The Spiderwick Chronicles (2008)

Upon moving into the run-down Spiderwick Estate with their mother (Mary-Louise Parker), twin brothers Jared and Simon Grace (both played by Freddie Highmore), along with their sister Mallory (Sarah Bulger), find themselves pulled into an alternate world full of faeries and other creatures. Hilarity ensues when mysterious noises start to appear while everyday object start to disappear, the family blames Jared. When Jared finds a hidden room belonging to his great uncle Arthur Spiderwick, he finds Spiderwick's Field Guide and uncovers the fantastic truth of the Spiderwick estate and of the creatures that inhabit it.

Trivia: Film prints were shipped to some theaters under the fake title -- "Widow". The movie contains plotpoints from all 5 Spiderwick novels but most of the fouth novel is left out.

Okay, let me get this straight. You took 5 novels, right? 5 Novels to pull information out of, according to Amazon.com, 672 pages and all you got was a measly 97 minutes? What is up with that? You spend the money to invest in cutting edge special effects dozens of CGI characters and you can only come up with 97 minutes of movie? Yes, it is a children's movie but still, who said children's can't be engaging? Did you ever think that the reason children are all supposedly inflicted with very short attention spans is because we are forcing them into it? I have not read the Spiderwick books so I can only go with what I saw so I recommend renaming this movie The Undiscovered Country because that is what it is. There is a whole new world out there that looks really promising but you only get a glimpse. Like I said, there are literally dozens of fantasy characters but only 4 of them talk. The rest are basically soldier trolls that run around. Thimbletack, a little mouselike creature pretty much just shows up and with one or two sentences is excepted into the family so to speak. Hogsqueal is rescued by Jared Grace and the next thing you know, they are bosum buddies. And speaking of Jared. He finds the Field Guide left by his great uncle and 3 hours into reading it, he has a full and complete knowledge of this new world and can navigate through it easily. We get to a point where the hero's quest is revealed. Now we are getting somewhere, right? Adventure, perils, struggles? Nope. He pulls the book out, flips it open to a page in less then a second, reads some words outloud and poof, quest complete. Then there is Simon. He didn't even read the book and he can grasp the concepts and fashion pretty devestating weapons to use against the bad guys. That is pretty devestating to the bad guys, completely harmless to the good guys. Whoo Hoo! Oh yeah, there is a "Wait a minute, who are those guys and when did they come from" moment added in for good measure. If you want the wonder this movie provides AND prefer a good story, watch The Bridge To Teribithia. Way better movie.

Top 250: WALL·E (2008)

What if mankind had to leave Earth, and somebody forgot to turn the last robot off? After hundreds of lonely years of doing what he was built for, WALL*E discovers a new purpose in life (besides collecting knick-knacks) when he meets a sleek search robot named EVE. EVE comes to realize that WALL*E has inadvertently stumbled upon the key to the planet's future, and races back to space to report her findings to the humans (who have been eagerly awaiting word that it is safe to return home). Meanwhile, hilarity ensues as WALL*E chases EVE across the galaxy and sets an adventure into motion. Joining WALL*E on his journey across the universe is a cast of characters including a pet cockroach and a heroic team of malfunctioning misfit robots.

