Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters

My sister gave me this movie awhile back since I had never seen it, and it was alright, better than I expected, especially when I found out that MTV films played a role in the making of it.  Barring Vaarsity Blues, their track record isn't the greatest.  I was quite surprised to see Jeremy Renner in this one as well, especially with his talent.

Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters was released in 2013 and is a German/American horror/action film.  It is meant to be a continuation on from the Grimm's fairy tale of Hansel & Gretel.  In case you know nothing about the original fairy tale, two children get lost in the woods from their dad and end up at a cottage made of candy that is owned by a witch.  The witch is force-feeding them candy, trying to fatten them up so that she can eat them.  As the witch is trying to put Hansel into the oven, Gretel kills the witch, hence the witch hunters.

The cast includes:
Jeremy Renner as Hansel (The Bourne Legacy, The Avengers, MI: Ghost Protocol, Hurt Locker, American Hustle)
Gemma Arteton as Gretel (Prince of Persia, Clash of the Titans, Quantum of Solace, RocknRolla)
Famke Janssen as Muriel (X-Men Series, Hemlock Grove, Nip/Tuck, Taken, Rounders)
Peter Stormare as Sheriff Berringer (Constantine, 22 Jump Street, The Last Stand, Killing Room, Prison Break)
Thomas Mann as Ben (Beautiful Creatures, Fun Size, It's Kind of a Funny Story, Project X)


Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters was originally supposed to be released in March 2012, but due to Renner's busy schedule with the Avengers and The Bourne Legacy, it ended up getting pushed back.  Although it was not well received by most outside of the horror genre in the US, it garnered international attention and was a hit in Germany, Brazil, Mexico and Russia.   It ended up grossing $225 billion on a $50 billion budget, making it a box office success.  Although I can't personally say it is deserving, a sequel is currently in the works and scheduled to be released in 2016.

The film is written and produced by Tommy Wirkola, a Norwegian director with a love of horror.  This is his first American film and he originally wanted to make the story a short, but ended up selling it in Hollywood as a franchise with the goal of trilogy.  Witches are definitely portrayed as villains and the costumes were done by the same company that did Harry Potty & The Ghostly Hollows.  Filming took place in Germany in a forest near Berlin. 

This movie is entertaining for a B movie, there is weird attention to detail such as Hansel having diabetes from all of the sugar and the drawings on the home cottage wall.  Then there is the inattention to detail in the horrendously out of place weapons for the era, especially the guns, and the fact that at least one of the beginning witches is definitely a large man.  Also, I felt like for 2 people whose occupation it is to hunt witches that they would have a much better aim haha.  Gretel was the worst, she couldn't hit the broad side of a barn.  I also wonder why in the heck no one was pointing out the obvious with the grand white witch's heart and where it now resides.  Overall, I give this movie 3/5 stars.  It is a good movie if you don't want anything too serious and just feel like being entertained by something from the horror genre. 

 Here is the link to the movie's site: hanselandgretelmovie.com/

Beautiful Creatures

I literally just finished watching this movie for the first time.  I wasn't really sure what to think about it.  I had heard so many things about it.  That it was great.  That the book was so much better, etc.  Naturally the book is always better in my opinion, because there are some imaginative thoughts that can never make be imagined the same way as my mind sees them, so I will always have a disappointment factor.  I always try to see the movie first so that I can enjoy them both separately.  With that being said, I have NOT read this book yet (but I definitely will now), and I have to say that I was really intrigued by the story.  Overall I felt that the filming was interesting in that there were very few close ups of people faces, I felt like the characters were all being filmed from far away for the majority of the movie.  They really included the setting as a big part of the filming.  I was left wanting to know more about the background (as is normal in most book to movie stories).  Watching this movie knowing it was based on a book made me feel like the movie was just scratching the surface of an expansive new world.  I loved the glimpse that I got into this world, but I felt like this movie that was beautiful creatures did not have enough time to really tell it's story.  It seemed like with so much to tell that it should have been a 2 part movie to really let the ancillary characters come to life.  Don't shy away from it though, it is still totally worth seeing.

Beautiful creatures was released in February of 2013.  It is considered a romantic fantasy film and is based on the novel Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl.  It starts off with a boy named Ethan Wate living in small town Gatlin, South Caroline, he reigns as the narrator.  It also features a new girl to school named Lena Duchannes who is automatically shunned in a religious zealot town as a devil worshiper.  We learn that lena is something called a caster (akin to a witch), that considers themselves a separate race from mortals (normal boring powerless humans).  Of course it is Romeo & Juliet-esque in that they fall in love.  I won't say too much more for fear of spoilers, but it is definitely a romance, but not in the sort of chick flick manner.  More of an epic story fantasy romance. It is also a challenge between light and dark forces in nature, life, and even a religious aspect.

Alcon entertainment purchased the rights to the movie back in 2009.  Casting began in late 2011.  Jack O'Connell was originally slated to play the Ethan but dropped out of the film due to a scheduling conflict. The filming took place in New Orleans.  Filming included practical special effects as well as computer based ones, in the dining room scene, the table, chairs and chandeliers all really moved.

The cast included:
Alden Ehrenreich as Ethan ( Blue Jasmine, Stoker, Tetro)
Alice Englert as Lena (In Fear, Ginger & Rosa)
Jeremy Irons as Macon (Lion King, Man in the Iron Mask, Borgias, Eragon, Kingdom of Heaven)
Viola Davis as Amma (The Help, Ender's Game, State of Play, Law & Order: SVU, Antwone Fisher)
Emmy Rossum as Ridley (Devil Wears Prada, Phantom of the Opera, Shameless, Poseidon, Nola)
Emma Thompson as Mrs. Lincoln/Sarafine (Nanny McPhee, Saving Mr. Banks, Harry Potter)

Beautiful Creatures was considered a box office flop in America bringing in only $19 million domestically against a $60 million budget.  Internationally it reached $40 million in sales for a total of just over $60 million, barely recouping it's budget.  The film received mixed reviews averaging at about a 50%.  Most critics considered it a watered down Twilight with roles in reverse. 

