Saturday night for some heartwarming family fare as NBC screens the made-for-TV movie Game Time: Tackling the Past. The movie is part of Walmart’s Family Entertainment Initiative, and was featured in an episode of KIDS FIRST!’s Coming Attractions radio show. Check that out at your leisure, as the shows are streamed on the VoiceAmerica Kids Channel, and read on for a review of the movie from 14-year-old KF film critic Raven Devanney.

Game Time: Tackling the Past
Reviewed by Raven Devanney
(see her full review on video)

Game Time: Tackling the Past is a made-for-TV film by Walmart and P&G Family entertainment Initiative. This film is a touching story about a family with two brothers – one is a professional football player and the other is an assistant coach for his old high school football team. When a near-tragedy strikes the family, the two brothers have to come together to rebuild their family. 

I think this movie is very good. The cinematography is wonderful because it is done in a documentary style, which makes it seem more realistic.

My favorite character is Mica because he really pulls Jake to his senses and helps him along the way.

My favorite scene is when the football players do cheerleading warm-ups to help improve their grace and agility on the field, because it was really funny.

I give this movie 3 out of 5 stars because it was good, but I did lose interest a little.

I recommend this movie for 13 and up because younger children will get bored.

Be sure to catch Game Time on NBC on Sept 3.

Photos: Game Time (top), Raven Devanney (bottom)

When HDNet Movie’s kidScene plays the 1995 movie Babe (airing Aug. 19), it’s not only a chance to root for the most appealing piglet since A. A. Milne created Winnie the Pooh’s sidekick but a chance to be awed by the exceptional feat of Babe’s trainer, Karl Lewis Miller. As KF Film Critic Gabriella Chu (age 14) expresses in her review, it’s hard to tell where the animatronics leaves off and carefully orchestrated live action comes in. And Gabriella finds more great animal acting in Far from Home: The Adventures of Yellow Dog (premieres Aug. 1).

Babe
Reviewed by Gabriella Chu
(and see her review on video)

Babe is a marvelous family classic! The movie tells the story of an innocent piglet who befriends animals on a farm and becomes especially close to a sheepdog named Fly. With Fly’s help and all of the animals on the farm, Babe enters a sheepherding competition. Will Babe win the competition even though he is just a piglet? Watch the movie for yourself!

I liked this movie a lot because all of the animals are great actors and have personalities similar to people. At times I wondered if the animals were just extremely well-trained or if the use of animatronics was this effective. The dubbing was also wonderful. The format the movie uses to tell the story is like a children’s storybook, with each chapter telling an interesting story with a moral. The movie is also well directed. I especially liked the scene where Babe is trying to steal the farmer’s alarm clock, because director Chris Noonan used suspenseful music to make the audience feel the anticipation more.

I recommend this movie to children ages 4 and up because very little kids will still be able to enjoy it. Babe delivers a positive message that you can do anything despite your appearance.

Far from Home: The Adventures of Yellow Dog
Reviewed by Gabriella Chu
(and see her review on video)

Are you a dog lover and into adventure? Then Far from Home: The Adventures of Yellow Dog is the movie for you! This movie tells the story of a young boy named Angus who adopts a stray dog and names him Yellow. Angus, his father, and Yellow set sail one day, but a huge storm causes their boat to topple. Rescue teams are only able to find Angus’ father. Stranded on an island far from civilization, Angus’s and Yellow’s survival skills are put to the test. Will they get rescued? Watch this movie to find out!

I liked this movie because it is a heartwarming tale. The movie builds anticipation in the rescue team’s pursuit to find Angus and Yellow. I was especially impressed with Yellow’s acting! His facial expressions and actions resemble that of a person’s.

I recommend this film for children ages 7 and up. Far from Home: The Adventures of Yellow Dog is an uplifting journey and is a splendid family film.

Both films are among the many classics brought to your home by HDnet Movies on kidScene, a morning and Friday night programming block specifically for kids and families.

Photos: Babe (top), Gabriella Chu (middle), Far from Home: The Adventures of Yellow Dog (bottom)

The story of Annie has continued to warm the hearts through the decades, since Harold Gray created the comic strip “Little Orphan Annie” in 1894. The sons from the musical version, Annie, which hit movie theaters in 1982, seem to be as enduring – “Tomorrow” is eternal. Take seven-year-old KIDS FIRST! film critic Ny’Asia Bell’s review to your heart, and plan to tune in to HDNet Movies on July 11 and even sing along.

Annie
Reviewed by Ny’Asia Bell

Today I will be reviewing one of my favorite movie musicals – the original classic Annie.