Trivia: The main character's name is actually an acronym, standing for Waste Allocation Load Lifter - Earth-Class. EVE stands for Extraterrestial Vegetation Evaluator and M-O stands for Microbe Obliterator. Most of the predominantly robot cast of characters (including WALL*E and M-O) are voiced by Ben Burtt through mechanical sounds of his creation. The film contains numerous references to Apple computers: -when WALL-E is fully charged by the sun, he makes the same "boot up" sound that Apple computers have made since the earliest Macintosh system -WALL-E watches his favorite movie every night on the screen of an iPod -The villainous Autopilot's voice is provided by Apple's text-to-speech system, MacinTalk -EVE's sleek design as an evolution of WALL-E's parallels the sleek iMac design having evolved from the boxy, beige Apple IIe. Steve Jobs, Founder, Chairman and CEO of Apple Computer, was CEO of Pixar until its acquisition by Disney in 2005, and as a shareholder and member of the Disney Board of Directors is still actively involved with the company. WALL*E collects numerous objects from the 60's-80's including a VCR tape of Hello, Dolly! (featured prominently in the film), a Rubik's Cube, and even an Atari 2600 with the game Pong. Despite the film taking place over 800 years after these objects were created, all the objects are still in working condition. The name of the ship that the humans are living on is "The Axiom." In logic and math, an axiom is something unquestionable or taken for granted. Director Andrew Stanton explained why he used excerpts from Hello, Dolly! in an interview: "When I got to 'Hello, Dolly!' and I played 'Put On Your Sunday Clothes,' and that first phrase 'Out there...' came out, it just fit musically... I finally realized, 'You know what, this song is about two guys that are just so naïve, they've never left a small town, and they just wanna go out in the big city for one night and kiss a girl. That's my main character.' And then my co-writer, Jim Reardon, said, 'You know what, he could actually discover an old tape in the trash, and that's how he got inspired by it, and it's a great way to show that he's got a romantic slant.' So we started looking at the movie, and when I found the other song, 'It Only Takes A Moment,' and saw the two lovers holding hands, I realized 'That's a perfect way for my main character to express the phrase 'I love you' without being able to say it.'"

I am sure that if you know me at all you know that I am a huge PIXAR fan so WALL*E was a very highly anticipated release for me. They just have a talent for telling a compelling story. From the very beginning you feel a friendship with this lonely little robot left alone on Earth for 700 years. His personality is quirky, his house is endearing and he has a cockroach as a friend, how cool is that. Then EVE shows up and you can sense the feelings that WALL*E has for her from the start. By the way, if you have never heard of Ben Burtt, I will bet you anything that you have heard his work. Ben Burtt is a sound designer, but not only that, he is an Oscar award winning sound desginer that is responsible for among many other things, the voices and sounds for the aliens and droids of Star Wars, the rumbling sound of the gigantic boulder in Raiders of the Lost Ark, and the sound of the lightsabers.

Classic Hilarity Ensues: A Look Back

Today I am reposting one of my favorite reviews ever. I had a lot of fun writing this one. Enjoy - Will P.S. be sure to try out my Super Duper Summer Trivia!

King Kong (1933)

Carl Denham, a film director famous for shooting 'animal pictures' in remote and exotic locations is unable to find an actress to star in his newest project and so is forced to wander the streets searching for a suitable woman. He chances upon a poor girl, Ann Darrow, and convinces her to get on a ship with nothing but men and sail around for at least six weeks with no stops at any ports and be in his picture by buying her dinner. I mean really, just because you buy her dinner doesn't mean you can...ahem, back to the story. The crew sails from New York with only Denham knowing the final destination. He is looking for a mysterious island that is not on the charts. It is Skull Island and it hides a secret, a beast known only as Kong. Meanwhile on the ship, first mate and dastardly devil Jack Driscoll starts to fall in love with Ann and Ann with him. Mmmm...first mate. Denham reveals this movie's theme, beauty and the beast. This is pre-Disney, so no talking teapots. The crew finds the island and land to find a politically incorrect inappropriate stereotypical native civilization performing a ritual concerning Kong, I swear one of the natives looked just like Buckwheat from the Little Rascals. The natives become fascinated with Ann, the "golden woman" and thinks she would be Kong's type, but the crew returns to the ship with Ann. That night the natives come aboard and kidnap Ann to become the bride of Kong, he has a thing for blondes, I guess. Kong is revealed to be an 18 to 24 foot tall gorilla, depending on where he is at the time, who takes Ann back to his lair for a little jungle fever. A rescue party lead by that cad Driscoll goes to search for Ann, but all are killed by Kong, all that is except that rascal Driscoll who is able to rescue Ann and return to the village. Kong, enraged that some guy would steal his wife goes on a killing spree of the politically incorrect inappropriate stereotypical natives. Denham is able to gas the giant ape and takes him back to New York for some fun. Dubbed "King Kong, the eighth wonder of the world" the great beast is chained to a stage with very strong "chrome steel." When Kong hears that his babe will be married to that scoundrel Driscoll the next day, he goes crazy. Hilarity ensues. Kong searches for Ann who in the mean time has gotten a hotel room with that wretched Driscoll. Kong finds Ann and tries to persuade her to return with him to the island. He says he will clean up the island for her and get rid of all those pesky dinosaurs and he would stop monkeying around with the boys and that they could have a good life together. Ann's answer? Scream. Which seems to be her answer to a lot of things. Kong, feeling boxed in with all the buildings and commuter trains running about, takes Ann to someplace more quiet so they can talk. He has heard the the Empire State Building has a magnificent view so he takes her there. In a classic case of police brutality, the authorities use airplanes to shoot and kill Kong, you know because if you watch Cops, domestic violence is never a good call to get for a cop. Denham then blames Ann for everything with the line, "T'was beauty killed the beast." Typical, blame the woman, if she hadn't been wearing the blonde wig, if she hadn't come on to Kong with all the screaming and the jiggling of her legs and her suggestive dress. That has been happening since Adam and Eve. So the moral of the story: If you gots the Jungle Fever, make sure she is down with it too, or you could end up as a bullet riddled corpse on a New York street, which, come to think about it, isn't that unusual.

