Creative Afternoon at Our House

Pac-Man Cafe

I don't think I need to tell you this, but if you put a giant statue of Pac-Man on the side of the road, I'm stopping and taking a picture. And so it was that I discovered Pac-Man Cafe, a charming little bistro that briefly appeared among the other tourist traps of Orlando, FL. Pac-Man Cafe offered families a chance to dine with Pac-Man and dozens of ghost-monsters surrounding them. The walls of this place were covered in dots and power pellets and the likeness of Inky, Blinky, Clyde, Pinky and Sue. They served Pac-Man pizza, which was just a regular pizza with one slice missing to make the whole thing look like Pac-Man. Sure, you weren't getting a whole pizza...but who cares. You gotta admit, it was a pretty darn good idea! The Pac-Man Cafe also featured the Galaxian Bar which featured imagery from another classic Namco game. The upstairs was home to video games as far as the eye could see. And the real attraction, in my book, was the Pac-Man museum: a free exhibit featuring all the great Pac-Man merchandise from the early 80's. This place was awesome!

We discovered the place as we were getting ready to head out of Florida and head home. We had just eaten lunch, so we paid a quick visit to the museum and vowed to come back for the full experience the next time we were in sunny Orlando. "The next time" turned out to be 7 months later, but when we went to dine with Pac-Man we were met with a boarded up restaurant and no sign of Mr. or Mrs. Pac-Man anywhere. The place had gone out of business already! No Pac-Man shaped pizza for us! We would have to go home and order a pizza and take out the slice ourselves and pretend it was Pac-Man...but we weren't fooling anyone. We drowned our sorrows in a meal at the nearby Race Rock, a car racing themed restaurant. We couldn't care less about car racing but they made some wings that would knock the bow out of Mrs. Pac-Man's hair! (Race Rock is gone now too!)

Anywho....Pac-Man Cafe. How awesome did this place look!?

The Right To Bear Arms

T.J. Bearytales is a popular toy in our house. He's kind of like a Teddy Ruxpin...a talking bear who tells stories. T.J. doesn't just move his mouth and eyes like Teddy did, T.J. also moves his head, ears and arms. They also sell some story cartridges that come with little props that you can stick in T.J.'s paw and he'll use them in the story. There's a camera, a walkie-talkie, a magic wand...you get the picture. Santa brought T.J. to our house two Christmas' ago and he's still a very good friend to both my kids.

I laughed so hard the other day when I came into the living room and saw that Elias had replaced T.J.'s regular toy with a toy gun. There's nothing like seeing your son have a story read to him at gunpoint...by a bear.

• I'm not all caught up in the hilarity of my kids saying random things but once in a while they come up with a doozy that's worth sharing. The other day out of nowhere Tanner just announces to me: "Everybody has a belt....Robots don't have belts." I don't know why I found that so funny but I repeated it for the rest of the day.
  

A Big Bowl of Synergy

You know me, I loves some movie and TV show tie-in breakfast cereal. Even though I'm not into either of these properties, I'm still amused at the existence of Hannah Montana Cereal and High School Musical Cereal. The latter should come as no surprise as we've already had High School Musical frozen waffles in the grocery store freezers for a while now. My favorite part here is the Hannah Montana cereal is labeled as "Multi-grain Secret Identity cereal with strawberry milkshake flavoring". I guess the Mulit-Grain nutritionally makes up for the fact that your eating a synthetic strawberry milkshake...for breakfast, no less!

2009 Movie Preview

My local newspaper ran a pretty good AP piece about all the big movie projects scheduled to be released in the new year. Here's some of the interesting projects:

• Confessions of a Shopaholic Silly romantic comedy...I know! But I gotta admit, I likes me some Isla Fisher. (pictured) I've enjoyed her in her work I've seen so far, especially the underrated Hot Rod, so I'm interested to see her in a lead role. Oh, and did I mention she's easy on the eyes?!?



• All About Steve Sandra Bullock in a romantic comedy about a crossword puzzle creator looking for her one true love. Way to step out of the box, Sandy!



• Fast and Furious There have been alot of creative sequel names lately, but you can't just take the "the's" out of a title and pass it off as a different movie. And, who ever heard of the original cast only coming back to do the fourth film? AND...who the hell is still watching these?



