Mary Poppins Returns

I went to this movie twice in the theater (so far!). Mary Poppins Returns follows The Banks kids from movie one all grown up. Michael Banks has 3 children and after his wife passing he is struggling to pay a loan he took out against his house. The movie is 2 hours and 10 mins of typical Mary Poppins fun and music tied up with saving their house from the big bad wolf.

I took my 2 nieces and 1 nephew the first time I saw it. It was Christmas Eve, which may be why my 4 year old nephew and 6 year old niece had a hard time sitting through it. My 9 year old niece really enjoyed it though. The 2nd time, I brought my other 9 year old niece and she was up dancing through all the songs (thank goodness we were in the back and there was only 4 others in the theater! lol).

I absolutely love the sound track. A few of my favorites are

1. Can You Imagine That
• This song gets stuck in my head all day long! It is super cute! My niece sings it with me
2. Turning Turtle
• Who doesn't like a crazy Meryl Streep? She plays Mary Poppins cousin Topsy and every 2nd Wednesday her life gets topsy turny (or as she calls it turning turtle). The songs is cute and crazy!
3. Trip A Light Fantastic
• This song is similar to Burt's Step in Time from the 1st movie but follows people who light the sidewalk lamps instead of chimney sweeps. This song has a lot of dancing and silly words.
4. A Cover is Not the Book
• This is a great song for a good lesson learned. It's pretty much about not judging a book by it's cover. It ties in nicely with the wolf in the scene. Mary and Jack sing about different stories. It's another fun song with lots a dancing!

I will most definitely be buying this movie when it comes out on DVD/Streaming. I would recommend seeing it in theaters if you have older children. I feel like it was a little long (and maybe a little slow) for a 4 year old. He may sit through it later at home if he can play with his toys at the same time though.

SPOILER BELOW........

The one thing I wasn't happy with was Dick Van Dyke's part. Disney had the perfect opportunity to bring him back as Burt but he came back as a banker. I loved that he was in it though, he even danced a little! But, had I have written him in, I would have had him come down the chimney at the bank with the burned up page from the shares ledger, not as the bad guy's uncle! He came back as Mr Dawes Jr and saved the day though, so it all turned out for the Banks family!

I also wish some of the other actors/actresses made a cameo. I know they are all older now, but they could have come back as someone else like Dick Van Dyke did and not necessarily their original part.

Incredibles 2

I took my niece to see Incredibles 2 the other day after school. It was raining and the perfect ending to the school year for her.

The movie picks up where the 1st movie left off (even though it's been 14 years!) The movie starts out with the Incredibles fighting Underminer, but destroying the city in the process. Because of the damage, the authorities become concerned and as a result, Rick Dicker informs the Parr family that his department's "Super Relocation" program is being shut down, forcing supers across the world to permanently adhere to their secret identities. 
Lucius Best, their superhero friend "Frozone", is stopped by Winston Deavor, a superhero fan, telecommunications tycoon, and owner of DEVTECH, after the fight with Underminer. Frozone tells Bob and Helen about his encounter and the 3 of them to to DEVTECH to meet Winston Deavor, who proposes a publicity stunt to regain the general public's support of supers.

Helen Parr, considered the least-destructive of the supers, is selected to undertake the stunt by openly fighting crime in New Urbrem, under her old identity of Elastigirl. As part of the plan, Winston provides the family with a new home, to which Bob offers to take care of the kids while Helen is away. During her absence, Bob discovers that Jack-Jack has various super powers, but struggles with controlling the family's infant. Seeking help, Bob takes Jack-Jack to Edna Mode, a family friend and superhero-costume designer, who agrees to help upon seeing the baby's superpowers in action. Meanwhile, during her mission, Helen confronts the Screenslaver – a mysterious villain who hijacks screens in order to project hypnotic images that can brainwash civilians.

After rescuing an ambassador from the Screenslaver's clutches, she manages to defeat him, only to find that he is no more than a pizza delivery man, who has no recollection of what he did. While attending a celebration of the Screenslaver's defeat at the Deavor's, Helen realizes that the pizza delivery man was being controlled by hypno-screens within his goggles. Before she can alert anyone to this, Winston's sister Evelyn Deavor overpowers her and brainwashes her with Screenslaver's goggles glasses. Evelyn reveals herself to be the mastermind behind the Screenslaver – seeing supers as a threat to humanity's independence, she sought to undermine her brother's mission, and plans to brainwash the world's leaders so that they cannot re-legalize superheroes. Evelyn then manages to lure Bob and Lucius into a trap, and place them under her control with brainwashing glasses.