Trivia: King Kong's roar was a lion's and a tiger's roar combined and run backwards. Close-ups of the pilots and gunners of the planes that attack Kong were shot in the studio with mock-up planes. The flight commander is director Merian C. Cooper and his observer is producer Ernest B. Schoedsack. They decided to play the parts after Cooper said that since they created Kong, "we should kill the sonofabitch ourselves".

Okay, so I had a little fun with the plot summary above. Everybody knows the plot of this classic movie. King Kong is one of the most recognized, if not the most, character ever created. The movie has had a major influence in film history. It was truely a groundbreaking movie. Movies like Wallace and Gromet: Curse Of The Wererabbit is still using the same techniques that Willis O'Brian used to bring Kong to life. King Kong was the first movie to really give a visual effect a character and identity. Kong comes alive. When we look back on it from our perspective, it is primative and sort of campy, but we still believe Kong is alive and we can connect with him. We still feel sad when he dies at the end of the movie. Not bad for an 18 inch puppet. The movie still stands up to today's mega visual effects movies.

The Adventures Of Rocky And Bullwinkle (2000)

35 years after their television show was cancel, we find our heroes living day to day in a deteriorating Frostbite Falls on the residuals from reruns. While in Pottsylvania Fearless Leader (Robert DeNiro, yeah, that Robert DeNiro), Boris Badenov (Jason Alexander) and Natasha Fatale (Rene Russo) hatch an evil plan to take over the world by brainwashing the poulation of the United States and getting the voters to vote for Fearless Leader. All then need is a cable television station. Check, they create RBTV (Really Bad Television). They need to get to America. Check, they dig a tunel. They need to become real and not just cartoons. Check with the help of a Hollywwod Producer that buys the rights to the Rocky and Bullwinkle Movie. Hilarity ensues when FBI Agent Karen Sympathy (Piper Parabo) is assigned to stop the trio in the only way they have every been stopped before, with the help of moose and squirrel.

Trivia: The Whassamatta University infirmary is labeled "J. Ward", a homage to Rocky and Bullwinkle creator, Jay Ward. This film was originally in pre-production in the early 1990s, with Danny DeVito and Meryl Streep set to play Boris and Natasha. Legal problems with copyrights prevented the film being made until several years later. The students in the film were actually real students of Chapman University, where part of the film takes place. June Foray, one of the surviving members of the original "Rocky and His Friends", who created the voice of Rocket J. Squirrel, does Rocky's voice for this film. She also recreates the voice of Natasha (when Natasha is in cartoon form) and her ubiquitous "old woman" voice from the old series as the voice of the narrator's mother. For the narration, Keith Scott is doing an imitation of the voice of the late William Conrad, who had been the narrator for the original animated adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle, "Rocky and His Friends".

It is pun filled, low brow, infintile at times and has a ton of movie cliches and doesn't take itself seriously. That is why it is funny. I will admit that I am not a die-hard Rocky and Bullwinkle fan (I don't go out of my way to watch it) but I will stop and watch it if I come across it. The thing that makes the Rocky and Bullwinkle series fun to watch is that it doesn't cater to one kind of kid like some, well, most of the cartoons of today. Any age could watch it and it would be funny. And in fact it is even funnier the older you get. Today if a cartoon isn't trying to teach a child some moral lesson it isn't worth making. This leads to boring cartoons. They are to generic, too politically correct, too something. I have no idea how kids can sit there are watch that stuff over and over and over again on DVD. Talk about brainwashing kids, there is something fishy there. Of course DeNiro did seem to have a pretty pained look on his face when he was delivering some of his lines (especially when he had to do the Taxi Driver monologue, "You looking at me?") and Natasha didn't have enough lines. I know Badenov is supposed to be the main villian but in the original series Natasha had the best lines.