• Friday the 13th I'm not a fan of this series, in fact I've only ever seen Part V, and that was 21 years ago and I still have nightmares about it. But, they are going to "reboot" this franchise and start at the beginning again. Everyone knows that half the fun of the Friday the 13th films is the fact that they are on #45. This movie is an insult to sequels everywhere!



• Hanna Montana: The Movie I'm a sucker for any movie with "The Movie" in the title, and I'm a sucker for any movie based on a TV show. Throw in the fact that I loved The Lizzie McGuire Movie and I should be all over this one, but somehow I don't think I'm the target audience here. That's ok...that's what Netflix is for!



• Monsters vs. Aliens We've seen this trailer so many times in the theatre that my kids are all ready to line up and see it. It's an animated comedy about the government getting together old B-movie monsters to fight off an alien attack. Looks really good!



• Race to Witch Mountain When The Rock was making one bad movie after another I commented that he needed to do a Disney comedy to get him out of his rut, like Vin Diesel did. Well, he did and now he's back for another go around and he's bring back a classic Disney franchise out of the moth balls. I only hopped on the Witch Mountain train late in life, but they are really good films and I'm looking forward to this new one!



• Bruno You may not be familiar with this Sacha Baron Cohen character but he's from the same BBC series that brought us Ali G and Borat. Big fan - you can bet this feature length outing about the gay Austrian fashion reporter is going to be side-splittingly funny!



• G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra Never really a big fan of G.I. Joe, but since it's from the 80's it still holds a special place in my heart. My favorite thing to do with my brother's G.I. Joe's when we were little was to tie a string up and have the figures slide down the line, so if they can work lots of zip-lines into the movie, I'm sold!



• Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs Oh, I'm praying my kids don't get the Ice Age bug!



• I Love You Beth Cooper Hayden Panettiere gets her own film. I loved her in Bring It On: All or Nothing...where do I get in line?



• Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian I was pleasantly surprised by the first one. My son is a big fan of both the first movie and the book it was based on. I'm sure we'll be here for the second chapter.



• The Proposal Sandra Bullock in a romantic comedy about a book editor...Where does she find this stuff??



• Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen I think we can all agree this is a guaranteed good time at the movies. Summer 2011: Transformers vs. G.I. Joe...anyone with me on that one?



• The Princess and the Frog A hand drawn Disney animated fairy tale! Not computer animated! It's been a while! I'm so there!



• Year One A caveman comedy staring Jack Black and Michael Cera. Usually I'm on board for a good caveman comedy...who isn't? But I hate Jack Black more than words can describe, and I've said it once and I'll say it again...this Michael Cera kid (from Superbad) is not really funny. He's been in some funny movies, but I don't think he's all that special. Oh, and I hate Jack Black.


• Star Trek My nerdiness for Star Trek only extends to the films, so I'm a bit excited for this new chapter which goes back to the beginning and tells the story of how the Enterprise crew came together. I'd still like to see another TNG film, though.


• Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakuel Ladies and gentlemen...you read that right, The Squeakuel.



• Old Dogs Get this, John Travolta and Robin Williams become the unexpected caretakers of 6-year old twins! I hope with your paid admission ticket you also receive a souvenir Old Dogs vomit bag.



• Up I don't even need the details of a Pixar film to know I'll plop down my $10 bucks to see it. From the looks of the trailer, Up looks like the Pixar gang has outdone themselves yet again.


• Tooth Fairy I've been reading about this movie for years. I think every major star in Hollywood has been linked to this project at one time or another. It ended up being made staring The Rock so we'll have to see how that goes for him.


• Where the Wild Things Are It should be very interesting to see how director Spike Jonze brings this great children's book to the big screen in live action.

What movies are you looking forward to? Any ones you've heard of that I missed? Leave a comment!

Politics Made Easy

WWoB welcomes our new Chief Political Anaylyst my five year old son Elias with his rundown of yesterday's historic events...

Five Villans Who Need To Make A Comeback

Times are tough for everybody. Not just us decent hardworking Americans, but the bad guys of the world are feeling the pinch too! I don't know what any of this means but here's another random list of mine...Five bad guys who I'd like to see get back to work:



1) Hordak Everyone remembers Skeletor, but ya never hear anyone evoke the name of Hordak. Hordak was so bad even Skeletor didn't like him. When Hordak wasn't being a pain in Skeletor's side, he was busy trying to enslave She-Ra and the citizens of Etheria. Well, who knows how that all turned out for him but he needs to get some new PR people! I mean, Frank Langella played Skeletor in the 1987 Masters of the Universe and now he's getting critical acclaim for his role in Frost/Nixon...and no one has yet to even play Hordak in a live action film! Let's get on the ball there, Hordak! Stop trying to find Loo-Kee and let's get back to doing that voodo that you do so well!





