Beverly Hills Chihuahua (Family Movie Review # 7) 2011 3 out of 10

Beverly Hills Chihuahua 2    2011   3 out of 10

I cringed when I saw the ad for the first one (which I have never seen).  It was family movie night and my stepdaughter decided that  Beverly Hills Chihuahua 2 was the movie we were going to be watching after having recorded it on the DVR.  I can almost deal with the talking Golden Retriever movies  that get churned out again and again.   Golden Retrievers are at least cute.  Chihuahuas on the other hand are one step above rats as far as I'm concerned.  I literally tuned out about halfway through the movie when the Chihuahuas are trying to save their owners parents home that is being foreclosed on.  They predictably try and enter a dog show to win a prize (like it is an episode of the Brady Bunch).    Then they somehow help to stop a bank robbery.   There was nothing interesting about this talking rat movie to me.  George Lopez as Papi the dog was just annoying (of course I find the real George Lopez annoying even when he isn't the voice of a dog).    Kids love talking animals no matter what they are doing for some reason, so of course the little one enjoyed it.  Me   NOT SO MUCH.  It may as well have been called Talking Rat Dogs 2.

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 .

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

G-Force 2009 4 out of 10 (Family Film Review #1)

Who doesn't want to a see a movie about Guinea Pig Spies ---trying to thwart some threat to Earth? Right? Well that is apparently what Jerry Bruickheimer thought when green lighting this film that was literally the idea of one the producers kids.....(I kid you not watch the DVD extras) I found Tracy Morgan was even annoying as a Guinea Pig. The whole CGI talking animal thing doesn't really work for me (unless it is Scooby Doo---I just love that dog) . I'm not rushing out this week to see Zookeeper because a Gorilla talking about wanting to go to TGIF's doesn't really make me laugh. And it is weird because I love cartoons and animated movies as if I was still a child. No Seriously you can catch me on the weekend sitting on the couch watching Spongebob even after the kids have left the room....But Golden Retrievers that wear gold chains and talk like Gangsters and Chihuahua's that aren't selling tacos at Taco Bell just don't.  Zach Galifianakis's talents were wasted in this film --his stand up and roles in The Hangover are brilliant.   The film had some okay CGI action sequences and it had a plot --I guess I just wasn't into it.....I like the Hamsters in that car commercial more than these Guinea Pigs.  I'd much rather watch a TV episode of the Penguins of Madagascar than this  CGI talking animal spy flick.

Here is the trailer for this turkey