Overall I give this movie a 3.5 star out of 5 total stars.  I think the storyline and potential was there, but the time limit was not enough to show the full story.  I was left wanting to know a lot of details that I felt were left out.  Jeremy Irons did a great job of playing Macon in a development role and I felt that Ethan was played well as a developing character as well.  However, I feel like outside of Emmy and Viola, the women fell short.  They didn't seem to embrace their roles and really bring the characters out.  I didn't really like Ethan's "ignorant mortal" character until about 40-50% into the movie.  There were some great sweeping shots, but overall the story was lacking.  The ending definitely left you off at a possible major cliffhanger.  I also felt like the dark side was emphasized a lot, while the light side was only the alternative you want, but never really explained much.  Even so, it was still worth a watch.

Here is the official website for the movie: Beautiful Creatures

Angel Baby

Let me just say WOW!  This book was phenomenal.   I won this book in a first reads giveaway, but it was one that I gladly would have paid for by description alone.

Angel Baby is based around a woman named Luz who is married to a Tijuana drug cartel key player, but runs away to try to get back to her daughter in the US.  Many men for varying selfish reasons stand in her way between her frantic run for a life with her daughter.

This book read like a movie.  I was drawn into the story, there  for every emotion. every scene.  I could envision all of it happening before my eyes.  The mother in me wanted to hate Luz for her selfish reason for abandoning her daughter and then to want to rip her from her life so she can have her back years later, but I couldn't bring myself to do it.  I found myself rooting for her the whole way, wanting her to make it, it was a gripping journey.

Richard Lange (The brilliant author of this book, whom I just realized I hadn't given credit to yet), did an amazing job in capturing so many aspects of cartel life and Tijuana without overdoing it.  He was able to transport me right there with each of the characters.  There was definite lead up throughout the book to keep it interesting.  I was thinking that I could guess what was going to happen next and he was great at throwing an unexpected curve ball just when I was  playing into a path that seemed predictable.

The descriptions of locations are enough for me to envision, but not over exaggerated to the point that I found my self skipping through text to get back to the good stuff.  The actions was wonderfully dispersed throughout the book.  Lange never left a dull moment, but still allowed for enough lead up to have the book keep it's hooks in you until the end.  I honestly found myself staying up later, with my eyes barely open just to grasp another chapter.  I am ecstatic that I was able to be introduced into Lange's writing and am looking forward to checking out his other novels!  I highly recommend.  An easy 5/5 at the very least, if not more. 

In a search for a cover photo I came across a hopefully true article that stated that Warner Brothers has already acquired writes to the book for making it into a movie!  It was written so well, that I felt like it already was a movie, so I hope that it can be done as beautifully on screen!
Warner Brother's Acquires Rights to Lange Book

City of Bones: The Mortal Instruments

I always like to watch a movie before I read the book. This movie came out last year and I remember that my main reason for wanting to watch it was for my crush on Jonathan Rhys Myers and my Hobbit Dwarf Crush Kili  I know that the biggest complain about this movie was by the book lovers.  So as someone who knows better I am judging JUST the movie.  Overall I have to say that my biggest problem with this movie was the "love interest."  I just didn't like him for her, and I could tell just by watching it that his character was written better than that for some reason.  It really didn't diminish from the overall effect of the movie though.

The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones is a 2013 German/Canadian Action Adventure Science Fantasy movie.  It is based on the first book in the Mortal Instrument Series with the same title: City of Bones.  The book is written by Cassandra Clare. 

The main character Clary starts seeing a weird symbol all around her and is even drawing it in her sleep.  During the movie she has a birthday and I was not clear on this but I think that she was 15 turning 16.  It seemed to be that it would have been more appropriate to have her be turning 18, but again this is a made up world.  I just don't feel like her age fit in with things like her mom not freaking out when she stayed out all night to go to a club...  but perhaps I grew up with a different kind of mom.  At this club she witnesses a murder that no one else seems able to see.  This gets her involved with a group of people known as "the shadow hunters."  When he mother disappears Clary finds herself joining up with them to help her find her mother and in the meantime she starts to find out that everything she thinks she knows about her life has been misled.

This movie had quite the cast to include:
Lily Collins as Clary (Mirror, Mirror, The Blind Side, Adbuction)
Jamie Campbell Bower as Jace  (Twilight Saga, Camelot, Sweeney Todd)
Kevin Zegers as Alec (Gossip Girl, Frozen, Jane Austen Book Club, Titans, Air Bud)
Jemima West as Isabelle (Borgias, Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc)
Robert Sheehan as Simon (The Borrowers, Misfits, Season of the Witch, A Turtle's Tale)
Lena Headey as Jocelyn (Game of Thrones, 300, The Purge, Brothers Grimm)
CCH Pounder as Dorothea (Warehouse 13, Sons of Anarchy, Law & Order SVU, Avatar, The Shield)
Jared Harris as Hodge (Lincoln, Mad Men, Fringe, Sherlock Holmes)
Jonathan Rhys Meyers as Valentine (Dracula, Tudors, From Paris With Love, August Rush)
Aiden Turner as Luke (The Hobbit, Being Human)

When the book author Cassandra Clare originally decided to look into the idea of turning her story into a movie she had a hard time finding a studio to accept the story with a female role.  many studios she approached wanted her to change to story to feature a male lead role and she refused, which I think made for a better story.  Originally the character of Jace was offered to Alex Pettyfer (Magic Mike) but he turned it down.  7 other actors were considered for the role before it ended up going to Jamie Campell Bower.  Filming took place from August to November of 2012 in Toronto, Hamilton,Ontario & New York City.  Demi Lovato and Colbie Caillat wrote songs specifically for this movie and are featured on the soundtrack. 

Overall the movie was received negatively from critics stating unoriginality and failure to connect with the audience.  There were also negative comments in regards to the screen play writing.  Reportedly $60Mil was spent in marketing on a film that grossed $90 million.  A lot of the failure in reception was said to be due to marketing to a very narrow audience of teens due to Clary's reported age.  In May of 2013 a sequel; The City of Ashes; was already announced even before the movie was released.  The principal actors are slated to be on board even though the sequel work has been pushed back to sometime this year.  Sigourney Weaver has reportedly also signed on to be a part of the sequel.

My overall take on this movie was probably higher than most.  I didn't have very high expectations and was mostly expecting to watch for some love of fantasy and eye candy.  I actually thought that the overall base story was quite compelling.  I felt that there were some things that were new in the fantasy movie realm.  I like the idea of the Underworld and the Angel Blood in the shadow hunters.  I feel like there were definitely a few missing pieces as often happens from book to movie and trying to cram an entire story into a short amount of time.  When I watched this movie I felt like it was a wonderful beginning, but that the story definitely needed to go on.  Overall I was quite entertained and I hope that a sequel does come out to continue the story.  I also feel like I definitely need to check the books out even though I normally shy away from Young Adult novels.  Overall I enjoyed this movie and give it a 4/5 stars. 