Avoiding the same fate as their parents, Dash, Violet, and Jack-Jack, whom Edna had outfitted with a super-suit, sneak aboard the Deavor's ship to rescue their parents, as the world leaders meet for a hearing on supers. After freeing their parents and Lucius, the group reveal Evelyn's plan to the assembled leaders. A battle on the boat ensues, threatening to crash the ship into New Urbrem. However, the group manage to stop it, while Helen apprehends Evelyn when she tries to make an escape. Following the incident, the Supers Relocation Program is reinstated in response to the group's heroism, making supers legal once again.

This movie had a lot of action, which held my niece's attention for the whole almost 2 hours! There is an issue with flashing lights that may cause issues for some people, but other than that it was a great movie. I highly recommend kids and adults to take the time and watch it.

As we were leaving the theater, my niece asked me if we could see it again this summer with her cousins AND if I would buy it as soon as it comes out on DVD (which will be awhile, because we watched the movie opening day! lol)

Ferdinand

The other day, I took 5 children to see Ferdinand at the movie theaters. I had my 3 year old nephew, 5,8 and 8 year old nieces and my 14 year old cousin. The 14 year old was coming more to help me with the little ones, but she ended up enjoying the movie as well. All 5 kids were laughing and fully engaged in this movie! I highly recommend this to anyone!

The movie follows a young bull, named Ferdinand. He starts out in a bull "training camp", Casa Del Toro, with others his age and his father. Ferdinand is a flower loving, pacifist. Ferdinand's father was the best in the "camp" and went out to fight the Matador, but does not come back. That day, Ferdinand decides to run away. He escapes and finds a farm to live on. Juan, his daughter Nina and their dog Paco welcome Ferdinand into their lives. Ferdinand and Nina create a loving bond. One day, Nina, Juan and Paco go to the city for the flower festival. Ferdinand is left behind this time because he has grown to a full size bull. He decides to follow anyways and chaos ensues.  First he is the literal bull in a china shop, then he is stung by a bee and  unintentionally wreaks havoc around town. The town folk are scared and he is captured and brought back to Casa Del Toro.  Upon arrival, he meets and befriends Lupe, who is a crazy goat. Lupe believes she is a therapy goat for unruly bulls and then insists on being his trainer for bull fighting. Once settled in, Ferdinand finds the bulls from his childhood have grown up and added a few more bull to the group plus 3 hedgehogs who sneak through Casa Del Toro.

One day, a legendary but egotistical bullfighter named El Primero  arrives at Casa del Toro to choose a bull he most admires to fight with so he can retire. When the bulls fail to impress him on the first try, Guapo is suddenly taken to a nearby slaughterhouse and the other bulls tell Ferdinand that it will be their fate once El Primero chooses a bull to fight. Although Ferdinand manages to earn the respect of the other bulls except Valiente after a dance-off with three German horses, they still hold on to the belief that fighting is the only way for them to live. Ferdinand manages to convince Lupe to come back with him to Nina's farm and the hedgehogs help them escape but when Ferdinand is close to freedom, he sees his dad's picture on a wall with his horns mounted on a wall, along with dozens of other horns, making Ferdinand realize that the bull who is chosen to fight will be slain by the matador.

Ferdinand tells the other bulls about how they will still be killed even after they're chosen to fight, but Valiente is the only one unconvinced and charges Ferdinand outside where Ferdinand inadvertently beats him in a fight and knocks off his right horn. El Primero witnesses the scuffle and chooses Ferdinand to fight after seeing him defeat Valiente. When Valiente is taken to the slaughterhouse, Ferdinand rallies up the remaining bulls to escape but goes to the slaughterhouse to break out Valiente. He is at first unwilling as he believes that the slaughterhouse is his fate now, but they discover that Guapo is still alive, and Ferdinand questions Valiente's courage.

When Ferdinand tries to save Guapo, he accidentally activates a series of deadly contraptions but, with the help of a now-friendlier Valiente, escapes the slaughterhouse and the bulls, Lupe, and hedgehogs steal the training area's company truck to escape, resulting in the head of the area, Moreno , and his employees to chase them after El Primero threatens them.

