I don’t want to say “A Monsterous Holiday” feels like a throwaway episode of “Jimmy Neutron,” but our main character is a scientist wunderkind with goofy brown hair and a robot dog. You do the math. “A Monsterous Holiday” is less a monster comedy and more a friendship tale about a scientist who wants to create life, and a monster that learns how to live.
Tag Archives: Kids
Oz the Great and Powerful (2013)
It’s pretty sad that at the end of the day, director Sam Raimi had to waste his talents on what is basically a regurgitation of the classic “Wizard of Oz” 1939 film adaptation. He doesn’t even get to think outside the box and offer up his own vision of Oz. Basically, “Oz the Great and Powerful” is yet another version of the movie, but in the view of the all powerful Wizard. The Wizard of Oz is one of cinema’s great macguffins, a big goal the characters work for in the 1939 movie, that they find out was nothing but smoke and mirrors.
Toy Story of Terror! (2013)
Disney keep their favorite little toys alive with yet another short adventure, this time in the vein of Halloween. While, it’s not a full length narrative, it does present the same stakes and personal back story that the three feature films have, and is an entertaining look in to the lives of the toys with their new owner Bonnie. After watching a horror movie while on the road with Bonnie, her mom and she stop at a local motel where Mr. Pricklepants is convinced horror awaits them.
The Halloween Stories Collection Volume 2 (DVD)
For families interested in exposing their young storytellers to unique and interesting scary stories that won’t traumatize them, Scholastic offers up a three pack of DVD’s at over two hours in length featuring stories of all kinds. They’re related mainly to the season of fall and bones, but they’re also about exploring the unknown and the vast scary dimensions of reality that can seem scary to children quite often. With voice work from esteemed actors like Joan Allen and Rita Moreno, many of the stories are sometimes crudely drawn, but appealing nonetheless in their whimsy.
The Goonies (1985)
If you want a pure unadulterated ride in to the middle of the eighties, “The Goonies” is an inadvertent trip in to the complete mindset of the decade. Cyndi Lauper, adventure, escapism, work out obsession, coming of age, nostalgia for the sixties, a humongous Steven Spielberg influenced narrative, Corey Feldman, Richard Donner, Jonathan Ke Quan, if it was in the eighties, it’s likely here. That doesn’t act as a caveat, thankfully, as “The Goonies” is a very decade relevant film that still manages to work as an excellent child oriented fantasy adventure in the vein of “The Hardy Boys.”
Deadtime Stories
I wish I had a nanny like Jennifer Stone when I was a kid. Not just because she’s hot, but also because she’s prone to delivering some scary stories for her charges before bed time. “Deadtime Stories” is the latest efforts by Nick (formerly Nickelodeon) to offer fans a horror show. While it’s no competitor for “Are you Afraid of the Dark?” the newest anthology does a good job of delivering “Goosebumps” level scares, and interesting stories. Sticking to the small budget, gone are the narrators of the undead or demonic variety and now most of the stories are told by Stone’s character, a devilish and somewhat enigmatic babysitter.
Small Soldiers (1998)
Director Joe Dante’s “Small Soldiers” is sadly a film without an actual audience. It’s tame for horror fans, and may possibly be much too menacing for kids. And while the film had real potential to burst out with merchandise and tie-ins, the premise never lasted beyond a single film. That’s a shame, too, since the idea of psychotic toys wreaking havoc almost never gets boring. As a hardcore fan of the “Puppet Master” movies, “Small Soldiers” feels like a high tech remake that really manages to work as dark comedy, and creepy fodder for young boys. War toys working toward their initiatives and becoming violent is just a great idea, even if the premise is far-fetched.