2) Oil Can Harry Where the heck has good ol' Oil Can Harry been? Well, a quick search on the internet might lead you to believe he opened up a male strip joint in Austin, TX...but I'm hoping that's another fella with the same name. Back in the day, Mighty Mouse was part of our steady diet of before and after school cartoons, and Oil Can Harry was always right there trying to get one over on little Mighty Mouse. Seriously, the kids today with their MTV, iPhones, and sneakers with wheels in them...they don't even know who Mighty Mouse is. Oil Can Harry's been slacking and needs to start making some more giant cat robots or giant pieces of cheese that he hides in and get back to giving Mighty Mouse a run for the ol' opera singing money!



3) Lt. Mauser While other kids my age were soaking in the Star Wars or Indiana Jones films, I was watching and rewatching all of the Police Academy films. There's a special place in my heart for all six of the original films (not the 7th, direct-to-video one). Lt. Mauser was the bad guy in films 2 and 3. All the other films had Lt. Harris as the meanie. I've got nothing against Harris, but how about a little love for Mauser! For crying out loud people, they switched his shampoo with Super Glue and his hands got stuck on his head! If they make another Police Academy film...and oh, for the love of all that is good and delicious in this world - they should, let's see if we can squeeze a little Lt. Mauser into the picture, eh?




4) The Hamburglar Seriously folks, there's nothing more scary than a dude who steals hamburgers!

5) Brain Gremlins is one of my favorite movies. (Have I ever mentioned that before!?) When the sequel, Gremlins 2: The New Batch, came out six years after the original who would have thought it would be just as awesome as the original. While cute little Gizmo stole the show in the first film, it was the mega-smart mutated gremlin Brain that stole the second show. Voiced by the late Tony Randal, Brain led the troupe of mutant gremlins on a New York City rampage that resulted in the death of Leonard Maltin and a giant all-Gremlin musical number. As Mr. Futterman as my witness, if any film franchise deserves another go-round....you can keep Star Trek, Ghostbusters, and all the Superheroes in the world....What the world needs now is Gremlins 3. `Nuf said!

Alec Baldwin Should Be In Every Sequel

O.K, here me out on this one...Alec Baldwin should be in every movie sequel. Well, not every sequel, but at least one instalment of any movie franchise.

I used to think Alec Baldwin was a tool. Then when he started taking supporting roles instead of only the leading role, I started to appreciate his performances. I enjoyed some of his earlier movies like The Edge and Ghosts of Mississippi. Heck, I even co-stared with him in Thomas and the Magic Railroad. (O.K, I didn't exactly co-star. I was an extra, and you can't even see me in the finished film!) I really started to like Alec Baldwin when he voiced the bad guy Leonardo Leonardo in the ultra-short lived animated series Clerks and when he hosted Saturday Night Live many times. My true appreciation for Mr. Baldwin blossomed when I caught his supporting role in the big screen adaption of Dr. Seuss' The Cat in the Hat. Since then I've enjoyed him a number of projects that he's taken on and of course was thrilled when he signed on to do Tina Fey's 30 Rock.

So here's the facts: Alec Baldwin has been in show business for nearly three decades. He can play heavy roles and he's got flawless comic timing! His most recent movie credit is when he was added to cast of Madagascar 2. I fell asleep trying to watch the original Madagascar three times, but was bright eyed and bushy tailed (do people still use that expression?) for Madagascar now with added Baldwin! He's got class, he's got charm...and I bet he works fairly cheap! That's why every film that goes on to produce sequels should find a role for America's treasure: Alec Baldwin.

If you're on your third or fourth movie...add him in now. If it's a first sequel, a #2 if you will, then Alec Baldwin should be on your casting list! Think about it. How great of a bad guy would Alec Baldwin make for Batman? Hey, he'd even make a great Batman! And you know Alec Baldwin as a pirate would be awesome! He'd give Johnny Depp a run for his money! New Harry Potter teacher? Alec Baldwin. Classy Bond villain? Alec Baldwin. New toy in Andy's bedroom for Toy Story 3? No doubt, the voice of Alec Baldwin.

