The Velveteen Rabbit is the tale of a little boy named Toby who is sent to stay with his grandmother for the holiday season because his dad doesn’t have time for him. He finds out his grandma has a magical attic when the Velveteen Rabbit and some other forgotten stuffed animals there come to life. The magic unlocks an animated world that changes Toby’s life.

The heartwarming movie is a combination of live action and animation, and stars the voice of Jane Seymour, Ellen Burstyn, and others.

Here’s a clip from The Velveteen Rabbit DVD.

Image Anchor Bay

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It turned out to be a really cute family movie. It’s a little bit like the movie Home Alone, only the dog is the one home alone. The movie is a little silly funny at times, but kids will love it!

Zeus (voiced by Mario Lopez) is a former police dog who lost his bark. He ends up at the pound, and is adopted by a family looking for a good guard dog. The family discovers Zeus can’t bark, and begin to doubt their choice. When the family leaves on Christmas Eve and a pair of thieves try to break in, Zeus rediscovers his inner dog.

We definitely enjoyed the movie. It’s a cute holiday movie for the kids, I’m sure we’ll watch it again before Christmas gets here.

The Dog Who Saved Christmas will be available December 8th from major retailers, and is available now for pre-order at Amazon.com.

Image: Anchor Bay Entertainment

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Films

• 2008:  WALL?E coming on June 2 and Bolt coming on November 26
•  2009: Up and The Princess and the Frog coming Christmas Day
• 2010: Toy Story 3 coming in the summer and Rapunzel coming on Christmas Day 
• 2011: newt coming in the summer and The Bear and the Bow coming for Christmas 
• 2012: Cars 2 and King of the Elves coming for Christmas

Disney DVD and Blu-Ray

• 2008: Tinker Bell coming October 28
• 2009: Tinker Bell North of Never Land (working title)
• 2010: Tinker Bell A Midsummer Storm (working title)
• 2011: Tinker Bell A Winter Story

I can’t wait for Toy Story 3 and Cars 2!

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From cbs2.com:

A child advocacy group complained Thursday to the Federal Trade Commission that ads and toys tied to the upcoming “Transformers” movie are aimed at children as young as 2 years old even though the film is rated PG-13.

…and…

The Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood told the FTC it monitored the Nickelodeon cable channel Monday and recorded “Transformers” movie ads during the shows “Fairly Odd Parents” and “Jimmy Neutron,” both rated TV-Y for all children, including those ages 2 to 6. It also recorded ads during “Ned’s Declassified,” which is rated for children 7 and older.

I remember having a similar frustration last year when the Pirates of the Caribbean movie was the theme of the toys featured in the Happy Meals. Regardless of the fact that the Transformer toys have been around longer than the movie, it seems clear that the movie is still being marketed to children too young for it.

What do you think? Are the marketers pushing the limits of the patience of parents?

ht: Hsien

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I was finally able to watch Samantha: An American Girl Holiday with my Samantha. I really liked the movie, and the character of Samantha. I liked the values, the responsibility, and the “I can do it” spirit that is portrayed in the character. It actually made me look forward to seeing the other two, though we haven’t made it to them, yet!

Hsien pointed me to an article that states that HBO Films and American Girl (owned by Mattel) have struck a deal to produce new “films, series, specials and documentaries.”

From the Reuters article:

Picturehouse, a joint venture of HBO and New Line Cinema, will release the franchise’s first big-screen foray, with production beginning in the summer. No director is attached. Actress Julia Roberts will serve as a producer.

Although a film targeting girls ages 3-12 might seem a strange fit for the indie distributor, whose slate includes such adult fare as “Pan’s Labyrinth” and “A Prairie Home Companion,” Picturehouse president Bob Berney said the company is looking to branch out into new areas.

“We want to show that Picturehouse can incorporate any genre, any demographic in a really high-quality way,” said Berney. “As an indie, to reach a younger girl audience is a really exciting prospect.”

It’d be nice to have more high quality, family friendly movies to take the kids to, don’t you think?

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The movie is based on the book by R. A. Montgomery, an originator of the Choose Your Own Adventure series. Did you love this series as much as I did? Did you cheat like my friend did, and just read all the options from the start?