The animals try desperately to lose the humans and wind up at a city train station in Madrid that Ferdinand sees is his ticket back to Nina. When the bulls push a small railroad cart to catch the train back to Nina's home, Ferdinand sacrifices himself so the other bulls can escape (except for Lupe, who stays behind in shock after Ferdinand's act) and is captured by Moreno and his employees. When news of Ferdinand's upcoming fight with El Primero makes its way to Nina's home, she and Juan set out to Madrid to find and retrieve Ferdinand.

At the bullfight arena, Lupe tries to urge Ferdinand that he must fight in order to survive, but Ferdinand is silently unsure. When Ferdinand is released into the bullfight ring, he gives out a feeble performance with his pacifistic nature and accidentally causes El Primero to fly into the bull pen. El Primero angrily tries to attack Ferdinand with two barbed sticks (knowns as banderillas) and in the process, strikes Ferdinand in the shoulder, who almost retaliates against the matador, but sees a carnation underneath his hoof and sees that he's being the fighter he was unwilling to be and lets El Primero live. Regardless, El Primero tries to slay him to finish the fight, but upon seeing Ferdinand resigning himself to it and the crowd, moved by his gentle nature, wanting him to live, he refuses to kill him and leaves with dignity. Ferdinand is reunited with Nina, who embraces him and everyone throws carnations to the ring to praise the bull. The other bulls finally arrive too late to save Ferdinand, but instead witness Ferdinand making history as the first bull to ever make it out of a bullfight alive by being himself.

In the end, Ferdinand returns home with Nina, Juan, Paco and Moreno allows his fellow bulls, the hedgehogs, the Bunny and Lupe move into the farm with him. The film ends with Ferdinand, Lupe, and their bull friends watching the sunset over Ronda from a field of flowers.

Disney's Descendants 2

Last week we watched the new Descendants 2 movie and the kids LOVED it! Yes, all 4 of my nieces and nephew LOVED this movie.

Plot:
Descendants 2 follows Mal, who is still at Auradon Prep and dating King Ben. At the beginning of the movie, several months after moving to Auradon, Mal starts to feel like she doesn't belong and that she doesn't know who she is anymore. She admits her issues to her friends, Evie, Carlos, and Jay, but they are content with their new lives in Auradon and do not wish to return to the Isle of the Lost. Evie scolds Mal for relying on her mother’s spell book to solve her issues. Ben eventually discovers Mal’s reliance on magic, and she comes clean about her insecurities, causing the two to have a falling out. Mal returns to the Isle, now ruled by her former friend Uma, the daughter of Ursula. Ben, Evie, Jay, and Carlos learn of Mal’s departure and sneak onto the island to find her, but one of Uma's gang recognizes them. Ben confronts Mal, who rejects his feelings for his sake and Auradon’s. Ben leaves dejected, only to be captured by Uma, who orders Mal and her friends to retrieve the Fairy Godmother’s wand or Ben dies. Carlos and Jay return to Auradon Prep, where they create a replica of the wand using a 3D printer. Uma speaks with Ben, bitter that she and the others were not chosen to go to Auradon. Ben takes this into account and invites her to Auradon, but Uma instead plots to make her own way there. Mal’s group return, handing over the fake wand in exchange for Ben, but Uma realises it is a forgery. The group flee back to Auradon, but Mal and Ben’s relationship is still on the rocks. Aboard a ship during the Cotillion, Ben stuns everyone by appearing with Uma, who he declares as his true love and announces he will destroy the barrier on the Isle. Jane unveils a stain glass display Ben commissioned to show his affection for Mal, who realises he loved her for who she was all along. Suspecting Uma has given Ben a love potion, Mal kisses him, breaking it. Uma leaps into the water, using her mother Ursula’s magic seashell to transform into an octopus, Mal fighting back by transforming into a dragon. Ben intervenes, quelling the battle, and Uma swims away despite his offer still standing. Mal and Ben reunite, Mal surrendering her spell book over to the Fairy Godmother. Mal and Evie request that Dizzy be allowed to attend Auradon Prep.

This movie was cute, as all Disney channel movies are. The music was fun, which is what my nieces and nephew liked the most (obviously!). They were singing and dancing to the songs, their favorite was What's My Name that Uma sang. Check out the videos of them having a blast! I feel like we will be buying this sound track to listen in the car!

Despicable Me 3

We just saw Despicable Me 3 and it was super cute! I took my 7 year old niece to see it and she loved it!