And don't foget to take a crack at the trivia questions below. Have a happy Memorial Day Weekend. See ya on the other side.

Enchanted (2007)

Once upon a time in the kingdom of Andalasia, a beautiful young maiden named Giselle (Amy Adams) lives in a cottage in the forest. But before she can marry the dashing Prince Edward (James Marsden), hilarity ensues when Giselle is sent tumbling down a magical well - and finds herself in the non-animated, extremely disenchanted world of modern-day New York City. There, she befriends a cynical divorce lawyer, Robert (Patrick Dempsey), who isn't so sure that her prince is coming to rescue her. Giselle's spontaneous singing and fairy-tale demeanor enchant everyone around her as she waits for Prince Edward. But she's about to discover that love in the real world isn't always as easy as sharing a single True Love's Kiss - and that she'll need courage, spunk and maybe just a little enchantment if she's ever going to find her own happily-ever-after.

Trivia: The bus driver's hair is shaped like Mickey Mouse's ears, as well as the green pepper slices on the pizza Robert and Giselle are served at the Bella Notte restaurant. In the scene where Prince Edward is standing on top of a moving bus, billboards for Hairspray (the Broadway Production) and Superman Returns are visible. James Marsden, who plays Prince Edward, stars in Superman Returns, and the movie, Hairspray, based off the Broadway Production. In the scene where Edward is on top of the bus, the people riding on tour buses next to him laughing and pointing at him weren't extras, but actual real tourists. The actresses who provided the voices for three previous animated Disney princesses make appearances in the film: Jodi Benson (‘Ariel’ in The Little Mermaid), Paige O'Hara (‘Belle’ in Beauty and the Beast), and Judy Kuhn (Pocahontas). Also, Julie Andrews, who starred as the title character in Disney's live-action Mary Poppins, provides her voice here as the Narrator. Cathleen Trigg's character's name is Mary Ilene Caselotti. This is a tribute to Mary Costa, the voice of Disney's Sleeping Beauty, Ilene Woods, who did the voice of Disney's Cinderella, and Adriana Caselotti, the voice of Disney's first princess, Snow White in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. The law firm where Robert works is Churchill, Harline and Smith, the surnames of the songwriters from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Two of the elderly men dancers appeared together in West Side Story. One of the elderly men dancers appeared in Mary Poppins as a chimney sweep.

What can I say? As an admitted Disneyphile, this movie just called to me. I didn't get a chance to see it in theaters so it garnered a top spot on my netflix queue. What I love about it is how it can have fun with itself. It doesn't take itself seriously and how could it? Andalasia is pure Disney charm. Amy Adams works well as the out of place princess and you couldn't help but like her. James Marsden is hilarious as Gisselle's prince charming (um...I mean Prince Edward). Three of the songs were nominated for Oscars this year and each had the Disney magic behind them. The "Happy Working Song" is pure Disney (I keep saying that) with Amy Adams accompanied by pigeons, rats, and coachroachs (relax, it is actually pretty charming). "So Close", the romantic dance near the end was just beautiful. But it was "That's How You Know" that was the best. It was a full on production number in the middle of Central Park. It blended the fairytail feel with a live music feel if that makes any sense. Disney is at it's best when it isn't trying very hard to be anything else but just trys to be Disney.

Don't forget to send in your answers for this weeks quiz.

Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium (2007)

Molly Mahoney (Natalie Portman) is the awkward and insecure manager of Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium, the strangest, most fantastic, most wonderful toy store in the world. Eric Applebaum (Zach Mills), the hat collector, is known as a strange kid and has trouble with making friends. Henry Weston (Jason Bateman), an accountant, which is a cross between a counter and a mutant, is a stiff grown-up who doesn't really believe in magic. But when Mr. Magorium, the 243 year-old eccentric who owns the store (Dustin Hoffman), bequeaths the store to her, everyone takes the news pretty hard but the store seems to take it the hardest. Hilarity ensues as a dark and ominous change begins to take over the once remarkable Emporium.