You can visit the official site here: City of Bones

The Hangover III

I have waited to watch this one for awhile, enjoying the first two installments of the movie and had high expectations from the finale.  After all the effort put into this movie franchise I was expecting the "wolf pack" to go out with a bang.  Unfortunately they ended up with more than a fizzle instead.  I have to admit that I was sadly disappointed by this movie. 

In case you know nothing of the Hangover Movie series I don't want to ruin it for you, but let me give you a little bit of background knowledge.  The Hangover is a comedy film, and this is the third and final film in the trilogy.  The first film was based around waking up from a night of  a bachelor party and not remembering anything, trying to piece together the memories.  The second film featured the wedding and having memories to piece together, so when this film came around I had certain hilarious expectations.  This film is featured around the Wolf Pack as they try to get help for Alan (Zach Galifianakis) after he is faced with a personal crisis.  They end up on a road trip heading for a treatment center, but end up having to face past events from the original Hangover movie. 

There are a lot of great actors in this film:

Phil-played by Bradley Cooper: (Silver Linings Playbook, Limitless, Alias, American Hustle)
Stu-Played by Ed Helms (The Office, We're The Millers, Children's Hospital, Semi-Pro)
Alan-played by Zach Galifianakis (Due Date, The Campaign, Dinner for Schmucks, The Muppets)
Doug- played by Justin Bartha (National Treasure, The New Normal, The Rebound, Dark Horse)
Chow- played by Ken Jeong (Community, Turbo, Zookeeper, American Dad, MadTV)
Marshall-played by John Goodman (Roseanne, Monsters, Inc., Argo, Big Lebowski, Alpha House)
Cassie-played by Melissa McCarthy (Bridesmaids, Mike & Molly, Heat, Gilmore Girls)
Jade-played by Heather Graham (Boogie Nights, From Hell, Emily's Reasons Why Not, Scrubs)
Black Doug-played by Mike Epps (Lottery Ticket, Something New, Resident Evil, How High)

The Hangover III had the second biggest worldwide opening weekend for an R-Rated comedy, coming in only behind the Hangover II.  It ended up with total box office earnings of $362 million.  Most reviews of the film have been negative from critics.  The general consensus being that the film deviated from the story line of the first two films and gave nothing to replace the formula that made them so successful. 

I have to agree with the negative critics on this one.  The Hangover movies became famous and loved for the their backward story-telling and the drunken humor.  While this movie offered no backwards story telling, not even a flashback to the incident from the first film that is in question in this one.  There is no memory loss and not much be way of humor.  There is definitely a darker tone to this movie and it felt like it was rushed in creation when you watch it.  All of your favorite characters are there for you to see, but their personalities seem to be a lot drier and there isn't a lot of scenes worth really devoting your whole attention to, let alone allowing a chuckle to escape.  I think that drifting from the original flow to close the trilogy was a foul.   I give this move 2.5 out of 5 stars.  The only reason to watch it is so get a close to the story and to actually feel better about where Alan ends up in life.  The giraffe incident was just too awful even for me as an opening to the film and it sets the tone for how the rest of the movie will go.  The ending makes you wish that it had been the beginning to this movie instead.   That would have been much more enjoyable to watch.

The official movie website: Hangover Part III

The Mighty Ducks

This used to be one of my all-time favorite movies as a child!  I had a huge crush on Joshua Jackson (Charlie) back then and I LOVED hockey!  There were a lot of hockey/figure skating movies that came out during my childhood and with the winter Olympics here, it reminds me of how I used to religiously watch all the time.  It was great to receive this great trip down memory lane on this snowy day.  Unfortunately this movie was a bit old for Liam and although I tried to watch it with him a couple of times, it kept getting ejected for things like Rugrats, Curious George, and Rio.  In his defense it is about Pee-Wee Hockey and a little above a 3 year old's head.

In case you missed sharing the Mighty Ducks at the height of it's fame in 1992 when it was released by Walt Disney Studios, let me tell you a bit about it.  It is an American sports comedy film directed by Stephen Herek (101 Dalmations).  It stars Emilio Estevez as a former pee-wee hockey star turned lawyer, who finds himself forced to coach for community service.  The team he is given consists of a cluster of a group of kids that have not yet learned how to work together.  The team includes younger versions of stars who made it big later in life, most notably Charlie who is played by Joshua Jackson.

The Mighty Ducks grossed over $50 million, making it a surprising success with audiences and spawning the beginning of a trilogy and also a spin-off tv show.  Critically this movie was a bomb, but the audiences loved it causing it to continue on into the trilogy with D2 & D3 coming out every 2 years respectively (1994, 1996).  The movie went on to inspire a real-life hockey team owned by Disney to be named after it in 1993, which when sold by Disney was renamed the Anaheim Ducks.






Stars you can find in the movie:
Gordon Bombay (the coach) played by Emilio Estevez (The Breakfast Club, Young Guns, St Elmo's Fire, The Outsiders, Bobby, etc)
Hans (Gordon's mentor) played by Joss Ackland (Kid in King Arthur's Court, Hunt For Red October)
Coach Jack Riley played by Lane Smith (Lois & Clark the New Adventures of Superman)
Charlie Conway played by Joshua Jackson (Dawson's Creek, The Skulls, Fringe)
Fulton Reed played by Elden Henson*aka Ratliff* (Butterfly Effect, Deja Vu, Lords of Dogtown)
Dave Karp played by Aaron Schwartz (Gossip Girl)
Connie Moreau played by Marguerite Moreau (Grey's Anatomy, Shameless, Parenthood)

The overall movie is about an underdog team!  And I loved it as a child!  Watching it as an adult was still great!  I give it a 4 out of 5 stars.  I do remember that the story gets better and will haev to revisit the rest of the trilogy as there were some holes in this script, and it had a rocky started but it pulled through and ended strong.  I definitely recommend watching it.   I would think kids age 10 and up would definitely be a great audience for it, and even younger if you child is into Hockey!  Also revisit the young Joshua Jackson and what really put him on the map!