This movie follows Gru, who is now an agent for the Anti-Villain League (AVL) and he and his wife Lucy are sent to foil the plans of Balthazar Bratt, a supervillain who was a former child actor who portrayed a young supervillain in a popular television series before the show was cancelled as a result of his puberty, and his waning popularity led to him adopting his former persona to become an actual supervillain. Gru manages to stop Bratt from stealing a very expensive diamond, but is unable to capture him. As a result of constantly failing to capture Bratt, Gru and Lucy are fired from the AVL by it's new director Valerie Da Vinci.
The family is approached by the butler of Gru's long-lost twin brother Dru, who lives in a country named Freedonia and longs to meet him. Stunned at this revelation, Gru confronts his mother who reveals that after divorcing Gru's father, they agreed to keep one child each. The family decide to meet Dru and they are surprised at his immense wealth which the butler attributes to their pig farm business. Dru quickly charms Gru's family despite turning off Gru due to his flamboyant personality. Meanwhile, Bratt manages to steal the diamond once again as he intends to use the diamond to power his giant robot to destroy Hollywood as revenge for cancelling his show.

 Dru reveals to Gru that his immense wealth is due to his father also being a legendary supervillain. As Dru was constantly dismissed by their father as a disgrace, he turned to his brother to teach him how to be a villain. Gru is unwilling to revert back to his old ways. To persuade him, Dru brings him on a joyride around Freedonia in their father's car where the siblings bond. Meanwhile, Lucy tries to balance being generous and implementing discipline as a mom which she exhibits after turning away a young boy who had fallen for Margo.

Having discovered that Bratt has stolen the diamond, Dru convinces Gru to steal the diamond for one last heist with Gru secretly intending to bring it to the AVL to reinstate his work. Despite several setbacks, they manage to retrieve the diamond back, but they are rescued by Lucy who had followed them earlier. After finding out Gru's true motives, Dru confronts his brother on why he lied to him with the latter insulting him in the process and deciding to leave Dru's mansion. Bratt infiltrates Dru's mansion by disguising as Lucy, kidnaps the children, and once again acquires the diamond which leads Gru, Lucy and Dru to resolve their differences and pursue him.

With his robot powered, Bratt terrorizes Hollywood. Having watched Bratt's show as a child, Dru deduces that Bratt plans to re-enact the episode where Bratt cuts off Hollywood and uses inflatable gum to elevate the city to outer space. Lucy saves the children while Gru and Dru weaken Bratt's robot with the weapons of their father's car. Gru is knocked unconscious when the car is destroyed and Dru destroys the robot's core from the inside when Bratt threatens to kill Gru. When Gru recovers, he battles Bratt in a "dance fight" which ends in Gru trapping Bratt in his own gum. The Minions, having rendezvoused with Gru, manage to destroy Bratt's gum covering the city.

Gru and Lucy are reinstated in the AVL and the newly united family celebrate in Gru's home. Lucy is acknowledged by the children as their mother. Dru, having embraced the family tradition of villainy, steal Gru's car, accompanied by the Minions. Gru and Lucy decide to give them a five-minute head-start before engaging pursuit.

My favorite characters, the Minions, were hilarious! After not being able to convince Gru to take up villainy again, they walk out on him. The Minions are arrested after trespassing, but stealing the show, at a talent show set. The Minions exert control among the prisoners at their jail, but their longing for Gru motivate them to escape the prison. In the end, they reunited with Gru and his family after helping them save Hollywood.

I highly recommend this movie to anyone who loved the first 2 Despicable Me movies and/or the Minions movie! If you haven't watched any of those 3, I suggest you do as well! These movies are great for older kids!

We recently saw Smurfs: The Lost Village and LOVED it!

The movie follows Smurfette and a few of her friends on finding the "lost" village before the evil wizard Gargamel does. 

