Zookeeper (Family Movie Review # 6) 2011 6 out of 10

Zookeeper  2011   6 out of 10

Zookeeper starring Kevin James was about a nice zookeeper  that is trying to win back the girl he proposed to 5 years ago after bumping into her  again at his brother's wedding weekend.  She dumped him back then because she couldn't see herself being with someone that was just a zookeeper.    It was a very predictable story where you can see every plot point coming a mile away.   The movie also stars a bunch of talking zoo animals which quite frankly are not really important to the plot at all.   The advertisements made me think that it was going to basically be A Night at the Museum, but in a zoo,  which wasn't really the case. 

It probably would have been a more entertaining movie if it had gone this route.    The animals decide to break the code of silence to help him get the girl.  The animals have always been able to talk you see and just don't because it will freak humans out.  It borrows from the concept of Toy Story, where once the humans are away the animals all hang out together and talk.    They animals talking  is really not important to the story and we could have had pretty much the exact same story without the animals talking and giving him dating advice and it wouldn't have been much different.

    The highlights of the movie   surround Kevin James doing pratfalls like crashing into the ice sculpture at the wedding and riding a silly kids bike in an attempt to win back the girl on a pre-wedding event.   And the scene where the gorilla gets to go to TGIF's is funny as well.   It was a decent family movie,  but nothing extra special

A group of zoo animals decide to break their code of silence in order to help their lovable zoo keeper find love -- without opting to leave his current job for something more illustrious.

The Search for Santa Paws (Family Movie Review # 5) 2010 6 out of 10

The Search for Santa Paws  2010  6 out of 10

The Search for Santa Paws is a decent family holiday movie. If the kids love all the Buddies movies the kids will enjoy this talking animal flick as well .   The plot is simple.  Santa has a magical dog that was given life by the mysterious Ice Crystal as seen in Santa Buddies.   Santa and Santa Paws travel to New York prior to Christmas and in an often used Santa plot....Santa loses his memory and gets separated from Santa Paws.    There are also a group of cute little orphans that break out into song like a scene straight out of Annie involved in the story.    Christmas of course is in jeopardy unless Santa Paws can find Santa and get him to remember who he is.    Not much for originality --but like I said a decent family talking animal movies that the kids will probably enjoy.

The movie is basically a prequel to Santa Buddies .

Journey 2:Mysterious Island 2012 8 out of 10

Journey 2: The Mysterious Island   2012  8 out of 10   is a action adventure family film that focusing on a  17 year old boy (Josh Hutcherson) and his   search  for his missing grandfather with the help of his step dad ( Dwayne the Rock Johnson).  He decodes a secret message that takes the 2 on a wild adventure to The Mysterious Island from Jules Verne's book, while bonding in the process.  They actually find the mythical place and his grandfather and  few extra surprises along the way with the help of an island hopping helicopter pilot  (the comic relief) and his daughter (the love interest).  

The Rock is great as the step dad....he is the Arnold of this decade of action movies and shines even in these more kid friendly roles.   Michael Cane is also well cast as the adventure seeking grandfather.   The visuals in the film are fun and vibrant....even when they borderline on silly.   Despite some serious plot issues  with the film it was a fun and enjoyable ride...Kinda of a kids introduction into better adventure  films like Indiana Jones or Pirates.

Hotel for Dogs (Family Movie Review # 4) 2009 8 out of 10

Hotel for Dogs  2009   8 out of 10

This was another example of a family movie that personally wasn't on my list of films to see.  The trailer didn't interest me at all--but I DVR'd it for the kids and was pleasantly surprised.  

The storyline was completely unbelievable --but movies like this generally are. The stories  are not grounded in the real world and yet this movie they are grounded by the heart of the movie.  The story revolves around a brother and sister that have bounced around from  one bad foster home to another after losing their parents.  They stick together and have continued to secretly look after their family dog at all costs.   This leads them to the unlikely yet touching storyline of  taking care of dogs in an abandoned hotel and creatively turning that hotel into a Hotel of Dogs.  The story is touching and includes the excellent acting of Don Cheadle (even good in a silly kids movie) as their social worker that is trying his best to keep them together and find the right home for them.   His kindness is parallelled  by the kids efforts to take care of  (way too many) stray dogs.    A quality family dog movie where the animals don't talk and there are no fart jokes.

