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Monsters Inc. (DVD)
by CosmicLove
I'm 19 & was quite young when this film first came out and I remember going to see it with my dad at the cinemas. It's a great film and just one of those classics, so I decided to buy it when I saw it on eBay for 1p & 99p postage for my son to watch.
The film is about a big, furry blue and green monster called sully ... who looks very scary but is really a sweetie. His friend mike is a green, one eyed alien who is basically a ball with little stick legs! Mike is the immature one and sully is a bit like a parent to him in my opinion.
Mike & Sully work in a factory where the monsters (including them) go into different children's bedrooms via different doors, & collect their screams. It doesn't sound very nice really does it? It's not a scary film though, and it all comes into place when one of the children ends up in Sully & Mike's care (much to their horror).
Sully and mike are scared of Boo (the little girl) at first because they've being lead to believe by the company that children are toxic, and thats why they dont feel guilty about scaring them. They soon learn that she isn't and form a bond with her, while trying to return her home which means we get to follow them on their adventure. The film is 12 years old now and it does look dated.
The CGI isn't as impressive as say toy story 3 or any of the animated films released in the past 5 years or so, but it is still a good picture and very colourful and eye catching, I love the range of different monsters and the range of different characters (good, bad, silly, evil, naive, upbeat etc etc).
I won't say what the ending is but it is very heart warming and it is a lovely story. The voice overs are clear, easy to understand and portray the characters very well. The story is easy for a young kid to easily follow but complex enough for an adult not to get bored while watching it - all in all a well balanced film.
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Little Charley Bear - Are You There Charley Bear? (DVD)
by cornishchic
Charley bear is an animated program that was first shown on Cbeebies in 2011, I haven't seen it being aired for a while but the DVD's are still available to purchase. Are you there Charley bear can be purchased from places such as Play.com, Tesco and Amazon for around £4.
Charley Bear episodes usually run for 5-8 minutes and ... feature Charley bear and his friends, some of his friends include Bellarina the ballerina, Frozo the penguin and Rivet the robot. Charley has his very own toy box where his friends stay and he likes to take them on amazing adventures using his imagination. Charley doesn't talk but can convey messages with the narrator. In this show the narrator happens to be the voice of the amazing James Corden (Gavin & Stacey). The narrator helps and guides Charley through his play and is the only voice you hear throughout the show.
Charley bear is a toddler aimed programme. My daughter is now three years old and although she does enjoy watching it, she does get bored of it quite easily. The DVD contains six different episodes and she never watches them to the end. The episodes include Pop star Charley, Basketball Midge, Big Little Charley, Wild West Caramel, Art in the Park and Midge's Birthday.
Pop star Charley, for example, is an episode where Charley bear becomes a pop star but gets stage fright when he is supposed to do a show, the narrator (Corden) reasons with Charley along with Charleys friends and eventually gets over his stage fright and puts on a good show. The other episodes also focus on one main adventure of different kinds. The programme really is gentle, with gentle music and sounds. I think it would be a good programme to watch just before bed.
There are a couple of bonus features on the DVD, these and two extra episodes. One of them is where you meet Charley and his friends, I think this is a great thing to watch before you watch the actual DVD so you know who everyone is but once you've watched it once you don't need to watch it again. The second episode is just another from the television series called Big Top Bellarina. There is another extra with downloadable colouring pictures but we haven't done this so can't comment.
I think this DVD is perfect for younger toddlers. I would say the upper limit is around 3 years old, my daughter is 3 and a bit and she gets bored of this DVD quite easily now. James Corden does a fantastic job of being the narrator and the adventures that Charley bear goes on are good to watch.
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The Santa Clause (DVD)
by cha97mw
The Santa Clause is quite an old film now. Released in 1994, it is something I only got round to watching in full for the first time this past Christmas when my children were laid up poorly. I looked on netflix and it was one of the films available, and I was pretty sure it would be something they would enjoy.
Tim Allen plays ... the lead, Scott Calvin. He is an advertising executive, and he is similar to a few of these middle aged male characters in movies, that he is separated from his wife and child and the relationship is not exactly wonderful. His son Charlie is staying with him for Christmas Eve. They are disturbed by a noise on the roof. When Scott goes outside to investigate he is rather cynical when he finds someone dressed up in a red suit.
He finds a card in the pocket of the man, which instructs him to put on the suit and deliver the presents. Scott finds all this hard to believe, but egged on by his son, he puts on the suit and goes out on the sleigh to deliver the presents. They end up at the North Pole, and Scott is informed that he didn't read the small print, and The Santa Clause is that he put on the suit, so now he is going to become Santa.
Scott tries to go back to his normal life, but there are difficulties as his demeanor and his physical appearance starts to change. Charlie also starts having difficulties as he is very honest about what is happening, only no-one will believe him.
What follows is a heart warming film as a year passes between one Christmas and the next. Scott needs to get his affairs in order and try to maintain some relationship with his son while everyone around him assumes he is having some sort of breakdown.
I found the relationship between Scott and his son Charlie very loving, and at points I was quite sad seeing them not able to see each other as his ex-wife questioned his sanity and if he were a fit parent.
At the same time, the film is quite humourous in places as we see Scott change, and the film definitely gets you in the mood for the festive season. It is a film to share with your loved ones, and the language and humour are definitely child friendly rather than laugh out loud moments. It is worthy of its PG rating. Some of the humour appealed to me more than the kids as it was things like Scott taking his son to eat at a diner along with all the other single dads as he burnt the food. It is more than a little stereotypical, but that is ok for me in a Christmas themed film as we all want the cliche at Christmas.
There are some special effects within this which concern Santa traveling around on the sleigh, and the mechanism of him getting down chimney's.
We found this highly enjoyable to watch in the festive season. I wouldn't find it quite as good to watch if it were about any other time of the year, but at Christmas time there are certain traditions such as watching cheesy films. and this one perfectly fits the bill. I don't know quite how it took me nearly 20 years to watch it.
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