How freakin' cool would Alec Baldwin look in a Jedi robe wielding a lightsaber? If you put Alec Baldwin in a boat and gave him a big fishing rod I'm sure he could take care of Jaws once and for all. He'd be awesome in the next Transformers movie. I bet he could even out-sass Madea!

Do you see what I mean! Every film franchise could use a hand from good ol' Alec Baldwin. I think it's Hollywood's only chance to help sagging box office receipts!

I Wish I Had a Blue Tounge

Among my more idiotic near & dear memories is one of my favorite amusement park snack stands of all time. It was a little stand in the Hanna-Barbera section of Kings Dominion that sold two special items. First, they sold Smurf shaped french fries which is quite honestly one of the coolest things you could ever wish to eat and second, they sold Smurf soft serve ice cream! Yes, it was just regular ol' soft serve ice cream with a hint of blue food dye but it was still awesome! Today you can still get blue soft serve at Kings Dominion but it's sold as Blue's Clues Ice Cream and I don't need to tell you that it's just not the same! I think the Blue's Clues ice cream uses imitation smurfberries instead of the real thing!?!

Not surprisingly, I also have a weakness for Smurf flavored Snowballs. Again, I realize that Smurf flavor and Skylight flavor are the exact same thing...but if a Snowball stand puts "Smurf" on their list of flavors, then I'm usually ordering it. (Unless they have "Spice Girls" flavor...then it's a toss up!)

While seeing if I could dig up any pictures of Smurf Ice Cream or Smurf french fries, I discovered that in other parts of the world "Smurf" is a fairly standard flavor of ice cream and ice cream-like products. Smurf a look at these pictures from different parts of the world:

Brother Next Door

One of my very favorite TV shows right now is E!'s super-silly Girls Next Door. If you haven't seen the show, it's a "reality" show about life in the famed Playboy Mansion. It centers around Hugh Hefner's young girlfriends and all the wacky, crazy things they do like plan parties and go on little trips. It's all actually very innocent and fun and not overtly sexual as you might expect from Playboy. Anywho...knowing how much I enjoy the show, my brother (who gets out alot more than I do) sent me this photograph from some charity event he went to a few years back. Here he is, getting a photo op with none other than Kendra Wilkinson - one of the Girls Next Door! Jealous!!! Actually, my brother Charlie had no idea who she was at the time and just got his picture with her because she wearing the jersey of some dude who went to Charlie's school (or something like that.) Then they talked football for a couple of minutes. If I had met her, I'd be like: "Remember the time...you guys built Slip n' Slides in the backyard...and then you had races on them...? That was cool!"

Yabba-Dabba-Robot!

Last night while I was wasting away more of my life searching the internets for the most inane crap you can imagine, I came across a flickr account with over 500 Hanna-Barbera related images. To answer your first question: Yes, I looked at all 500+ pics! Second, I stole a handful of the images for use here on WWoB! You're Welcome!

Here we have an old magazine/newspaper photograph of a giant Fred Flintstone figure that also happens to be filled with state-of-the-art 1960's electronics. What's it do? What's it for!? Not quite sure...but it sure is simultaneously awesome and frighting! According to the person who uploaded the photo, this giant monument to Fred stood in the offices of Hanna-Barbera animation for some time. Somebody else claimed to have spotted this figure (and others like it) at the Flintstones theme park in South Dakota. Either way, it makes me wonder if a friend I have that works in robotics can build me one!

Capt. Andy's River Towne

This salty fellow here with the banjo is Capt. Andy. The good Capt. was host of the fun there was to be had at Capt. Andy's River Towne. River Towne was a Chuck E. Cheese inspired restaurant in the Putty Hill Shopping Center in Baltimore, MD back in the early part of the 1980's. Now, I've always been a big fan of audio animatronics, but when I was little - getting to see audio animatronics outside of Walt Disney World was just a mind blowing experience. I remember after-school cartoons flooded with commercials for this place but I only have very faint memories of visiting this fun location once. Like Mr. Cheese, Capt. Andy had plenty of video games to play and served pizza with a big ol' audio animatronic filled show. But the big difference with River Towne was the show. The Chuck E. Cheese show (at the time) featured 5 characters standing side by side and only visible from the waist up. At River Towne you dined while watching a show presented on a full scale replica of a turn of the century riverside community.

