Review: Nativity 2 - Danger in the manger

Well what a great couple of hours I've just spent with the kids cuddled up watching Nativity 2. I had no idea what to expect as I haven't seen the first movie but my 10 year old JJ rants on about how fabulous it is and he has been dying to watch this movie.

I can now see why he wanted to see it so much. What a great feel good movie, I love the kind of movie that is simple enough for the kids to understand but also entertaining and comical enough that us adults enjoy it too.

Yes it is corny in parts and Mr Poppy (Marc Wooton) will drive you bonkers but David Tennant (Mr Peterson) is fabulous and it is such fun to watch him playing two parts, I can really imagine he had a ball making this.

What's the story?
St Bernadettes is without a year 7 teacher and the kooky and irresponsible teaching assistant Mr Poppy, who is the nephew of the headmistress is driving every teacher away. Thank goodness that Mr Peterson is not so easily scared off and he joins the team and ends up having to get involved with Mr Poppys plans that the kids will travel to Wales and take part in the national contest 'A song for Christmas'. The film follows their hilarious journey to the event and will have you laughing, cringing and cheering them on.

Nativity 2: Danger in the manager will make an excellent Christmas present and I see it is available for £10.00 on Amazon at the moment for a DVD or £12.99 on Blu-ray. There is also a fab box set with Nativity 1 and 2 for just £13.55.

Run time: 106 minutes
Certificate: U

Have a look at the trailer and see for yourself if this is a film for you -

Review: Smurfs 2 DVD

The kids were very excited the other night when I showed them that the Smurfs 2 had arrived in the post for review. They had all watched the original Smurfs move about a year ago with dh whilst I was away in Ethiopia, so for me this was my first foray into the newly recreated world of the Smurfs.  I loved the original cartoons when I was a kid so if I'm honest I expected to be disappointed with this film as remakes are often not as good as the original but I was very pleasantly surprised and enjoyed this film.

Synopsis

Evil wizard Gargamel (Hank Azaria) creates Hackus and Vexy, a pair of mischievous Smurf‑like creatures, hoping they will let him harness the magical Smurf‑essence. However, he soon discovers that he needs the help of Smurfette, who knows the secret to turning the pair into real Smurfs. When Gargamel, Hackus and Vexy kidnap Smurfette from Smurf Village and bring her to Paris, it’s up to Papa, Clumsy, Grouchy and Vanity to reunite with their human friends, Patrick (Neil Patrick Harris) and Grace Winslow (Jayma Mays), to rescue her.

But will they succeed and more importantly what will they all learn along the way? Probably my favourite part of the film was all the great story threads it had going through it, there was a fabulous message that we are all different and we choose who we will become. My favourite line was "It does not matter where you came from, what matters is who you choose to be".

Take a peek at the trailer and this will give you more of a flavour -



I found the Smurfs 2 a sweet film which was completely inoffensive. It made for a good family watch and kept us all in our seats happily munching the popcorn. My 6 year old twin girls probably loved it the most, one of them loved Smurfette and one the naughty girl Vexy, I think that tells you a little about their characters!

JJ, who is 10 years also enjoyed the film and he liked some of the one liners, there are a few good jokes in there if you listen for them.

All in all we give this a Pannell family thumbs up and would happily recommend the film to other families.

Run time: 105 minutes
Classification: U, suitable for all

Smurfs 2 is released on Blu-ray, Blu-ray 3D and DVD with ultra-violet as of 2nd December. There are some fabulous additional features like the history of Smurfette and the animates making of some of the characters, as well as many deleted scenes.

You can purchase the DVD for £10, the Blu-ray for £15 and the Blu-ray 3D for £18 on Amazon.

Disclosure: I received this film free of charge for the purpose of this review. I have not been instructed what to write and I remain honest.

Review: Robosapien (Family DVD)

I sat the other day and watched a great movie with the kids, we all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

Robosapien reminded me of a modern day 'Short Circuit', the film I grew up loving in the 1980's. The robot character is cute and really endearing, all my children now want their own robot best friend!

Not only that but the other central characters in the plot are likable and well acted too. Henry is a little boy who running away from the school bullies jumps in a dumpster to hide and finds Robosapien all broken up. Being the smartest kid in school he is able to fix Robosapien and names him Cody. From there Cody and Henry form a firm friendship and you watch Henry grow and mature with the confidence boast from his new mate.