This movie is about a cute optimistic little orphan named Annie, played by Aileen Quinn, who gets lucky and is chosen to spend the week with Oliver Warbucks, the billionaire, played by Albert Finney. Only he does not like her and wants to trade her in for a little boy. His private secretary, Grace, played by Ann Reinking, persuades him to let her stay. While there, she softens him up, and opens his eyes to see things in a different way. Mr. Warbucks wants to adopt Annie, but she does not want to be adopted, and wants to find her biological parents. So he agrees to help her. Does she find her biological parents or does he adopt her? Find out for yourself.
 
My favorite part is when Annie rescues Sandy from the boys in the alley. I thought that was hilarious.
 
My favorite character has to be Annie, because even though she was an orphan she still remained hopeful.
 
Annie is one of many film classics being brought to your home by HDNET movies on Kid Scene, a morning and Friday night programming block specifically for kids and families.
 
I rate this movie 5 out of 5 stars because it is fun and entertaining. I recommend this movie to everyone because it is definitely family oriented.
 
This has been Ny’Asia Bell reporting for KIDS FIRST!
Photos: Annie poster (top), Ny’Asia Bell (bottom)

Annie is one of many film classics being brought to your home by HDNet Movies, a KIDS FIRST! sponsor. HDNet Movies offers subscribers a premium movie viewing experience in true HD, including the best classics of the 1950s-1970s, favorites from the 1980s and 1990s, to recently released theatrical films. Additionally, HDNet Movies offers kidScene, a morning and Friday night programming block specifically for kids and families. HDNet Movies kidScene can be followed at hdnetmovies.com and via Facebook at facebook.com/HDNetMovies.

Launched in 2001 by Mark Cuban and General Manager Philip Garvin, the HDNet networks are available in the U.S. via AT&T U-verse, Charter, DIRECTV, DISH Network, Insight and Verizon FiOS.

With the familiar whimsy that Dr. Seuss’ “The Cat in the Hat” employed to instill in children a love of reading, PBS Kids’ “The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That” is poised to inspire the innate scientist in them.

In the original “The Cat in the Hat” book, the Cat offered Sally and Nick a diversion from a dreary rainy day. In the TV show, he offers them adventures to learn why, for instance, Nick can’t make honey for his ice cream by glopping an assortment of syrups on it.

“Show Me the Honey” was one of the episodes in the debut show Sept. 6. Characters and the environment they inhabit are rendered in the distinctive Dr. Seuss style, and the Cat even talks (taking on the voice, now, of award-winning actor Martin Short) in the same wise and silly manner as he tells Nick and Sally — what else? — “Your mother will not mind at all if you do.” (But they do always check with her before hopping in the thinga-ma-jigger to seek out the answer to their latest “Why?”)

In “Show Me the Honey,” the starting point is one that children (and, let’s be honest, adults, too) can readily identify with: Nick’s rational child-logic of “If bees can do it, so can I; I just need to find the secret ingredient.” When the Cat takes him and Sally to a beehive, they learn not only how it’s really done (science) but that bees are the only ones that can make it (nature). These aren’t one-track-mind kids, though; there’s plenty of play, too, such as when they follow the bees to flowers and bounce around on the petals.

Shorter sketches break up the longer ones, with quizzes such as “What makes it a bird?” Pointing out that whales sing, too, and that not all birds fly, our hero sums up the solution in a Dr. Seuss-style chant: “The mystery’s solved by The Cat in the Hat. All birds have feathers, and that’s simply that.”

Parents, you’re missing out if you don’t watch this show with your kids. Besides enjoying an entertaining review of scientific facts and relationships you might have forgotten about, you can catch a few sly ones that seemingly are written to go a little higher than three to four feet: the “Show Me the Honey” title, for one, and this response from one of a flock identified as Canadian gees — “How should I know? I’m a goose, eh?”

Produced by Portfolio Entertainment Inc. and Collingwood O’Hare Productions in association with Dr. Seuss Enterprises, Random House Children’s Entertainment, Treehouse and PBS Kids, “The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That” was created in response to recent findings that children graduating from kindergarten are less prepared to learn about science than about other subjects. The series supports young children’s science learning by introducing scientific inquiry skills, teaching core science concepts and vocabulary, and preparing preschoolers for kindergarten and first-grade science curriculum — all in whimsical style. “Dr. Seuss was so passionate about science, nature and the survival of the planet, he surely would have loved that the science-based book series he conceived is being brought to television in such a grand fashion,” says Kate Klimo, Dr. Seuss’ Random House publisher and executive director of development for Random House Children’s Entertainment.