Granny Ranny's Coming Attractions

WOW! WOW! WUBBZY!: WUBBZY & THE FIRE ENGINE, the latest release from the Wow! Wow! Wubbzy series, lends itself easily to children questioning and using concepts in play. The story lines venture a bit from reality but they are amusing and fun. Each episode holds a simple story with educational, social and entertainment benefits. Wubbzy and the Fire Engine takes a look at public service and the desire to help others. Though Wubbzy goes about things the wrong way, it allows children to learn from their mistakes and ask questions about how they can help. Overall it is very entertaining and provides a vehicle for parents to discuss topics brought up in the episodes. The characters are very appealing to kids. OUr kid jurors remarked about what was taking place on-screen. “That’s a fire truck!” “That’s funny,” were said in response to jelly jars smashing and splashing on the characters. Kids wanted to watch again. They later acted out character roles from the Wuzzleburg Express episode. Many of them danced along to the songs between the episodes. Two children played fire trucks after observing the Wubbzy and the Fire Engine episode incorporating storylines into their play and readily talking to their parents about what they saw. The children were happy and laughed frequently at the activity on the screen.

CHUGGINGTON: IT’S TRAINING TIME is another preschool fave with our kid and adult jurors. We watch young trains who are in training learning to help out in whatever way best suits them. They learn how to do things, but not all are good at evert task. Throughout the learning process they ask questions, practicing what they have learned and fixing mistakes they made. This offers excellent modeling for little ones to begin doing the same.  In “Training Time for Harrison,” an “adult” train wants to pull the royal coach and puts obstacles in the way of other trains so that he will get the job first. He learns that even he has things to learn and can be a better train. The trains show how working together and supporting each other makes things so much easier. In “Watch Out Wilson,” Wilson needs special mirrors to help him back up. He is afraid the other trains will make fun of him, but instead they cheer and say how much they like his mirrors. This series has wonderful production values, is brightly colored and fun to watch. Our youth jurors were smiling, laughing, playing and talking with each other as they watched it. Many wanted to watch certain parts again. They like the opening song and some sing or dance along. One child even pulled out a box of trains and several children took them and played while watching. “Mommy, see that train, that one. He’s funny.” Kids talked about it and came back to watch a second time. Children all appear genuinely engaged by the episodes. It was equally appealing to kids familiar with Chuggington as with the kids who were seeing it for the first time. The children played nicely together and seemed to want to be helpful and include each other in their play.

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.

Credit: Raven Devanney, age 14, KIDS FIRST! Film Critic

Raven’s video review is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NlmP14ESQ0g

It’s Football Season again! And Fox Faith just released their film, The 5th Quarter to Blu-ray/DVD this week.

Storyline: When a close-knit family is nearly broken by tragedy, hope is restored by their eldest son who carries the weight of victory on his shoulders in THE 5TH QUARTER. In the spirit of The Blind Side, this inspiring true story stars Aidan Quinn (Legends of the Fall, A Shine of Rainbows) and Andie MacDowell (Four Weddings and a Funeral, Groundhog Day) who deliver emotionally stirring performances as the mother and father of Jon Abbate, a rising football star at Wake Forest University. Their lives are suddenly shattered when the family’s youngest son, Luke, is killed in a tragic accident. Inspired by Luke’s memory, Jon courageously leads the Wake Forest team to a series of last-minute victories ? leading to a thrilling climax that will “make you stand up and cheer” (NYC Movie Guru).

One of our KIDS FIRST! youth film critics reviewed it this week: “I just finished watching The Fifth Quarter and I enjoyed it. It’s about a boy named Luke who dies in an auto accident because of drunk driving.  The story is really about how the family copes with the loss of their 15 year old son and brother.

I really like the character John Abbate, Luke’s older brother, played by Ryan Merriman. The acting is superb. He couldn’t have done a better job.

I would say that this movie is for kids 13 and up. There is one little tiny extremely short scene showing some surgery that is disturbing, but there is also a lot of talking and emotion and crying, of course. Any kid younger than 13 would not appreciate that.  However, older kids will appreciate the amazing acting.

By Sam Connan, Age 13, KIDS FIRST! Film Critic. Sam’s review is available here:

We all know how well Mars Needs Moms did at the box office. Sometimes, I think you really need to send in a kid to do a kids’ job – that is to review a movie made for kids. Adults just don’t get it. Here are video reviews by 2 of our 8 -year-old youth film critics and, believe me, they loved it! The DVD comes out this week so don’t pass it by, give it the good old family try.”This movie is out of this world literally, because it takes place on Mars, A.K.A The Red Planet. The movie is about a little boy namedMilovoiced by Seth Dusky, who says some pretty mean things to his mom. Before he has a chance to apologize, she is Martian-napped and taken to Mars. He has 6.93 earth hours until sun rise to save her. Does he make it in time!