Of course Cody is no ordinary toy robot, he is a highly intelligent search and rescue robot that has been set free by his inventor so that the evil Kinetech Labs can not use him for military purposes. I won't give too much away but the rest of the film is a tale of friendship and good fighting evil. You can feel the love between Cody and Henry and Cody very much becomes part of Henry's family.

This movie contains a bit of everything - fun, action scenes, a love story. I kid you not when I say that this will become a firm favourite with my children, especially my near 6 year old twin girls. They have already watched it a few times. The film was sold to me as being aimed at 5010 year old's but I think the appeal is wider than that, it really is very good and watchable.

There is a limited cinema release with it showing at Empire Juniors on 4th and 5th May.

Robosapien the movie is based on the popular toy range of the same name.

Take a look at the trailer -



Film Details - 
Run time:  85 minutes
Rating:   PG
Release Date:  28th May 2013 in the UK
Staring: Robbie Coleman, Penelope Ann Miller, David Eigenberg and Jae Head

You can pre-order the DVD on Amazon now for the great price of just £9.75 for the DVD

I was provided with this DVD free of charge for the purposes of this review. I have not been instructed what to write and I remain honest.

Review: Family DVD - Journey 2 The Mysterious Island

Oh what a rainy long bank holiday weekend it has been, such a shame - we had high hopes to spend lots of time outside and to enjoy the sunshine. Oh well, the beauty of it being miserable outdoors is that it is then super to snuggle up on the sofa with all the family and watch a good movie together.

This evenings choice was from Warner Brothers - Journey 2, The Mysterious Island and I have to say we had 90 minutes of good family viewing. Milkshakes and popcorn completed the evening. From the start JJ (8 years) was taken in, he was right there with the main characters trying to uncode the message, sshhing his sisters as they chatted to me about what was going on.  I did wonder at first if it would be a bit old for my near 5 year old twins but once Sean and Hank were on their journey the girls were interested and it was so funny when they reached the Island, Miss M was shouting at the screen for them to not enter the cave. There were many moments in the film that had the girls involved and ready to jump, but in a great way. Take a look at the lizard clip -

It is fab to be able to watch a movie that had an adult enough story line that I can enjoy it, you do get a bit bored of animation after a while!  I think it helped that recently the girls have got into High School Musical and as soon as they looked at the DVD box they spotted Vanessa Hudgens. In fact the film is pretty packed with stars, such as Michael Cain, Kristin Davies, Dwayne Johnson and Josh Hutcherson and they make for a great movie with loads of adventure.

I would definitely recommend this as a good family watch, JJ commented that it was 'awesome' and the girls choice of words were 'cool' and 'great'.  Praise indeed!

We did not watch the film in 3D but I have heard from friends that it is excellent in 3D and I can well believe it.  The film is visually stunning and it is really interesting to see elephants the size of small cats and birds the size of small aeroplanes!

The film was released on 28th May and is available to buy on Amazon now for £10 for the DVD, £14.99 for the 3D blu ray triple pack.  I was also impressed that along with my DVD I get a download code so I can put the digital version on my laptop (or ipad etc if I was lucky enough to have one of those!).

Disclaimer: I received this DVD free of charge for the purposes of this review.  I have not been instructed what to write and I remain honest.

Which Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Film do you rate?

After arriving home from our Easter break we were really pleased to be greeted by an Easter bundle from Warner Brothers.  The kids were very excited and immediately set about watching Bugs Bunny's Easter Funnies, which I am told was fabulous but I have to be honest and say I did not sit through, it did its job and kept the kids happy for a while and that suits me.  I took solace in the Mini eggs that accompanied the films!

I do like it when I can feel sure that a DVD is age appropriate and I do not need to vet it first. I always feel happy with the Warner Brother U and PG cert films that I have been sent to watch and review, they is never anything too adult in them.

One thing I did sit down and watch was the 2005 Tim Burton directed film 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory'.  The remake of the classic 1971 'Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory' is a film I have been avoiding since it came out as I just do not like Tim Burton films in general, they tend to be a bit too weird and black in humour for me.

Dh persuaded me to have a watch, saying I would not be disappointed and my 8 year old JJ kept trying to convince me it was the best film ever.  I watched and yes I enjoyed, it was far better than I might have imagined.  I cannot be swayed from the original though if I am honest.  I suppose 30 odd Christmas viewings have persuaded me that Gene Wilder is THE Willy Wonka, but no problem there as the original film was also in our bundle.