I've looked for information about this restaurant several times before while cruising the internets. But it wasn't until a couple of nights ago that I found anything at all. I happened across a handful of pictures of the River Towne show while looking through a website devoted to all things Showbiz Pizza Place. (You don't remember Show Biz Pizza Place...? Well, that's another post for another time!) Wish I could tell you a little more about these pictures, but I'm sure at the time I was too excited to see the show to be able to commit any of it to memory.

Good Times!

They Could Call Me "TwinkleToes South"

Just say it with me..."How Sweet Are These?!?" We went bowling the other day. There's a little bowling alley quite literally one street over from us, and this in only the second time we've been there. They have an awesome snack bar with the cardboard pizza, soft pretzels and orange drink. Tucked away in a corner of the alley, right near the USA vs. Canada Ice Hockey game, was a display case of different bowling balls they sell. I would be all about joining a league just to get to use one of these sweet Flintstones bowling balls. Ya see, not only is it cool because it's got Fred and Barney on it...but ya see, they bowled alot on the old TV show. It's a perfect merchandising moment if I ever saw one! Of course, I had to snap a pic for ya all...just in case you needed any belated Christmas gift ideas for a certain favorite blogger of yours!??

Fountains, Man! Where 'the Fountains?

Everytime we go into our local crappy little 20-store mall, I lament over how badly the mall needs a fountain (not to mention a food court.) Why were there always fountains in malls? Who knows...but that's the way it used to be and the world was a better place for it. So, I've decided that in 2009, I'm going to add Shopping Mall Fountains to my list of stupid little things in life that I get a kick out of.

Here's a vintage shot from the great Mall in Columbia of Columbia, MD. The good ol' Columbia Mall used to feature many fountains. This large fountain was the centerpiece of the mall. The body of water still sits there to this day, but the fountains have been turned off so that a car dealer can park his cars in and around the fountain. Because when you're thinking of buying a new car, you go to a mall fountain to do some window shopping!?! The mall used to have three other smaller fountains which have all been retired in favor of a playground, additional food court seating and a Comcast Cable kiosk!

Our motto in 2009? Viva las Mall Fountains!

My 2008 At The Movies

Have I ever mentioned how much I love going to the movies? This year I reached a milestone that I had been looking forward to since I became a daddy. I can now go to the movies with both my kids...which means I don't need a babysitter, which means I can pretty much go whenever we can. Of course, with a 5 year old and a 3 year old, our movie choices are somewhat limited but luckily for me (and them) I like cartoons and other silly movies, so it really works out well for us all. This year I got to go to more movies than I have in any other year since we had kids. And now...because you care...here's a quick rundown of what I was able to see in the theatres this past year.

Juno Movies about high school are pretty much in my comfort zone so I really enjoyed this comedy-drama. By now, everyone knows what this movie is about so I'll skip the details and just say it's always a delight to watch Jason Bateman practice his craft.

Meet the Spartans I don't know why I can't stop myself from going to see these horrible pop-culture reference-fests. I love the silly humor of Airplane! and other films like it and somewhere deep down I keep thinking one of these modern movie spoofs will pull of some of the same laughs that Airplane! and Top Secret! did so many years ago. Instead, I get $10 bucks sucked out of my wallet to watch lame jokes about Britney Spears and American Idol.


Strange Wilderness I went to see this movie for one reason and one reason only...the trailer ended with a looped clip of a goofy looking shark laughing over and over. Hilarious! This movie is just about the dumbest thing ever committed to film. What anyone who was making this movie was thinking when they were filming it is a mystery. It's bizarre, silly, stupid, vulgar and idiotic to say the least. I loved it! Strange Wilderness has become one of my all-time favorite movies. When I rewatched it on DVD, I laughed uncontrollably for the duration of the movie. Do yourself a favor, put the kids to bed, turn off your brain and watch this movie. It's the best movie about Bigfoot and laughing sharks you'll ever see!


College Road Trip The concept of a G-rated Martin Lawrence comedy co-staring Donny Osmond was enough to get me into the theatre to see this one. Let it also be known that this film contains more taser jokes than any other movie in history. All in all, a good time at the movies!

Horton Hears A Who This was the first movie we took 2 year old Tanner to. He was really good and enjoyed this animated take on the Dr. Seuss classic. It's much more faithful to the source material than the other two recent Seuss films but with the flood of animated films over the last few years, I gotta say it was nothing spectacular. However, it's not a waste of time, either!