My favorite part is when Gribble, voiced by Dan Fogler, savesMilo’s mom with the helmet that was meant for his mom. I thought that was very thoughtful. My favorite characters are Gribble, because he’s just simply Gribbletastic. Ki, because she helpsMilo, and she does something that no other Martain has ever done. She stands up to the supervisor. Head of all Martians,Milo, because he realizes that he needs his mom and is determined to do whatever he needs to save her.

I rate this movie 4 out of 5 stars because the Martains are a little scary, especially the supervisor. So for this reason I recommend this movie to kids ages 7 and up.” Reviewed by Ny’Asia Bell, age 8, KIDS FIRST! Film Critic

“I just finished watching an excellent movie called “Mars Needs Moms.” The movie is about a  oy namedMilowho goes on a big adventure to help save his mom from aliens. The aliens that live on Mars are not very good mothers so they look to Earth to find good mothers to steal.

My favorite characters are Milo,Milo’s mom, and Gribble.  I liked Gribble because he helped Milo get his mother back and he helpsMiloto see how important his mother truly is. My favorite part of the movie is whenMilohas to save his new friend Gribble from the aliens. Gribble gets captured and the aliens are going to shoot him.Miloswings in to save the day and it is awesome.

This movie does have some characters that are bad and try to stopMilofrom saving his mom. The aliens in the uniforms are bad because they listen to the Supervisor. The Supervisor controls everyone and wants everyone to do what she says.

I would recommend this movie for ages three and up. I think depending on what age you are is how you will see this movie. For example, my brother is 5 and he didn’t think the movie was scary at all. I am 8 and I found the movie to be a little scary because it made me think about how sad I would be if I lost my own mother. But don’t worry everything turns out ok in the end! Go out and buy this movie when it comes out on Disney DVD and Blu Ray.

Reviewed by Anthony Aranda, age 8, KIDS FIRST! Film Critic

Who is Simon Miller is the latest release from WalMart / P&G’s Family Movie Night offerings and, it’s truly one of their best to date. Three of our youth film critics reviewed it and all, from 8-year-old Anthony to 14-year-olds Gabriella and Raven had great things to say about it. Here are some of their comments:

This made-for-TV movie is a super entertaining edge-of-your-seat movie. From the very first scene, it grabs you and you are hooked for the whole film. I really enjoyed this film. My favorite character is Sarah, played by Skyler Day, because she is very helpful in the mission to find her father and her acting is very convincing. The cinematography is great; the color is dark and the lighting makes the scenes gloomy.  That really helps build suspense in the film. The background music works well; it has a “spy” feel to it and generates the right  mood. I think that by the way the movie ends that we might expect a sequel. (Raven Devanney, age 14)

Are you into action and adventure? If so, then Who is Simon Miller? is a movie for you. It tells the story of the Miller family’s frantic search in finding out who their father, Simon, really is. After discovering their father’s secret office containing multiple passports of him with different names, they become suspicious. They decide to embark on an international trip in search of their father. I enjoy watching the family travel to places such as Paris, Geneva and other cities in Europe. I also like the theme of the movie. The Miller family constantly tries to stick together, despite all of the obstacles they encounter. They will even risk their lives for one another. However, some parts of the movie did not quite make sense to me. For example, the clues the family follows to find Simon. (Gabriella Chu, age 14)

I just got finished watching an excellent movie called “Who is Simon Miller.” The movie is about a family who doesn’t know as much about each other as they think.My favorite characters are Sarah and Kevin. I liked the kids the best in the movie because they were very smart and solved most of the puzzles in order to help find their dad. I would hope that if I was looking for my mom or dad that I could be as smart as they were. My favorite part of the movie is when the family found their dad. That is my favorite part because they spent a lot of time trying to find him and were so happy to find him. (Anthony Aranda, age 8)

We recommend this movie for ages 12 and up due to some violence plus a complicated storyline and scenes of teens traveling on their own to foreign contries.

See this movie on NBC on Saturday, August 6th at 8/7 central.  

Based in the books by authors Kate and Jim McMullan, Scholastic is releasing the action-packed, rumble-tumble DVD set, I’M DIRTY! & I STINK!: THE KATE AND JIM MCMULLAN COLLECTION, including the two title stories plus ten more all about about trucks and trash and boats and bikes.  “I Stink!” features the smelly story of a New York City garbage truck that likes to eat alphabet soup whereas “I’m Dirty” shows just how grimy a sassy backhoe loader can get while doing its job.

The two-disc set also features ten adventurous stories adapted from award-winning books and celebrity narration by Andy Richter, Forest Whitaker, Steve Buscemi and others, contains Robert McCloskey’s “Burt Dow: Deep Water Man”, Dav Pilkey’s hilarious “The Paperboy”, “Stars! Stars! Stars!”, “Fletcher and the Falling Leaves”, “Johnny Appleseed”, “Trashy Town”, “The Remarkable Riderless Runaway Tricycle”, “The Beast of Monsieur Racine”, “Arnie the Doughnut” and Virginia Lee Burton’s timeless story, “Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel”.  Aside from featuring Scholastic’s innovative read-along captioning, the DVD set also includes bonus interviews with “I’m Dirty” and “I Stink!” authors Kate and Jim McMullan, and more!