Trivia: Dustin Hoffman went to Santa Monica City College where he dropped out after a year due to bad grades. But before he did, he took an acting course because he was told that "nobody flunks acting." Natalie Portman was discovered in a pizza parlor and was originally turned down for the role of Mathilda in Leon (1994) because she was too young.

First let me start off saying that I know this movie is meant for young children. It is definitely a family movie. The actor is solid but predictable. Nobody went out of their way to produce an Oscar caliber performance, but the movie didn't need it. There were solid performances all around. Natalie Portman was charming and quirky. She plays a piano and her music is utterly charming. Zach Mills played a steady young man. Jason Batemen was good as the Mutant. The toy store is the real star of the movie as the toys come alive and the store really seems to love playing with the children who come to visit it. And then there was Dustin Hoffman. How do you play an eccentric 243 year old magical toy mogul. Well, you fluff your hair around and talk in a funny loopy voice. It did get grating after a while. But then again, I am really not the target audience for this movie. If you have young kids, this will be a great movie for them. If you have older kids, you might want to think about it.

Seven Brides For Seven Brothers (1954)

Adam (Howard Keel), the eldest of seven brothers, goes to town to get a wife. He convinces Milly (Jane Powell) to marry him that same day. Music ensues. They return to his backwoods home. Only then does she discover he has six brothers -- all living in his cabin. Music ensues. Milly sets out to reform the uncouth siblings, who are anxious to get wives of their own. Dancing ensues. Then, after reading about the Roman capture of the Sabine women, Adam develops an inspired solution to his brothers' loneliness . . . kidnap the women they want! Hilarity ensues.

Trivia: The film was basically shot twice in two separate formats, the widescreen cinemascope format and the standard format. This was done so that the theaters that did not have cinemascope available could still see all of the movie. This required the action to be choreographed for both formats. Scenes for the widescreen version were shot in the morning and, for the normal ratio, in the afternoon. According to director Stanley Donen despite the fact that it cost more than the widescreen version to make, the other version was never used. MGM considered this a B movie - they had higher aspirations for the more expensive "Brigadoon". For this reason, they slashed the budget on "Seven Brothers", forcing Stanley Donen to use painted backdrops instead of location filming. The censors weren't too happy about the line in the song "Lonesome Polecat" where the brothers lament "A man can't sleep when he sleeps with sheep". By not showing any sheep in the same shot as the brothers, the film-makers were able to get away with it. Rehearsals for the barn-raising sequence took 3 weeks. For the brides costumes, designer Walter Plunkett went to the Salvation Army, found old quilts and turned them into dresses. Because there was no way of distinguishing between them and the Town Suitors, MGM decided to make all the Pontipee Brothers red-headed.

MGM was the studio of musicals in the 40s, 50s, and 60s. Only in a musical would a group of men be able to kidnap six girls and end up, well...I guess you will have to watch it. The dances were well done and very colorful, the barn dance sequence was fun to watch. Umm...what can I say, you pretty much know what to expect with an MGM musical.

Classic Movie Wednesday

Captains Courageous (1937)

Harvey Cheyne (Freddie Bartholomew) is a spoiled brat used to having his own way. When a prank goes wrong onboard an ocean liner Harvey ends up overboard and nearly drowns as hilarity ensues. Fortunately he's picked up by a fishing boat just heading out for the season. He tries to bribe the crew into returning early to collect a reward but none of them believe him. Stranded on the boat he must adapt to the ways of the fishermen from Manuel (Spencer Tracy) and learn more about the real world.

Trivia: Was the first MGM film to be shown on television, in 1955. Spencer Tracy was initially reluctant to take on the part of Manuel, mainly because he had to sing in several scenes and get his hair curled. His new curly locks provided a lot of amusement to his friends and fellow actors. Joan Crawford, for instance, referred to him as Harpo (after Harpo Marx, the curly-haired Marx Brother). This was one of the final films Lionel Barrymore made before his degenerative arthritis crippled him. The following year, he was hobbling around on crutches in Frank Capra's "You Can't Take It with You" (1938); after that, he was confined to a wheelchair for the rest of his life.