A couple of days later, all the family sat down again and this time we watched the original movie and the girls agreed with me that Umpa Loompas are supposed to orange!  To be honest whichever film you choose as a family, you won't be disappointed they are both classics that will appeal to adults and children alike.

So what about you, which film does it for you?


Disclaimer:  I was sent the Easter package from Warner Brothers for the purpose of this review.  I have not been instructed what to write and I remain honest.

DVD Review: A Dolphins Tale

I was invited to a preview blogger event before A Dolphins Tale was released at the cinema and sadly I could not make it, so when Warner Bros. asked me if I would like to review it on DVD I nearly snapped their hand off.

The DVD arrived yesterday and what better to do on a very cold and bitter Saturday afternoon than to sit under the duvet with my little ladies and watch the movie. I proved to myself yet again that since becoming a mum I have turned into a blubbering wreck, this film and knowing that it is based on true events really moved me and I absolutely adored it.  I expected the film to be a big hit with JJ but due to his friends being here he has not even watched it yet, it was me and Miss E that it really touched.

I did not expect a 4 year old girl to be able to get so much of the film, but she was really engaged and enjoyed it and now keeps chatting about Winter the dolphin and her tail that died. The plot in a nutshell, is that Sawyer, an 11 year old boy who is struggling at school finds a hurt dolphin washed up on the beach and caught in a  crab trap. He starts to set the dolphin free and in those moments develops a special bond. When the dolphin is moved to the Clearwater marine hospital and named Winter, Sawyer breaks in to find her and ends up bunking off summer school so that he can spend time with Winter and nurse her back to health along with the staff at the hospital. He manages to engage a specialist to help build a prosthetic tail for Winter and organises a special event with his friend Hazel and her family so that Winter and the hospital can be saved.

This is a real feel good movie and one I would definitely recommend for great half-term viewing for kids of all ages. We will most definitely sit down and watch it again, with JJ this time. Take a look a the official trailer below and see if you fancy it too.
Dolphin Tale is out on DVD on 13th February 2012, it is available to pre-order on Amazon for the cost of £9.99 and Blu-ray is £14.99.

Run time - 108 minutes
Rating - U, suitable for all
Cast - There is  superb cast, including Morgan Freeman, Ashley Judd, Harry Connick Jnr and Kris Kristofferson



Disclaimer:  This is a review post

Review: Marley and Me, The Puppy Years

This afternoon I spent a couple of hours ironing, something which is OK but not the most interesting thing I can think of doing.  To make it more bearable I normally watch something good on TV, so when my kids asked if we could put Marley and Me, The Puppy Years DVD on I happily said yes.  A nice family, easy viewing movie was just what I needed.

The film did not dissapoint.  I had enjoyed the original Marley and Me movie and whilst this film did not actually fit in with the story line from the original film it was in the same vein and had the same beautiful labradors. We are a family with a penchant for Labs and I think this certainly helped us to enjoy this film. it is what it is, very easy viewing, a lot of fun and nothing too taxing. Marley talks this time and you get an insight into what the animals are thinking, just a bit of fun.

This storyline sees Marley as a young puppy in Vancover, looked after by his dogsitter Bodi Grogan, played by Travis Turner (Supernatural, Fairly Legal), who is staying with his grandfather Fred.   Bodi has always wanted a dog of his own and during the summer, to prove to his mum that he is ready for the responsibility, he enters Marley in the "Ultimate Puppy Championship," along with the neighbour’s Labrador puppies Fuchsia and Moose.  

After weeks of mayhem, training and hard work, Marley and his team the “Ragga Rascals” are ready for the competition. They come up against strong competitors when they face the other puppy teams; a group of pugs, a gang of Australian cattle dogs and the intimidating trio of miniature Doberman pinschers. I'll let you watch the movie to find out the ending but needless to say as a family certificate U it is  good one! Here is a quick clip to give you a taster.

Marley and Me, the Puppy Years was relaeased on 14th November 2011 and I believe it will make a great Christmas gift. The RRP for the DVD is £14.99 but it is available on Amazon right now from £9.00. It is also available as a Blu-ray for RRP £19.99. Both DVD an Blu-ray have additional features.


Disclosure:  I was provided with this DVD for the purposes of this review.  I have not been instructed what to write and I remain honest.