Unfortunately there is no really good trailer that I can find so you can check out both of these videos to get an idea of whether or not you would be interested in this movie:

Here is the Disney Wiki Page *Caution it does contain spoilers: The_Mighty_Ducks

Lilo & Stitch

This is the beginning to a run of 3 other movies that were all definitely watchable on repeat with a toddler.  In time I will review them all, but I can't review the following story without starting at the beginning.  Lilo & Stitch is one of those Disney movies that I somehow missed until I watched it for the first time with Liam.  I must say that I was pleasantly surprised and thoroughly enjoyed the storyline.

Lilo & Stitch is about a Hawaiian girl whose parents have died and she is being raised by her big sister Nani.  She feels very alone in the world and wishes for a friend.  Nani takes her to the pound to get a dog and she ends up adopting Stitch.  Far from a canine, Stitch is actually an alien that is on the run from the law of his own planet and is hiding out as a fugitive on Earth.  He is the creation of an evil scientist who has been sent with an Earth expert to capture him and bring him back in for justice.  There is a larger Elvis presence throughout the film and his impact on Hawaii and Lilo.

Lilo & Stitch was released in June of 2002.  It is the 42nd animated Walt Disney feature.  It was written and directed by Chris Sanders who also wrote all other Lilo movies as well as both Croods movies, How to Train Your Dragon, Mulan I and II, The Lion King, Aladdin and Beauty & the Beast. He also plays the voice of Stitch.  It was nominated for an Academy Award for best Animated Film but did not win. 


There are a lot of famous voices in Lilo & Stitch
Lilo is voiced by Daveigh Chase (Samantha in Donnie Darko and in S. Darko)
Stitch is voiced by Chris Sanders who also wrote the screenplay
Nani is voiced by Tia Carrere (Wayne's World)
David (Nani's love interest) is voiced by Jason Scott Lee (Bruce Lee's Dragon)
Cobra Bubbles (Social Worker) is voiced by Ving Rhames (Mission Impossible series)
Jumba (Stitch's creator) is voiced by David Ogden Stiers (Cogsworth, MASH)

Chis Sanders (the writer and director) had originally created the story about Stitch in 1985 for an unsuccessful children's story pitch.   The storyline required a remote non-urban location and was originally going to take place in Kansas.  Deciding to change the location to the Hawaiian island of Kaua'i was a major decision, as no Disney movies had previously taken place in Hawaii.  Dean Deblois cowrote with Sanders ad he had done with Mulan previously. Disney wanted to keep this low-budget so everything remained pretty small until final production which lead the set and character designs to Sander's own personal style.  On location research the tour guide for Kaua'i explained the meaning of the word "ohana" in regards to family.  This ended up becoming a major concept for the movie.  Tia Carrere and Jason Scott Lee (Both raised in Hawaii assisted in rewriting the script to show true Hawaiian dialect and colloquialism).

Sanders chose to use watercolor backgrounds that had been long abandoned by most Disney films at the time.  They were used in films such as Dumbo and Snow White.  This was to flow with the story and with Sanders unique artwork.  He wanted the artists to be more in tune with their medium.  As you may notice the people in Lilo & Stitch are portrayed vastly different from people in any other Disney Animation.  The body shape especially with the extra long legs and the torsos always stood out as different to me, and now I know why.  Sanders also wanted the extra terrestrial objects to be similar to marine life.

Deleted Scenes include a major change int he original story where Stitch was an intergalactic gang leader and Jumba was one of his followers but that changed to Jumba being Stitches creator.   Also at the end Stitch originally flew a Boeing 747 to rescue Lilo but after the September 11th attacks this was changed to have Stitch flying a spaceship instead. 

Lilo & Stitch opened at #2 less than $500,000 behind Minority Report with $35 million.  Overall finishing with $273 million worldwide. 

Overall I find that this is a wonderful story and possesses a lot of great elements and lessons that don't always exist in Disney movies and can be hard to get the message across including death of parents, being raised by your sister, Social Workers, aliens, depression, bullying, etc.  I give it 5 stars out of 5 and highly recommend it to anyone.  Check it out if you missed out on it like I did and revisit it if it has been awhile.

The official Disney site: Lilo & Stitch

Finding Nemo

Liam is branching out in his movie watching and I got him to watch Finding Nemo for the second time tonight in the past year and I always love watching this movie.  I loved this one before Liam was born and I love being able to share it with him.  This is one of those timeless classics that you can watch over and over again.

 In case you have been missing out and don't know anything about Finding Nemo, let me fill you in on the background of it.  Finding Nemo is a Pixar film that was realeased in 2003.  It was the 5th film released by Pixar.  Nemo is about a clown fish that is captured by a scuba diver and taken fromt he great barrier reef to Sydney, Australia.  His father (Marlin) an overprotective clown fish then goes in search of him and comes across an unlikely partner Dory who is a tang (bright orange fish) with short-term memory loss.  Together they must cross the ocean to try to find and rescue Nemo.

Finding Nemo is a comedy-drama adventure film that is computer animated.  It was the first Pixar film to be released in the Northern Hemisphere during the Summer.  It won the Academy Award and Saturn Award for Best Animated Film and was the second highest grossing film of 2003 with a total of $936 million worldwide.  It is the best selling DVD of all time and sold over 40 million copies in 2006.  It was the highest grossing G rated film of all time until took over.  And it is the 23rd highest grossing film of all time.  In 2008, the American Film Institute named it the 10th greatest animated film ever made. 

Voice talents of Andrew Gould who plays Marlin.  Ellen Degeneres who plays Dory, Alexander Gould who plays Nemo, and also features Willem Dafoe who plays Gill and Geoffrey Rush who plays Nigel.  The director Andrew Stanton voiced Crush himself. 

The inspiration came from childhood memories and intrigues of Andrew Stanton and actually began turning into a move in 1997.  Ellen was brilliantly cast thanks to the Stanton's wife watching the show and he watched her change subjects 5 times in a single sentence.  (Sounds like Ellen would fight in perfectly in my family haha).  In order to get the brilliant animation of the ocean the directors took oceanography classes and went on many of their own scuba diving trips. 

An unforeseen negative drawback of the film: The reaction to the film by the general public has led to environmental devastation for the clownfish, and has provoked an outcry from several environmental protection agencies, including the Marine Aquarium Council, Australia. The demand for tropical fish skyrocketed after the film's release, causing reef species decimation in Vanuatu and many other reef areas. After seeing the film, although some aquarium owners released their pets into the ocean, they released them into the wrong ocean, which introduced species which were harmful to the indigenous environment and is harming reefs worldwide.