Cats and Dogs double Feature (Family Movie Review #3)

Cats and Dogs 2001   7 out of 10

Cats and Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore   2010   7 out 10

I just recently caught both Cats and Dogs and Cats and Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore on the HUB channel with the family.  Both are quality family movies.

Cats and Dogs is basically a Men in Black  or Spy Kids with talking animals.

Like Men in Black there is a secret world that Cats and Dogs live in that we as simple humans are completely unaware of.   Jeff Goldblum's character is working on a cure for dog allergies and the Cats are not too happy about that so the movie centers on the Cats trying to steal this cure and the Dogs (the good guys--I'm a dog person so I totally agree with that) are trying to protect it.The  movie had a  lot of action and humor as the Dogs and Cats do battle especially in the showdown with the Russian spy cat and the too main dogs.   The spy concept of the movie is great and the movie was a fun for the whole family.

The sequel  Cats and Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore 2010  was a quality spy adventure that had a lot of fun parodying the Spy genre.    I'm surprised it took this many years before a sequel was made.   The title alone is a great  nod to the famous Bond Girl.  A funny twist on the villain was instead of a bald main holding  a fluffy white cat---we get  a bald cat with holding a white mouse.  The story line was good introducing the aspect of the Cats and Dogs having to work together to stop this villainous Feline.

The action sequences were fast paced and thrilling.

Together the films make a great double feature for a family movie night.

Cats and Dogs Trailer

Cats and Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore Trailer

Animated movie # 5: Secret of the Wings 2012 9 out of 10

Secret of the Wings 2012   9 out of 10.

This was a strong entry in the Tinkerbell  Disney Fairies movie series of direct to DVD films.  This movie are totally cute and sweet and little girls and their parents can appreciate them as quality family entertainment together .  The visuals in this installment were beautiful,   as we get to journey into the Winter Fairy realm.  The Disney Fairies series has been able to expand and explore the world of Fairies over several films building a mythology for the world in which the Fairies live --while having interesting villain less films that kids love.  This tale of Tinkerbell finding her sister in the Winter Fairy land  (they were born of the same laugh--too cute) was a wonderfully written and executed adventure and in a year of lackluster blockbuster films that have disappointed I was totally surprised about how much I enjoyed this cute little movie while watching it with my step daughter.

Labeled by many as just a cash grab when the series was announced  (and I'm that element exists to a degree) Disney has actual created a wonderful and imaginative Fairy world with a colorful animated palate.    If you have little girls and haven't seen this movies yet ----check them out.

Mr Popper's Penguins 2011 5 out of 10 (Family film review #2)

Mr Popper's Perfectly Predictable Penguins....  Jim Carrey doing his same old act--throwing in some random moments that could have been straight out of Ace Ventura.  The Penquins were cute....(even though they pooped on Mr Popper)   The kids laughed because all kids movies seem to have the fart joke or poop joke this days.  This story has been done before (without Penguins) it is basically the same old  Dad who is out of touch with his kids that learns a life lesson when his life is suddenly changes movie  (see Game Plan, or the Tooth Fairy ---or half a dozen other  family films).  And yes the Penguins are cute....(I get that) at least these Penguins don't bust out in a rap song like the dreadful looking Happy Feet 2 Trailer.   Penquins being cute is not enough to entertain me for an hour and a half though (I actually feel asleep watching it with the kids and had to finish it the next day).  

 Mr Popper inherits some Penguins from his out of touch with him father and the Penguins end up making him go a little nutty as he turns his New York apartment (that doesn't allow pets) into a Penquin playground.  He reconnects with his kids and his ex wife and everyone is happy.  The trailer pretty much perfectly sums up this predictable penguin movie.....And yes aren't they cute.  Awwww!

Ella Enchanted 2004 5 out of 10

Ella Enchanted   2004  5

Ella Enchanted based on an award winning children's book is  a cheap  live action Shrek  ---Some movie executive thought they could take a book in spirit of Shrek and cash in on Shreks success.   Frankly I thought Shrek was overrated----I prefer my Fantasy to be Fantasy I don't  like the attempts to mix Fairy tales with the modern society----Give me Snow White  or Sleeping Beauty any day over this Shrek  style modern jokes and dance numbers----Please stop The Prince has a fan club and comments about Teen Beat type Prince magazine  --An Elf that wants to be a lawyer ( a rip-off of the only bad element of Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer)      That being said this cheesy movie was still watchable only because of Anne Hathaway's  charm.