Tag Archives: Family

Sammy’s Great Escape / Sammy 2  (2012)    67/100

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Rating :   67/100                                                                       92 Min        U

This is the sequel to 2010’s ‘A Turtle’s Tale: Sammy’s Adventures’, an English language Belgian production aimed at younger children. It’s pretty good all in all, with a vibrant and colourful underwater world where the scene stealing characters are, as always, the penguin chicks, although they don’t feature very much. Surprisingly, this is one of the best uses of 3D I’ve seen, and although it still lacks a bit of visual clarity (always difficult to tell if that is the result of post-production work, or an inherent problem with the technology) the swirling environment with characters floating around everywhere lends itself very well to the medium. The story follows Sammy and Ray, now grandfathers, and two of their grandchildren as they try to get back to their home, having been ousted from it by a gang of evil human fishermen.

There is a nod to ‘The Little Mermaid’ (89) with two of the bad guy’s ‘heavies’ appearing in the guise of eels, but here rather than having everyone erupt happily into song, Jimi Hendrix’s version of ‘All Along the Watchtower’ rings out as the captured fish start to fight each other over the food the humans give to them, aiding the message of the film that keeping any creature in captivity is a bad thing. More effort and thought has been put into this than a lot of the 3D fare that is being churned out of Hollywood at the moment, though some young children may find some of the less aesthetically appealing sea creatures a little frightening – there were a few squeals as the protagonists’ friend to be, a schizophrenic lobster, is introduced, replete with eyes rolling in different directions and claws clamping out of the screen toward the audience, though eventually everyone settled down, having seemingly gotten used to the weird variety. Seeing as the heroes of the tale are turtles, I guess there’s no reason they can’t have a third film with their next generation of offspring…

Parental Guidance  (2012)    53/100

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Rating :   53/100                                                                     105 Min        U

Bette Midler and Billy Crystal star as ‘the other’ grandparents in this comedy, where they finally get a shot at looking after their grandchildren, then proceed to effectively endanger and mistreat them to such a degree they would never in reality be trusted around the children ever again. A very typical American comedy that thinks applying gloss via cinematography and music makes everything hunky dory in the end. It doesn’t. Some of Billy Crystal’s jokes are funny, and the children give good and, at times, very emotional performances, but otherwise there is nothing to save this from its future retirement home in the cheap dvd stand in supermarkets.

Tinker Bell and the Secret of the Wings  (2012)    67/100

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Rating :   67/100                                                                       75 Min        U

Fast and fun, Tinker Bell flutters again in this, her fifth film instalment as part of the Disney Fairies franchise. Aimed at younger children, girls primarily, like its predecessors it retains the same colourful (computer generated) artwork and general feel of fairy goodness. Although the story is a little whimsical – introducing the mirror realm of the winter fairies and a never the twain shall meet parental warning, until Tink decides to eschew the ruling fairy law and go adventuring, almost causing global fairy annihilation, but ultimately alluding to the wisdom of co-operation and invention. It should be easy enough to follow and engrossing for its target audience – with Angelica Huston and Timothy Dalton in fairy voice support.

Disney have the following website to support the franchise, and it’s a pretty comprehensive site. The opening short entitled ‘How to have a snowball fight’ is actually quite amusing and The Red Dragon did appreciate the line ‘I love the smell of snowballs in the morning’ (if you are not aware of the reference then you are in immediate need of an injection of classic war films). However, this also seems to be a portal for a kids MMORPG (massively multi-player online role playing game) and based on the game’s description it seems, like many of its kind, to be designed purely to keep youngsters playing and immersed in the Disney fairy world. If it was also educational then maybe it would be a good thing, but as it is The Red Dragon would strongly advise parents to have their children stay clear of it, avoiding the possibility of a primary school aged generation of gaming zombies (I believe it also costs real world money to play).

Rise of the Guardians  (2012)    73/100

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Rating :   73/100                                                                       97 Min        PG

‘Rise of the Guardians’ features an all star team-up of Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, the Sandman and Jack Frost – all chosen by ‘The Man in the Moon’ to become the guardians of the safety and well being of children on Earth. The latest animation from Dreamworks, it’s the perfect introduction to the holiday season for cinema going families with kids, and the sharp and colourful graphic work together with an entertaining moral story, replete with pantomime bad guy Jude Law (as the Boogeyman), should provide a decent hour and a half’s entertainment for adults as well. The fairies, in particular, are most awesome.

Criticism has been lain against it for lacking soul, which is a problem with a lot of animations issuing forth from Dreamworks. However, I think enough of an effort has been made to label that a little unjust, although The Red Dragon admits slight bias in favour of the cute, and slightly overused, fairies and it is certainly true that the bulk of the piece remains the frothy, whirly, kaleidoscope of flashy action sequences that the production company favours so highly. Fun nonetheless – look out toward the end for the not so subtle nod to the head of the company’s previous work….

Nativity 2 : Danger in the Manger!  (2012)    50/100

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Rating :   50/100                                                                     105 Min        U

This is the sequel to 2009’s children’s film ‘Nativity!’ and it once again focuses on the kids of St. Bernadette’s primary school. Any film that has the subtitle ‘Danger in the Manger’ deserves a little credit straight off the bat as far as The Red Dragon is concerned – the rest of the film though is likely to divide parental opinion. The first film was a surprise hit, proving entertaining for children and adults alike. Here, the presumably busy with ‘The Hobbit’ Martin Freeman has been replaced with primary school teacher David Tennant, who tries to provide the voice of reason as his classroom assistant takes the kids, including one baby, on an increasingly dangerous and unlikely trek to reach a Christmas singing competition in Wales, much in the style of an ‘X Factor’ for primary schools. The adventure is deliberately over the top but nonetheless features such stunts as the whole gang going white water rafting with the hapless baby strapped to someone’s chest. The Red Dragon also considers there to be a bit too much of the singing at the end. If your kids dislike ‘The X Factor’, or are wont to copy what they see on the big-screen (especially if you also have a small baby), then give this one a miss. Otherwise, not as good or as wholesome as the first one, but probably decent enough to entertain the family if there’s nothing else showing. Or if you don’t fancy sneaking your kids past the ushers to go and see ‘Skyfall’.

Jumanji  (1995)    73/100

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Rating :   73/100                                                                     104 Min        PG

Perfectly enjoyable family fare. Robin Williams stars, in one of his most iconic mid-nineties roles, alongside a young Kirsten Dunst as the mutual players of a board game that comes to life and must be completed in order to end the havoc it has unleashed into the real world. Some of the effects look a little dated now, but it doesn’t detract from its watchability. Indeed, the once common family friendly adventure film isn’t quite as prevalent in today’s cinema as two decades before, so many might find it refreshing to revisit classics like ‘Jumanji’, especially if you missed it the first time around. Makes you want to play a board game – did they capitalise on that marketing opportunity? In the film the characters are terrified of the game, but come on, who wouldn’t want to summon an army of preternatural monkeys to terrorise their hometown? The Red Dragon would role those dice.