The excitement of a sequel in the making:   In April 2013, Disney announced the sequel, Finding Dory, confirming that Ellen DeGeneres and Albert Brooks would be reprising their roles as Dory and Marlin, respectively. It was scheduled to be released on November 25, 2015, but the film's ending was revised after Pixar executives viewed the film Blackfish. On September 18, 2013, it was announced that the film would be pushed back to a June 17, 2016, release.  It is interesting to me how far the reaches of Blackfish have been to even change things in a huge Pixar movie.  

You can find the movie at the official Pixar website: Finding Nemo
And also at Disney's websites once they partnered with Pixar: Disney Finding Nemo

WALL-E

I was sure that I had already done a review on this awesome movie, but it looks like it got missed somehow.  I introduced Liam to it about 6 months or so ago and he loved it so much that I finally bought it for him.  It is a great story with a very intense message that revolves around a robot named WALL-E and his robot love interest EVE (WALL-E calls her Eva).

WALL-E Was released in June of 2008 by Pixar studios and is considered a CGI romantic comedy.  WALL-E (Waste Allocation Load Lifter – Earth-Class) Is a robot that was created to help clean up the trash on Earth in the future (2805) when Earth has become covered and uninhabitable.  He falls in love with a robot that is brought down to Earth named EVE (Extraterrestrial Vegetation Evaluator).  When she is taken by a spaceship back out into space he follows her on an adventure that will change the destiny of robots and humans alive.

WALL-E grossed over $63 million in it's opening weekend ranking it 5th in the Pixar movie releases.  However it took over in the award wins and got excellent reviews all around.  2008 Golden Globe Award for Best Animated Film, 2009 Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation the final Nebula Award for Best Script the Saturn Award for Best Animated Film and the Academy Award for Best Animated Film as well as being nominated for five other Academy Awards. WALL-E ranks first in TIME's "Best Movies of the Decade".

The film was seen as a critique on larger societal issues. It addresses consumerism, nostalgia, environmental problems, waste management, the immense impact humans have on the Earth, and the direction in which the human race is headed.

In my research as to the making of WALL-E because I like to include some of the background in my reviews it was so extensive that I was blown away.  WALL-E was originally worked on in 1995 after Toy Story was completed but it wasn't until 2002 that it was really picked up again.  Originally it was to have a lot darker tone and aliens would have sent EVE to Earth instead of humans.  There was originally no happy ending and I have to say that I like what they ended up going with a lot better than the many concepts.  Most Pixar movies require abotu 75K story boards, whereas WALL-E took over 125K to give you an idea. There was extensive thought to go into the lighting and the colors that were to be used. 

Suffice it to say this movie required a lot of work, and the hard work paid off phenomenally.  This movie stood out spectacularly with a very limited amount of speaking, but it was not needed to get the point across. The visuals and the communication of the robots was done brilliantly and my son loves the movie and can connect with it.  I give it 5 out of 5 stars and highly recommend it to anyone.  Somehow you find yourself lost in the robtos and rooting for WALL-E and wanting him to get the girl and have his true love. 









Here is the official Disney site: WALL-E

Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey

Not having seen this movie in many years I got it in the mail from Netflix to share with Liam.  He was definitely into it.  Not quite in same way that he is enamored with Bolt, but he was definitely not trying to eject it and watch something else.  I had recently seen something that saddened me stating that this movie came out 20 years ago and that all of the animals in it are now dead.  :( 

I still loved this movie just as much if not more than I had as a child.  I do think that watching it as an adult that I definitely cried a lot more.  I was trying to remember if I had cried watching it as a child.  The story was still just as great and had more depth as an adult.

In case you have missed out on the awesomeness that it is Homeward Bound you must know that it is based on the best-selling book The Incredible Journey by Sheila Burnford and is also a remake of the 1963 film with the same title as the book.  Homeward Bound was released in 1993.   The story is about 3 house pets.  Chance a bulldog that was recently rescued from the pound.  Shadow a golden retriever and Sassy a Himalayan cat.  They each have their own child owner whose mother has recently gotten married to a man that needs them to move to San Francisco.  The pets are then sent to stay at an aunt's farm and feel as though they have been abandoned and decide to head home on their own across the mountains.

In it's release in 1993 the film grossed over $40 million.   In 1996 a sequel was released about the same animals being lost in San Francisco. The film was shot at various locations in Oregon. 

Overall this movie is excellent and I give it 5 stars.  If you have never seen it you are missing out and must give it a try.  If you have it is a must for a revisit.

For the official Disney link you can go to Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey

I Did It: A List of Accomplishments to be Proud of

As my son is learning to take pride in his accomplishments he seems to have come up with some pretty great things that make him feel such pride.  I decided to write a list of a few of the greatest things he has claimed credit for and felt much pride in. 

1. The sun coming up.  Liam exclaimed for an entire weekend repeatedly that he made the sun come up.  When it was dark he had turned on a light switch out side, a few hours later when the sun was coming up he jumped around excitedly proclaiming "I did it!"  When asked what it was that he did, he told me that the sun was on and he did it.  He still says it now and again.  I blame Rock-A-Doodle.

2. Getting everyone to go into the store when no one wanted to.  Yesterday, we had gone shopping at hastings and so today we decided just to go through the drive-thru to get some coffee and go on with the rest of our day.  Instead Liam waited until we were in the drive thru line and about to make our order to convince everyone of his urgent need to urinate.  We finally obliged to go inside and order so that he could use the bathroom.  As I parked the car and we were starting to get out.  He again exclaimed "I did it"  He was so overjoyed by this fact and getting to go inside and look at toys...  Also he totally did not have to go potty at all.

3. Making the oven timer go off.  It does not matter what I am cooking or when, any time that the oven timer goes off Liam excitedly bounces around the house exclaiming "I Did It" and then I have to race to the oven to try to open it before he burns himself with the heat blast of first opening the oven.

4.  This also goes for the microwave timer.  Liam can hear the microwave timer from any room and will coming running in claiming "I Did It"

5. Finishing Reading a Book.  Although this is truly an accomplishment when he is the one reading, he also takes credit for pointing to things in books and making someone else read. 

6.  Plugging anything in, especially if it can be turned on after wards.  This goes double for enabling him to turn on the vacuum or see the lights on the Christmas tree. 