Welcome to a new feature on Hilarity Ensues. Classic Movie Wednesday where I will review a classic movie on, well, Wednesday. Now what is a classic movie? Actually, it is just an old movie and Old Movie Wednesday didn't sound as good. I am going to say pre 1990 (well I had to pick a year), and yes, I know that is not very old, but this way I can pick up some of the great 80's flicks, although most will be older. And now to this film. Spencer Tracy won the Best Actor Oscar for this little gem. Freddie Bartholomew was great as the spoiled brat with a machiavellian bent who has to come to terms with his mostly absent father. Tracy becomes a surrogate father to Bartholomew and really has some great scenes. The rest of the cast is also pretty high powered with Lionel Barrymore as the captain and Mickey Rooney as the captain's son. The movie still has relevance today with it's look at fatherhood and growing up.

Remember to get your quiz guesses in, I only have one so far.

Sleeping Beauty (1959)

When a new princess is born to King Stefan & his wife, the entire kingdom rejoices. At a ceremony, three good fairies - Flora, Fauna & Merryweather - bestow gifts of magic on the child. But an evil sorceress named Maleficent shows up, and because of a rude remark by Merryweather, she places a curse on the princess - that she will die on her 16th birthday after touching a poisoned spinning wheel. Merryweather tries to undo the damage by casting a spell that will allow the princess - named Aurora - to awake from an ageless sleep with a kiss from her true love. The fairies take Aurora to their cottage in the woods to keep her away from the eyes of Maleficent, and raise her as their own child, named Briar Rose. On her 16th birthday Aurora meets Prince Phillip, the son of a king whose own kingdom will soon merge with King Stefan's - and falls in love. Maleficent manages to kidnap the Prince and her horrible prophecy is fulfilled when she tricks Aurora into touching a spinning wheel created by Maleficent herself! Realizing that the Prince is in trouble, the 3 good fairies head to Maleficent's castle at the Forbidden Mountain, and spring the Prince loose. But the Prince soon finds himself up against Maleficent's army of brutes, and the power of Maleficent's evil spells - which include a thorn forest as thick as weeds around King Stefan's castle, and a fight against Maleficent when she turns herself into a dragon! Is the Prince strong enough to withstand the powers of the evil sorceress? Will hilarity ensues? (Well, this is Disney)

Trivia: Art direction for this movie was inspired by medieval painting and architecture. Live actors in costume served as models for the animators. The role of Prince Phillip was modeled by Ed Kemmer, who had played Commander Buzz Corry on television's "Space Patrol" five years before Sleeping Beauty was released. For the final battle sequence Kemmer was photographed on a wooden buck. All the live actors' performances were later screened for the animators' reference. When the fairies discuss how to help the king and queen, notice Merryweather magically create cookies, they are the shape of Mickey Mouse. Disney Studios has no record as to who provided the voice for the queen, Briar Rose's mother. Much of the musical score is based on Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's ballet "Sleeping Beauty". A flame thrower was used to create the dragon breath sound effect for the climax of the movie. Castanets were used for the sound of its snapping jaws. The elaborate background paintings usually took seven to ten days to paint. By contrast, a typical animation background takes one workday to complete. Second only to Dumbo (who didn't speak at all), this Disney title character has very few lines of actual dialogue throughout the entire film (well, she was sleeping from half of it). In fact, Briar Rose/Aurora says nothing at all in the film's second half. The Disneyland castle was named for this film, even though the park opened four years prior to the film's release. Princess Aurora's long, thin, willowy body shape was inspired by that of Audrey Hepburn. Briar Rose is the Sleeping Beauty's name the German fairytale. Princess Aurora is Sleeping Beauty's name in the Italian version.

Ah, Disney, for some reason I haven't watched a Disney film in a while so when my niece and nephew watched it this weekend, I joined in. What really struck me with Sleeping Beauty is the whole sense of art. The backgrounds are tremendous. They look like watercolors. Each Disney film has it's own visual style which is why they are so good. Maleficent is truly one of the most evil of Disney villians (why are most of the best Disney villians women?). I liked her design, she looks like the dragon she turns into in the end.

