Granny Ranny's Coming Attractions

Get your pre-schooler ready for school with some of these DVDs that offer great imbedded lessons within their colorful and appealing schories. Join best pals Thomas, Barney, Fifi and the Flowertots, Bob the Builder, Fireman Sam and Kipper as they celebrate the gift of learning, meet new friends and play hide-and-seek in this school day extravaganza. Use DVDs as a way to prep your kids for a world of fun and learning in these six exciting tales of discovery and adventure:

• Thomas & Friends™ – “Thomas and the Colors”
• Barney & Friends™ – “The New Kid”
• Fifi and the Flowertots – “Flying Lessons”
• Bob the Builder – “Dizzy and the Walking Bus”
• Fireman Sam – “Fiery Finale”
• Kipper – “Hide and Seek”

Going back to school has never been more fun! There are plenty of lessons in friendship, cooperation, sharing and fun for all!

Thomas and his engine pals prove they are Really Useful Engines as they travel around the Island of Sodor in four fun adventures in the all-new Thomas & Friends™: Percy and the Bandstand, available on DVD July 14, 2009 from Lionsgate and HIT Entertainment. Teaching timeless life lessons such as discovery, friendship and cooperation, the Thomas & Friends animated series invites children to enter a world of imagination through the tracks of a train and the words of a story.

The host, Mr. Arkwright, returns with never before seen content that can ONLY be found on DVD! Mr. Arkwright is Sir Topham Hatt’s right-hand man and the new driver on the Island of Sodor, and he engages children with interactive dialogue and railway fun.

Come along with Thomas, Toby, Duncan, Percy and all the other engine friends and Sir Topham Hatt for a hot-air balloon ride, a top-secret birthday party, a special surprise at the bandstand and much more. It’s a non-stop celebration of fun and friendship! Future engineers — hop aboard for trainloads of action in these four adventures:

Episodes Include:

· “Toby’s Special Surprise”
· “Duncan and the Hot Air Balloon”
· “The Man in the Hills”
· “Percy and the Bandstand”

DVD SPECIAL FEATURES

· “Songs of Sodor” Game
· Three Read Alongs:
* Toby and the Flood
* A Better View For Gordon
* Busy Going Backward

For all you Harry Potter fans take note: Warner Bros. Digital Distribution today announced the availability of exclusive Harry Potter content on the iTunes Store. Harry Potter fans can download for free and enjoy never before seen footage from the highly anticipated film “Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince” and a Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince App.

Making its worldwide debut today is an exclusive podcast titled “Being Me Has Its Privileges,” from the upcoming theatrical release, hosted by Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter), Rupert Grint (Ron Weasley) and Emma Watson (Hermione Granger. In their continuing search for the retrieval and destruction of Voldemort’s Horcruxes, Dumbledore takes Harry on a dangerous venture into an unknown cave where he believes they will find one of the dark objects. Because of the perilous nature of the journey, Dumbledore makes Harry promise that he will do whatever it takes to save himself – no matter what.

About “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” – Emboldened by the return of Lord Voldemort, the Death Eaters are wreaking havoc in both the Muggle and wizarding worlds and Hogwarts is no longer the safe haven it once was. Harry suspects that new dangers may lie within the castle, but Dumbledore is more intent upon preparing him for the final battle that he knows is fast approaching. He needs Harry to help him uncover a vital key to unlocking Voldemort’s defenses. Meanwhile, the students are under attack from a very different adversary as teenage hormones rage across the ramparts. As romance blossoms, one student remains aloof with far more important matters on his mind. He is determined to make his mark, albeit a dark one. Love is in the air, but tragedy lies ahead and Hogwarts may never be the same again.

Warner Bros. Pictures presents a Heyday Films production, “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,” the sixth installment of Warner Bros. Pictures’ Harry Potter film franchise based on the beloved novels by J.K. Rowling. Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson return in the roles of Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. The film also stars Helena Bonham Carter, Jim Broadbent, Robbie Coltrane, Michael Gambon, Alan Rickman, Maggie Smith, Timothy Spall, David Thewlis, Warwick Davis, Tom Felton, Helen McCrory, Julie Walters and Bonnie Wright.

“Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” is directed by David Yates from a screenplay by Steve Kloves, based on the novel by J.K. Rowling. David Heyman and David Barron produced the film, with Lionel Wigram serving as executive producer and John Trehy co-producing.

This film has been rated PG for scary images, some violence, language and mild sensuality.

After the events of “Ice Age: The Meltdown,” life begins to change for Manny and his friends: Scrat is still on the hunt to hold onto his beloved acorn, while finding a possible romance in a female sabre-toothed squirrel named Scratte. Manny and Ellie, having since become an item, are expecting a baby, which leaves Manny anxious to ensure that everything is perfect for when his baby arrives. Diego is fed up with being treated like a house-cat and ponders the notion that he is becoming too laid-back. Sid begins to wish for a family of his own, and so steals some dinosaur eggs which leads to Sid ending up in a strange underground world where his herd must rescue him, while dodging dinosaurs and facing danger left and right, and meeting up with a one-eyed weasel known as Buck who hunts dinosaurs intently. Directed by: Carlos Saldanha and Mike ThurmeierRead the review by Moving Pictures Magazine at:

Photos: Courtesy of Blue Sky Studios

http://www.movingpicturesmagazine.com/reviews/movies/ice-age-dawn-of-the-dinosaurs

Moving Pictures Magazine, one of KIDS FIRST! partners, attended the red carpet at the Mann Village Theatre in Westwood for the “Ponyo” Los Angeles Film Festival premiere on Sunday, June 28, 2009. The celebrities attending included actors Noah Cyrus, Frankie Jonas, John C. Reilly and many others.

Film Synopsis: A young and overeager goldfish named Ponyo decides to leave her underwater world behind after making friends with a five-year-old boy who lives in a small coastal village. Inspired by Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Little Mermaid,” “Ponyo” comes to the big screen as imagined by legendary Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki, whose credits include films “Spirited Away” and “Howl’s Moving Castle.”

[See MP’s full Los Angeles Film Festival coverage]

Photography by Asim Bharwani