7.  Sirens going by the house.  If he can hear it, he somehow had something to do with it.  Running joyously to the window and watching for the firetruck/ambulance/police car exclaiming "I Did It!"  as mommy I hope that he never does "it" that would require any of these sirens to have reason to actually come to our house.

8. Other people's Christmas lights.  When they are on in the morning on our drive to school he takes credit for any that are deemed pretty and also one of those blow up Santas. 

9.  Anything remotely movie related in which he has directed you to do something.  Such as picking a show to watch that you may have tried to talk him out of.  Selecting an episode on a movie.  Ejecting the movie that you selected and tried to convince him to watch and replacing it with the exact same movie he has forced you to watch 10 times in a row in the last few days.  Pushing the eject button on the DVD player to ensure that whatever song you were listening to and especially jamming out to on Pandora will instantly cease for another episode that you just watched.  All of these actions will result in a gleeful "I did it!"

10.  Pooping....  No matter who has pooped.  Liam will share some responsibility if someone else pooped, but somehow take full credit if the cat or the dog pooped.  I am too afraid to really analyze how he has done this, so I find it best not to argue with him about it. 

To Be Continued.....

Seven Psychopaths

The previews of this movie definitely intrigued me, and then I heard good things about it.  It has an all-star cast bringing in names like Sam Rockwell, Colin Farrel, Abbie Cornish, Christopher Walken, and Woody Harrelson.
Seven Psychopaths is about a movie script with the same movie being written by Colin Farrel's character who happens to be a dog thief, while also living in the real world and a psycho mob boss coming after them for stealing his dog.  
 I guess I should have known with the movie being British and having Woody Harrelson that this was going to be a weird ass movie haha.  I wouldn't say that it was a BAD movie per se, but it was definitely very strange and jumped around a lot.  As far as weird Colin Farrel movies go, I have to say that I prefer In Bruges to this one, and that movie was really weird, but the story line was really great.  The storyline in this isn't horrible, but it does seem shaky and is missing much flow.  Setting the movie up took about half of the movie.  Towards the end it takes on a different tone and you actually get the culmination of the movie script being written and real life going on.
Although the first half seemed to jump around like an episode of Lost, I got why people ended up with a good review of the movie.  If you can remember all of the jumping around it all gets tied back together and the holes are filled in.  The last half of the movie definitely redeems it and makes me give it a good 3 and a half stars.  If the first half would have been better it would have earned at least 4.  Definitely worth watching, but expect a weird jumpy beginning.  Enjoy!

You can go tot he official site at: Seven Psychopaths

Man On A Ledge

When I initially saw the previews this looked like a pretty dumb movie.  I saw the preview again and got somewhat intrigued by it.  I took my time getting around to actually watching it though and when I finally did sit down to it, I was enjoyed it quite a lot.

The movie is about Nick Cassidy, an ex cop who was sent to prison for stealing an enormous diamond and supposedly selling it off in pieces.  He escapes from prison right at the beginning of the movie and checks into a hotel and goes out on the ledge as a jumper to try to protest his innocence, hence the movie title.  I can admit that there was some immediate action but then a fairly slow start and a plan that didn't not seem overly thought out.  However as you delve deeper into the movie you notice things such as how great Elizabeth Banks is doing at playing a character that is not exploring her humorous side.  I was impressed with her ability to pull off the serious cop psychologist character.  I must say that the last half of the movie is the greatest and the ending half an hour makes the entire movie worth watching.  I actually found that some events were not as predictable as in many movies, and I think that the delivery went well.  There were definitely some shaky parts in the middle and some holes in the side story that never got fully filled in.  But the last part definitely jumped the ratings up in my book.  I give this movie 3 and a half to 4 stars out of 5.  Definitely not the greatest movie you will ever watch, but entertaining none-the-less and better than many movies I have seen lately.  Not to mention I love Sam Worthington from Avatar who has a nice voice to listen to :)  Ed Harris always plays a great bad guy to me as well.

It got about a little over a 50% approval rating and was ranked 5th when in the theater.  Worth a see on a lazy afternoon or when you can't sleep at night.

Leap Year Review

I waited a long time to watch this movie because I thought it could possibly be a waste of time.  So finally last night I was able to find the time to watch it.  As I suspected it was not the greatest movie of all time.  It could have been a lot better except that it really was pretty slow moving. 

The story moved quite slow.  It is about Amy Adams who has been with her boyfriend (played by Adam Scott ) for 4 years and she keeps thinking that he is about to propose to her but he doesn't.  They are getting ready to move into an amazing apartment together and she wants to be engaged.  Her father tells her of an Irish tradition where a woman is allowed to proposed to the man on February 29th.  Of course Amy's boyfriend happens to be in Ireland at the time.  So she goes on quite a long, slow, very bad luck journey trying to reach him in time to propose.  During this time she gets escorted by an Irish man who fights with her as well as cats and dogs. 

Overall her journey is VERY slow moving, and it is quite predictable.  There was supposed to be humor in it, but Amy Adams didn't deliver the scenes or lines well enough for it to go past dry humor.  Her costar (Mathew Goode) was fine, but he was also quite boring and played his role better but the chemistry that was supposed to be crackling in the air did not transfer through the screen for me.

Even the beauty of Ireland seemed to have been lost in this film.  The scenes really weren't set up very well in my opinion.  This could have been a lot better story, but overall the delivery just wasn't there and Amy Adams is sort of a boring actress to watch anyway.  Although I give it an extra star (making it a full 3 stars out of 5) just because it makes me want to go to Ireland and find a man to marry.  And makes me reminisce about P.S. I Love You.  Overall this movie failed because I didn't feel drawn in as part of the story.  Watch if you have nothing better to do on a bored night.

Curious George 2: Follow That Monkey Review

I figured that with all of the times that I have seen this recently that I could write a review on it.  In case you don't already know, Curious George is one of Liam's favorite things to watch of all time.  So I was happy when I found it on Netflix, George AND an elephant.  Win Win right?  Or so I thought....  Little did I know that Liam would want to wake up and watch this movie come home and watch this movie and try to watch it before bedtime.

In case you don't know anything about Curious George, he is a monkey that is owned by "The Man in the Yellow Hat."  You never really know what this man does or what his name is in the tv show.  He looks like he could possible work at a zoo or lead safaris.  However in the movie you are told he is up for a job of museum director and that his name is Ted.  I didn't like how far from the show this movie went in regards to changes from the show.  "Ted" is never once called the man in the yellow hat.  Also his job doesn't seem to mesh with his background.

