Enchanted

Another movie for my daughter. You would think that with all of these pre-teen kid movies I was trying to win favor with my daughter. Not the case. She ignores me anyway.

Enchanted is a Disney movie that mixes animation with reality. The characters from the cartoon are swept into New York City and Prince Edward must find Princess Giselle. Princess Giselle meets up with Patrick Dempsey and his daughter. In typical Disney style, it's another father-led family with no mother. Think about it:

Beauty and the Beast
The Little Mermaid
Alladin
Mulan
The Goofy Movie
Tarzan
Finding Nemo
Pocahontas

Sometimes they are referred to as the Dead Mothers Club or Disney's Absent Mothers Club. Anyway, Patrick Dempsey does not have a wife, but does have a girlfriend, which you can probably predict presents an uncomfortable situation when he decides to help Princess Giselle.

Susan Sarandon plays the evil mother of Prince Edward and at one point in the movie appears as the witch from Snow White. I had always wondered what Susan Sarandon looked like without makeup.

The movie is narrated by Julie Andrews and also stars Amy Adams as Princess Giselle, and I pretty actress that I predict my daughter will look like when she gets older, James Marsden as Prince Edward, and Timothy Spall, who many nerds will recognize as Wormtail from the Harry Potter series.

Again, in the end, good prevails and evil fails. The movie is an hour and a half and is well paced. It kept my kids' interest throughout. Being another kid movie, I let my kids decide to rate this one. They have it 5 stars (are you surprised?) I was told that it was not as good as Nancy Drew, but better than Bee Movie. If the movie makes my kids happy, then it makes me happy.

The Cat From Outer Space

I found this movie on the shelf in the children's DVD section at the library. I immediately had sentimental yearnings to see this movie. This was, in fact, the first movie that I ever saw as a kid. My grandparents (Nana and Pop-Pop) took me to the drive-in movie theater to see this movie.

The Cat From Outer Space was released by Disney in 1978. It stars Ken Berry (Mama's Family), Sandy Duncan (Peter Pan on Broadway and Valerie Hogan on The Hogan Family), Harry Morgan and McLean Stevenson (M*A*S*H*).

In typical 1970's Disney style - this movie really sucks. The special effects are really special. The movie stars a cat (Morris?) that makes an emergency landing on Earth. The cat can talk to people and has a special collar that has super powers. He can make people freeze (as he did to Harry Morgan who re-awoke in his underwear, the comedic highlight of the movie).

Ken Berry must convince everyone that he is not crazy and help Jake (the cat) get the needed gold to fix his spaceship. Of course, Berry and the cat are able to save the day after a harrowing helicopter and airplane chase that left my kids and me on the edge of our seat.

Overall, I give this movie 2 stars. Netflix predicted that I would give it 4. Their Disney movie ratings predictor must be on crack. This movie would have been worse had it not been for the fact of its great sentimental value. If this wasn't the first movie you ever saw at the drive-in, I would not be clamoring to knock the kids over at the children's DVD section at the library. Get that disc 4 of the Gilmour Girls instead. You'll thank me.

Pirates of the Caribbean - At World's End

Pirates of the Caribbean - At World's End is the third movie of the Disney trilogy. I will say that I really liked the first two movies. However, I suspected that the third one would be really silly - and I was right.

What I wasn't expecting was the nearly three hours of seemingly unending endings. Don't get me wrong - I enjoyed the action and the special effects and that is what was supposed to make the movie worth watching. And what girl-loving guy doesn't like Keira Knightley. I thought it was amazing how her skin and hair were really dirty and 30 seconds later she was all pretty and clean.

Johnny Depp again plays the perpetually juiced Captain Jack Sparrow. His character is comical and lucky, which makes him a likable character. Orlando Bloom was thrown in again because he's so pretty.

The movie tells about how the many parties, Will Turner, Sparrow, Captain Barbossa, Elizabeth Swan, and Admiral Norrington and even Sao Feng fight their way to Davy Jones' locker to release the condemned goddess Calypso.

The movie borders on the unbelievable until you remember that this is supposed to be a fantastical movie. Of course good defeats evil. You'd be all pissed off if it happened otherwise. However, the ending leaves it wide open for a sequel. So much for calling it a trilogy.

Overall, I gave this movie 4 stars. Like other ratings that I've given, it fits its niche well. Note, however that I gave the other two movies 5 stars each. So of the three movies, I relatively liked this one the least. Would I see a fourth? But, of course.