The animated video features the voices of William H. Macy, Felicity Huffman, Frankie Muniz, Lacey Chabert, and Daryl Sabara and follows the adventure of the orphaned North siblings on their quest to meet their adventurer uncle who’s on his journey to find the elusive Yeti. There’s your plot in a nutshell, and the title of the DVD may clue you in that the rest of the story is largely up to you to determine.

My five year old was my guinea pig for the movie, and she had a blast with it. She had a problem choosing the first time, it seemed that the countdown went quickly for her, but she had it down by the second choice. It was interesting to hear her answers as to why she chose one option over the other.

I had to laugh at myself during one portion of the movie. My daughter chose to follow a certain path, and it shows the kids in a dire situation. I was thinking, “Well, that’s not realistic, they couldn’t survive that outcome.” It was at that point, once the characters had run out of sight, that the screen faded to black and the, “End?” prompt appeared. Apparently it’s more realistic than I initially assumed. But it’s fun because, from there, she could rethink her options and choose a different path. In fact, the viewer has that option whenever a particular thread of choices comes to an end.

My daughter only had two complaints about the movie. The first was that one of the brothers didn’t want to listen to his sister’s idea in the beginning. I imagine she had issues with that because she lives that reality every day of her life with her two brothers. The second was that the movie was too short. The movie is listed at 80 minutes, which is probably true depending on the choices that you make. However, some options will lead you to a journey of 20 minutes or so, but you can immediately change your choices to continue the storyline. If you don’t choose an option at any particular juncture, the DVD will choose for you, so even a child who can’t manipulate the remote enough to make the choices will get a complete story just watching the movie.

Bonus features include some background on the people of Nepal and the Himalayan Mountain Range. They share some very interesting facts, as well as relational examples to help kids understand the differences between their daily lives and the lives of the children of Nepal. Another bonus feature is a “making of” film. This is almost always my favorite part of any DVD. I love seeing the actors talk about their characters, and it’s so fun to get a behind the scenes view of the film. It’ll be interesting to see if the North kids continue as the main characters in future CYOA movies.

So, overall, it’s a great movie, and I’m so glad it’s a part of our collection. The variety of outcomes will make it really hard for the kids to get tired of anytime soon. The writing was entertaining, making me laugh out loud several times. The characters were engaging, and I actually cared about what happened to these animated kids. Very fun.

Visit www.choosemovie.com to help find the Yeti or to view clips from the movie. I’m really surprised that they let you see so much in the clips. It gives you a good feel for the movie. Enjoy!

Thanks, Michelle, for including me!

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I’d originally planned to treat them to the new release, Over the Hedge, but the video store was out. You know what one of the fun things about kids is, though? If the movie came out before they were born, they don’t necessarily know that it’s not new. So, over to the $1 section I went, and grabbed this little piggy movie.

We tried to keep the snacks healthy, or at least healthyish. Some apple slices and a little bit of caramel dip, along with the prerequisite popcorn in individual paper sacks for the kids (minus the baby, no choking going on here!).

The kids enjoyed it and stayed seated for a whopping 30 minutes, I think, which made me really glad that we hadn’t dropped a bunch of cash to chase them around the movie theater.

A fun, healthy, thrifty evening as a family. What could be better?

PS-Bald Man took the photo of me prepping for the grand event, so I thought I should at least show my appreciation and include it. Don’t worry, it won’t happen often.

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I’m really looking forward to it. We have the VHS at grandma’s house, but the tape has been watched so many times that we’re afraid it’s going to break! As a result, my kids have only seen this movie once or twice. I can’t wait for The Little Mermaid to be a part of their world.

Did you know that it won two Oscars and was nominated for another? Not bad for a cartoon.

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Although it was released in 2004, we just saw Clifford’s Really Big Movie for the first time this summer (and about a hundred times since, because my oldest son’s pick for a movie is always, “Clifford with the cow!”).

The movie features the voices of many famous actors, such as John Ritter, Wayne Brady, Jenna Elfman, John Goodman, and Judge Reinhold. I don’t think we would have guessed all of the voices on our own.

The special features include a “Behind the Scenes” clip, which was bittersweet to watch when they were interviewing John Ritter. The favorite special feature of my kids’ is “Cleo’s Crafts,” a couple of which I promised them we would make one of these days. Maybe Clifford would be a good birthday party theme, and we could make them then!

BTW-Have you voted in our poll, yet?

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