Returning to the background of Curious George.  George equates to about a 7 or 8 year old child in my mind as a monkey.  And he is left to his own devices quite often.  His curiosity gets him into trouble, but also helps him to learn valuable lessons.

Up to his regular tricks in the movie George goes to the circus and an Elephant is performing tricks but messes up and George wants to cheer him up and takes him home with him.  This leads to the Elephant being reported as kidnapped an a chase across the country to get her back.

If I had never seen the show before I would think that this was a great cute kids movie.  However I have, and with that being said I have many issues with this movie!  For instance, what happened to Professor Wiseman?  You never really know for sure if she is "Ted's" love interest, but she seems to be, and now there is some blonde chic that works for him names Maggie that is into him...  Ok what about Ted as a name?  It is just weird and doesn't sound right at all.  And then let's get to the apartment, How can you get rid of the doorman and Hundley the Dachshund that is one of George's friend's?   Those are the main things that really irked me.  But over all the movie was good.  If they could have stopped saying "Ted" all the time, I think it would have sat better with me.  However Liam didn't seem to notice or complain as long as George was involved and so he loves it all the same.

George is a great tool for learning, always using Science and Math.  So even with my issues with the movie, I still recommend it as a good clean safe kids movie.

Alice in Wonderland Review

Last night I watched Alice in Wonderland the 1951 Disney version with Liam for the his first time.  He was really into all of the different songs and noises and interesting characters.  I had the general sense as a mother at how much darker and different children's movies were in the 1950s than they are now.  I wasn't sure if it was good to have my son see the part that always bothered me with the Walrus and the Carpenter leading the oyster babies into the house and gaining their trust and than eating them.  It always bothered me and despite all of the craziness within the movie, it seemed like the most messed up part to me.  However I am also aware that my son is young and may not grasp this, but we did call the Walrus a bad man and talk about the oyster's being sad and going bye bye.  The movie score was actually not bad and definitely fit in well with the movie.

I have always thought that Alice in Wonderland really looked a lot of the dark personas and the character flaws of society by putting them into each of the characters, we see forgetfulness and time management issues, lack of responsibility, vanity, liar, etc.  Of course becoming older and becoming a parent makes you look at movies (especially kid's movies) in a whole other light.
Alice in Wonderland is based off of the Novels "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" and "Through the Looking Glass" by Lewis Carrol.  I have always wanted to read these books, and definitely need to add them onto my list of classics to acquire.

I found a lot of VERY interesting information about the Disney version of the story when I was researching it for example that parts of this film were created as early as 1923 when Walk Disney was merely 21 years old and was working for a different movie studio.  Before finishing the short comedy series the studio was closed and Walt Disney went on to use the adapted short film as a sort of pilot to show to new prospective distributes.  The Alice's comedies series was on air from 1924-1927.  Now remember the movie version wasn't actually released for another 24 years after that.
In 1932 Walt was toying with the idea of making Alice into a feature length film but ended up turning his priorities to Snow White & the Seven Dwarves instead.  However Lewis Carrol's books still resonated with him as he made the Mickey Film "Through the Looking Glass" in 1936.  (Still 15 years before the film came out).
 In 1938 Walt officially registered the title of "Alice in Wonderland" and started working on it, but did not like the dark and grotesqueness of the script and the way that the animation was turning out.  This was also during the economic devastation of WWII and Walt decided to shelve Alice and created instead the films Pinocchio, Fantasia & Bambi.

In 1945, after the war had ended Walt decided to revive Alice but found that the scrip had taken on too literal of a translation of the book.  He had it changed to focus on comedy, music and the whimsical side of the book.  It almost became a live-action animated version but ended up all animated due to the difficulty of doing justice to the book.
Alice did not do well and was one of Disney's lowest grossing films.  British critics felt that Walt Americanized the story and ruined it and Walt felt the film failed because the character of Alice had no heart.  It was the 13th film released by Disney.

 Another interesting fact was that Alice was voiced by Kathryne Beaumont who later went on to voice Wendy Darling in Peter Pan. 
So what is the story of Alice in Wonderland?  Loosely it is a dreamland created by Alice in which nothing is at is seems and everything is as it is not.  Alice falls asleep and ends up in this psychedelic dreamland, where flowers talk and she is about tall, although sometimes growing and shrinking due to mushroom, pill and liquid substance use.  She is constantly chasing the white rabbit who she sees to lead her into the world, and she meets lots of interesting characters.  In the end it was all a dream. 

Parker Review

Last night I watched the movie Parker.  This was mostly due to the fact the Jason Statham was in it, and I have a big crush on him.  Not to mention that he is also a great actor.  I was definitely hesitant to watch it when I saw that his costar was Jennifer Lopez...  I suspected that it would make the movie quality go down.  Luckily I went into the movie with this expectation as it was pretty much right now.

The story line was not bad but compared to other movies that Jason (yes we go by a first name basis now ;) haha) is in, it wasn't my favorite pic.  It didn't have much of a Thriller genre into it.  It was kind of a movie that tried to hit several topics and never really stuck with one.  I wouldn't necessarily

classify it as an action movie, because it did have some action, but not a lot.  It definitely wasn't much of a comedy unless you count the witty dry humor that follows Jason in every movie, but that was only on a few occasions.  It definitely wasn't much of a love story, although it seemed as though Jennifer Lopez's character would have wanted to make it into one.  It wasn't much of a suspense because there was a lot of predictability to it. 

On the grand scale of movies, I would give it a 3 out of 5 stars.  I love Jason but this movie really fell flat.  You can't even blame J Lo for that one.  She portrayed her role well, but the story line felt choppy and predictable.  There wasn't the kind of action and fight scenes that I love Jason for to show his amazing flexibility and acrobatic skills.  The story in and of itself was quite lacking.  Essentially it is just Jason/Parker has been double-crossed by his team of merry robbers and now he is back to get what is his, coming back from the brink of death several times.  And yep that is pretty much it for the meat of the movie.  I saw a lot of opportunities that could have made the movie much more suspenseful, such as if Nick Nolte would have actually been a bad guy that double-crossed him, I kept waiting for it to happen and was disappointed when it was just another point in the story with no real explanation or a really choppy one for background. 