Superhero Movie Here I am again at the movies to see another Airplane! style spoof, this time of Superhero movies of the last few years. It borrows mostly from Spider-Man, but there's some X-Men and Harry Potter thrown in too. Superhero Movie actually tries to be funnier than just seeing how many other movies it can poke fun at. Leslie Nielsen is in the house, so you know it can't be that bad!

Baby Mama Even though Baby Mama is very funny at times, I was really disappointed that a movie staring two comedy giants like Amy Poehler and Tina Fey got bogged down with so much cliche' storyline. The idea of a upper class woman having a white trash gal for a surrogate mother is a funny idea. The twists and turns in the story were not funny and it all came crashing down with an ending you could see coming a mile away. Disappointment!

Kung-Fu Panda I was expecting something kind of different here, with all the internet buzz about how awesome it was. In the end, this was just another run of the mill animated film. However, my kids think this is one of the greatest things ever created and never pass up a chance to play Kung-Fu Panda, watch Kung-Fu Panda or read a book based on Kung-Fu Panda.

Get Smart This was my one big movie that I was really excited about seeing this summer. I'm a big fan of the old TV series and it's 1980 movie The Nude Bomb. I even like Steve Carell alot. Get Smart was funny and entertaining, but it was nowhere near the kind of funny Don Adams used to bring on!

Wall-E This little robot is the star of probably the best movie of the year. Wall-E's tale is so imaginative, engrossing and powerful that it was a rare moving experience for me. I can't say that many movies have made a big impact on my life, but Wall-E made me kick up my family's recycling efforts about 200%!

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Believe it or not, my first Indiana Jones film! Honestly, I didn't even know Indiana Jones was "a thing" until the third movie came out when I was in high school and everyone went gaa-gaa over it. Since my son, Elias, has the Star Wars gene in him...he also gets the obligatory Indiana Jones thing going on to. I took him to see it, because he was all hyped up about I. Jones. It has some good fight and chase scenes but other than that I didn't find anything special about it. Elias of course loved every second of it!

Star Wars: The Clone Wars I thought this movie would have been a whole lot bigger but it kind of sizzled out at the box office. My brother-in-law and I took the kids to see it...Elias was in full Jedi gear for the showing. I thought it was a really fun movie. It took some liberties with the Star Wars formula, but over all it's a really enjoyable film. Elias got the DVD for Christmas and I've sat down and rewatched most of it because it really is alot of fun.

The House Bunny First of all, I'm a huge fan of the super-silly TV show The Girls Next Door. So when they spent a whole episode plugging this movie, I was in. This was a rare night alone for my wife and I and even though she enjoys her movies with a little more Sandra Bullock, even she couldn't help but laugh out loud a dozen or so times at this lighthearted movie. It's bright, it's colorful, it's predictable, it's about a sorority house...all the things I look for in a movie. I'm looking forward to seeing again on DVD.

College What a creative title! Bob-Howdy, this was one funny movie! It's extremely vulgar and without a shred of originality but I don't think I laughed harder at another movie in a long time!

Space Chimps I was on Daddy Duty here, taking the kids to see this cartoon movie about monkeys in space. It has some good one liners and enough grown-up jokes to keep me awake. There was much giggling from my kids as well.



Beverly Hills Chihuahua Chihuahua wasn't near as stupid as the trailer made it out to be, and I was a little disappointed in that. Instead of the big splashy musical I thought I was getting, we get a fairly standard missing dog story. It was still pretty good and a worthwhile trip to the movies.



Igor Again, I'm here just for the kids. I was going to let this one slip by, but it was at the bargain theatre so I took the kiddies one weekend. Again, they loved it and I thought it was just so-so. It wasn't bad...but it wasn't good either!


Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa Not a real big fan of the first Madagascar (slept through it twice) but my kids think it's the funniest thing since the invention of the rubber chicken. Kudos for throwing my boy Alec Baldwin into the mix but points off for having 32 storylines and none of them going anywhere.

Bolt It's a sad state of affairs when the latest Disney animated film is just kinda run of the mill. It has some awesome action scenes, and the whole thing probably would have been a little more thrilling in 3-D but my kids "don't like the movies with glasses" so this movie was kind of flat all the way around.

The Tale of Despereaux I was strictly here for the kids. The image of a little mouse with a sword was enough to have Elias excited about this movie for months. Apparently, not nearly as good as the book...having not read the book, I was just bored!



We're off to see Marley & Me later this weekend.