Gulliver's Travels

Here's a movie that I got formy kids. If Jack Black is in it, you know it's goofy and most likely a kid-friendly movie.

The movie sort of follows the book of the same name, but with a modern spin and a lot of the added antics that you would expect from Jack Black.

As you may know, Gulliver travels by sea, but gets hit by a storm and ends up on the island of Lilliput. Lilliput is full of little people, just like in Ireland, but these people are called Lilliputians. They initially fear Gulliver because of his ginormous size, but he helps to save them at one point and earns their respect - the respect of everyone except for the Princess' fiance that is. Gulliver then abuses his new-found fame, and to his chagrin, the Princess' fiance exposes him. Now he must fight to regain their trust. And it could happen when the Princess' fiance goes rogue.

Gulliver's Travels is full of quasi-famous actors, including Jason Segal, one of the original Freaks and Geeks, Emily Blunt as the Princess, the always lovely Amanda Peet, Gulliver's long-time crush, and Billy Connolly as the King (remember him from Head of the Class? He replaced (succeeded?) Howard Hessman).

Gulliver's Travels was produced by Rob Letterman, not sure if he's related to David Letterman. Letterman, the former, also produced the mildly entertaining Monsters vs. Aliens, which is not to be confused with Alien vs. Predator. The latter is a midly entertaining aging talk show host.

The movie is rated PG for some crude humor, a naked butt (nope, not Amanda Peete's nor Emily Blunts - sorry!), and some mild language.

If I had watched this movie on my own, I would not have liked it too much. But watching it with my kids and hearing them laugh made me laugh. Therefore, it was worth it. I'll give this an even 3 stars. It met the expectations of the intended audience.

Despicable Me

Despicable Me is the latest movie from Netflix that I got for my kids. I usually allow for one per month, though it looks like they will also be getting Megamind this month. Well, actually, I think Despicable Me counts as February and Megamind will count as March. So we're good.

Despicable Me is a animated movie (read cartoon) made by Universal Pictures. It stars Steve Carell as Villanious Gru, the evil mad scientist who is plotting to steal world-wide monuments. For his latest swipe he needs the incredible shrinking machine, but younger evil mad scientist Victor "Vector" Perkins (Jason Segal) has swiped it first. Now Gru's only chance of getting the shrinking ray gun is by exploiting the 3 young female orphans: Margo (Miranda Cosgrove, duh - Carly Shay from iCarly!), Edith (Dana Gaier), and Agnes (Elsie Fisher) and having them swipe it. And how in the world did 3 young girls in today's society end up with old lady names like Margo, Edith, and Agnes?

Despicable Me also stars the voices of Julie Andrews as Gru's mother, Russell Brand as Gru's older scientist mentor, Will Arnett as the evil bank administrator, Danny McBride as Gru's neighbor, and Kristen Wiig as Miss Hatie, the mistress of the orphanage.

Rated PG for crude humor and mild action (sounds like something else I know), Despicable Me is 95 minutes long.

My kids loved this movie. It made all of them laugh - the 11 year old, the 9 year old, even my 3 year old. This movie is great for them. I thought it was okay, too. They all lived the little yellow working guys.

Together, we give Despicable Me 4 stars.