Throughout the movie, you feel like you have come into the story towards the end or the middle with little to no background about what has happened thus far and you are thrown into something that looks like it will be thrilling and exciting and gets rather boring in the middle, picks up a bit at the end, but never makes the full recovery you were hoping for.  Once again 3 out of 5 stars for this one.  Probably really only 2 out of 5, but Jason gets an extra star for being so studly.  Even if he has an atrocious fake Texas accent. 

*I have discovered that this was a movie based on a book, so in this case I will assume that the book is better and that a lot of the holes in the story are filled in better in the written form of the story. 

Here is the official movie website: Parkermovie.com

Guilt Trip Review

Let me just say that I can't believe that I put this movie above other movies in my netflix queue.  I don't remember who told me to watch this movie and about how good it was, because they definitely lied to me :(
This is one of the most boring movies that I have seen in a long time.  Maybe I want to see Seth Rogan in a funny role and with Barbara Streisand I thought that there could really be some funny moments, but instead it was very snooze worthy.  I was mad for staying up just to watch this movie. 

It just sort of drug on and on and on.  With no real action or much going on.
I think I get angrier at movies that have potential and don't follow through as opposed to movies that I know are going to suck.  The story line really could have gone somewhere but the idea was tired and the delivery fell flat.
Seth Rogan plays a man trying to sell his homemade cleaning product to different stores with excessive failure.  He has an overbearing mother and wants to find love for her.  When he finds out that she had an old flame before his father that he was actually named after he looks up the guy and they go on a road trip.  His mother is very boring and always trying to cut corners to save money.  There are many openings for there to be funny moments, but they didn't even try to through any comedic moments in.
The road trip just drags on and on, with Seth lying to his mother about the success that he pretends to be having.  His mother really just annoys him the road trip drags on for the majority of the movie without much action or humor of any kind.  I think that the main humor attempt comes from an erotic audio book that has rare moments but still is not funny.  Not even when they accidentally end up in a  strip club and a dry attempt by a hotel employee implying that he is hooking up with his mother. 
This whole movie is your average over-bearing mother and momma's boy sun on a road trip and being trapped on the road with them...  I recommend saving the trouble and spending your time better watching something else.
There is a slight break with an awkward moment with his ex girlfriend from high school and her new husband...  and yes, still no humor.   I honestly don't know how this can be classified as a comedy-drama when it is lacking both comedy and drama.  I have to admit that this movie was so boring and awful that I could not bring myself to finish it.  This is saying a lot for me.  I can think of only about 10 movies that I couldn't bring myself to finish.  I give it 1 of 5 stars!

Rugrats Go Wild Movie Review

As Liam has decided that this is his favorite movie for the past week I decided to review it.  I was so pleased with myself when I got Liam into the Rugrats and then it seemed to fall by the wayside for awhile, until just the other day when Liam all of a sudden told me that he wanted to watch the Rugrats.  I was sad when I could no longer find it in my Netflix queue and decided to do a search for Rugrats.  It appears that Netflix no longer has rugrats the show to watch on instant watch as well as most of the movies.  Luckily they did have one movie left which is....  You guess it: Rugrats Go Wild.

Rugrats Go Wild is a movie that mixes the families from the shows of both Rugrats and the Wild Thornberries.  For whatever reason I never really got into the Wild Thornberries.  Perhaps it was because of the annoying father Nigel, or maybe that there were a lot of other little things that I just never really got into it the way that Rugrats rocked and the thornberries was released when I was older and so I never got hooked on it.  Needless to say do to my previous annoyance with the Thornberries I was a little hesitant to watch the movie with Liam.

However as any parent of a 2 almost 3 year old can tell you, their persistance in their choices of certain things seems like it's easier to let them pick the movie than to argue and make them watch something that you might enjoy better.  (Which is why I horde the tv with adult shows after bed time)

Luckily I ended up being pleasantly surprised by the Rugrats Go Wild movie as it was mainly focused on the rugrats and them getting shipwrecked on the same uninhabited island that the Thornberries end up being camped out on.  The two shows and the elements really seemed to flow together nicely and I thought it was very well done.  The fact that it has been on so many times before and after school and that I don't completely hate it by now can attest to the fact that it was actually a movie worth watching.

Also there is a surprise appearance by Bruce Willis as Spike is finally given a voice in the third and final Rugrats movie as Eliza Thornberry is able to communicate with animals.   I definitely recommend checking it out if you have kids or even if you were a Rugrats enthusiast in your youth.  The movie was originally released in 2003. 

Madea's Big Happy Family Review

On my day off I was perusing my netflix queue and I found that Madea's Big Happy Family was about to expire so I decided to give it a try.  Having seen a few previous Tyler Perry movies I knew it could go one of two ways.

Overall I would say the movie was on the middle of average.  Not spectacular but not horrible either.  It had a lot of the feeling of a Tyler Perry version of Soul Food to me.  Bow Wow's acting was better than I expected, except when it came to him needing to cry.  He definitely needs to work on his fake crying.  Lauren London had the same attitude as "New New" in ATL but with less redeeming qualities.  The obvious most annoying award goes to Teyana Taylor who plays Bow Wow's ghetto baby momma.  Oh my goodness, I hope she doesn't talk like that in real life.  And I was truly hoping for somebody to slap her anytime she was around just o make her shut up.  During the whole movie I kept wondering how in the heck Bow Wow's character had ever been able to stand her enough to be with her in the past.

 Hottest man of the movie award goes to Isaiah Mustafa.  Man he sure knows how to get facial hair right!  Moving on.....

The movie had a general feeling that all women are insecure, bitchy, unsatisfied, naggy, superficial, and have little to no redeeming qualities, unless they are so naive' and lost in faith that they just allow people to walk all over them...  However at the same time.  The men of the movie didn't really seem to stand up for themselves or have any say in anything. Shannon Kane's character was on an especially whole new level of bitch.  I felt like she needed to have some sense knocked into her as well, especially with how she treated her own mother.

If you have ever seen a Tyler Perry movie before than you know that there is always some sort of lesson to be had.  This one definitely focused on treating people the way they deserve to be treated, especially those close to you.  I don't really feel like much was resolved but at least it looked like there was an opening to get some stuff taken care of. 

Overall it is in the middle of the Tyler Perry movies for me, not as good as Daddy's Girls or Diary of a Mad Black Woman, but fine if you are bored some day and want a movie that doesn't totally suck to watch.  However there are a lot better and less annoying and bitchy Tyler Perry movies out there to watch instead. 

Here is the movie trailer

Here is the official website: Madea's Big Happy Family Official Site