Plot:
The movie starts out explaining all the Smurfs are named after their characteristics (Brainy is smart, Clumsy is a klutz, Hefty is strong, etc) and Smurfette feels a little out of place. Smurfette is the only female in the village, but she was created from clay by the Evil Gargamel. While Smurfette is out playing near the forbidden forest (along with Brainy, Clumsy and Klutz) she sees another female Smurf.  Smurfette ends up being captured by Gargamel and at his castle, she ends up inadvertently revealing the hat, enabling Gargamel to mix up a brew that causes him to locate the village on a map.  Soon enough Hefty, Brainy, & Clumsy who followed Smurfette, help her escape and return to Smurf Village, where they are punished by Papa Smurf for disobeying his orders and confines them to their houses while dismissing their claims of a lost village filled with Smurfs. Smurfette decides to break out, with the help of Hefty, Brainy, & Clumsy because they are "Team Smurf". The four best friends follow the map and end up in various adventures, like being attacked by monster flowers and getting caught in a stampede of luminescent rabbits, one of whom they befriend and name Bucky, who helps them on their quest. After setting sail on their handmade raft along the river, they encounter Gargamel, Azrael, and Monty. Following a brief chase, Gargamel was thrown out of his own raft. Hefty and Smurfette convince the others to help save him. They do so but instead of thanking them, he pushed them out of their raft, leaving them to plunge down a waterfall. After surviving the waterfall and washed ashore, they are soon captured by the leaf-covered creature from earlier along with a few others and they soon reveal themselves to be female Smurfs. They are taken to their village, which is called Smurfy Grove, in the trees and get to know all the girl Smurfs, including the leader Smurf Willow, the tomboyish Smurf Storm, the hyperactive Smurf Blossom, the gentle Smurf Lily and the music-loving Smurf Melody. They all welcome the Smurfs, especially Smurfette, to their humble home. After a while of showing them what they do, Smurf Storm and Clumsy come back with her telling that Smurfette was created by Gargamel. Before they can attack her for being considered a traitor, Papa Smurf appears (after realizing Smurfette and the boys are missing, he goes out to find them), and the female smurfs accept him into their home. Then, Gargamel comes and destroys Smurfy Grove, capturing all the Smurfs, all except Smurfette, who is now alone, feeling guilty for her actions. However, Brainy's pet Snappy bug shows her a picture of her and the others, and she soon realizes that she is not a real Smurf, and heads back to Gargamel's lair with Snappy and Bucky to save the Smurfs. At Gargamel's lair, where all the Smurfs are, Brainy makes a plan to escape. Papa Smurf hears their plan and he and Smurf Willow decide to help them. Hefty, Brainy, Clumsy, and some of the female Smurfs succeed at the plan until Gargamel and Azrael spot them and put some of the female Smurfs and Clumsy into his Smurfilator, extracting their essence. Smurfette appears, tricking Gargamel that she wants to be an evil smurf again. When Gargamel tries to turn Smurfette into an evil smurf, he realizes that Smurfette is absorbing his magic powers instead, a skill she found earlier after destroying Brainy's invention. The lair explodes, sending Gargamel, Azrael, and Monty into a lake full of piranhas. Unfortunately, Smurfette has reverted to her original lifeless clay form. Papa quickly tries to find a spell, but Brainy states there's nothing they can do to save her, leaving everyone, especially Papa, heartbroken.

Back at Smurf Village, all the Smurfs, boys and girls, mourn the loss of Smurfette. Using their energy, Smurfette comes back to life and becomes a Smurf again and everybody happily celebrates. After which, Smurf Village and Smurfy Grove become united with each other and Smurfette finally became the new leader of the Smurfs and most of all, true-blue Smurf.

I took my 7 and a half year old niece to this and she LOVED it! She was giggling the whole time! We highly recommend seeing this to everyone! She even told me she liked this version better than the other movies (Smurf 1 and 2, both were live action)!

Boss Baby

So, it is April school vacation week for us this week and, of course, it is raining! So, what do we do? We go to the movies!

We saw Boss Baby!

This movie was very cute! It starts out with a 7 year old little boy named Tim. He has a loving family, his parents work at a puppy company. Tim's parents play with, sing to him, read to him at bed time. He is happy. Until the baby arrives. Boss Baby arrives at Tim's home in a taxi, wearing a suit and carrying a briefcase. Boss Baby takes over all of Tim's parents' love and attention. Tim begins to think that his parents don't love him anymore, and they only care about the new baby. One day, Tim discovers that Boss Baby is actually spy from Baby Co, trying to get more attention/love for babies instead of puppies. Tim still tries to get rid of Boss Baby, even going up against his team of babies in a hilarious "battle". Tim's parents catch on and ground him. Tim and Boss baby put aside their rivalry and work together to thwart a dastardly plot that involves an epic battle between puppies and babies. Through their battle against Francis Francis, they bond. The ending of the movie is pure love!

I took my 7 year old niece to see this. Her mother is expecting a baby in a few months. When the movie began, I was like "Oh no! I hope she doesn't feel unloved like Tim!" but as the movie progressed, I started to hope she has the same love for her little brother that Tim developed for his!

I recommend this movie for any child, but especially ones with siblings!