Bridge To Terabithia (2007)

Jesse "Jess" Aarons (Josh Hutcherson) comes from a poor farmer family with four annoying sisters, he finds no haven at school where he's teased by everyone. The only thing Jess has is running; after training all summer for the big race on the school athletic day, he and every other boy racing are beat by new girl Leslie Burke (AnnaSophia Robb). Like Jess, Leslie is teased by her fellow students, but unlike Jess she doesn't let it bother her. After a rocky start, hilarity ensues, they find common ground and together create the imaginary world of Terabithia as a haven from their struggles at school and at home. Leslie teaches Jess to open his mind to every possibility and leave reality behind. But, after a tragedy occurs, Jess must trust in what Leslie has taught him to help over come the horrors that reality can bring.

Trivia: The role of Leslie was originally offered to Dakota Fanning. The TV show that Jess' sisters are watching is "Hannah Montana", which is also produced by Disney. In the scene where Jess and his father are playing with the set of cars, the song on the radio is "You've Got To Keep Your Mind Wide Open", which is the song featured in this movie's music video, performed by AnnaSophia Robb. The original novel's content has been the frequent target of censors and appears on the American Library Association list of the 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990-2000 at number nine. The name of Terabithia, the imaginary kingdom, sounds very much like Terebinthia, a Narnian island, created by C. S. Lewis for both Prince Caspian and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Katherine Paterson acknowledges that Terabithia is likely derived from Terebinthia. "I thought I had made it up. Then, rereading The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C. S. Lewis, I realized that I had probably gotten it from the island of Terebinthia in that book. However, Lewis probably got that name from the Terebinth tree in the Bible, so both of us pinched from somewhere else, probably unconsciously."

First off let me say that I don't think Dakota Fanning would have made a good Leslie. Second, The fantasy sequences are great, but I don't think they really fit to well in the story. Yes, a great deal of the story involves imagination and creating this fantasy world by these two children, but Terabithia is more of a catalyst then a destination. Unlike Narnia, Jess and Leslie don't cross over to another world, it is all in their imaginations and it helps them deal with the real world. What I would like to have seen more is stuff like the scene in which Leslie reads her report about SCUBA diving to the class, as she reads about the wonderful undersea world, Jess imagines bubbles coming out of her mouth and fish swimming around, it is nowhere near the hyper reality Terabithia becomes and better conveys the power of imagination to me. It is weird, but I think it would have been better with a cartoonish fantasy world, but with computer graphics these days, you can't do that it seems. This story is really about the friendship forged between Jess and Leslie, two kids that didn't seem to fit in anywhere else. It is also very touching and heartfelt and I will admit I did tear up a bit near the end. Oh yeah, I almost forgot. The lovely Zooey Deschanel plays the music teacher. Ummm...music.

Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix (2007)

As another year begins for Harry (Daniel Radcliffe), at Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry so does the never-ending articles stating that he and Dumbledore (Micheal Gambon) are insane. As the ministry starts to invent new and malicious lies about Harry's account on Voldemort's (Ralph Fiennes) return, Hogwarts begins to change for the worse as the ministry sends in their cure for all the insanity, Professor Dolores Jane Umbridge (Imelda Staunton). Hilarity ensues as she begins to inflict her rules and regulations on the students at Hogwarts and they begin to find that with her as their teacher, they'll never be ready for the outside world. So Harry along with his friends decides to take things into their own hands and begin to learn magic the real way. As Harry starts having visions of terrible events happening within the Ministries very walls he decides to take action, leading himself and his friends into battle, ultimately teaching them what friendship, loyalty and sacrifice really means.

Trivia: The carpet in Professor Umbridge's office cost £50,000 to make. The character of Grawp was done by using a recent breakthrough in film technology, developed by Image Metrics, which allows a computer to map an actor's performance onto any character virtual or human, living or dead. The result is said to be far superior to standard hand-drawn computer graphics which are very costly and time-consuming. Evanna Lynch beat over 15,000 girls for the role of Luna Lovegood. The radish earrings worn by Luna Lovegood were actually made by Evanna Lynch.

Cool Beans. It was a very good movie. Watching it in IMAX was awesome. I like the amount of compression in it. The book at around 800 pages had an extremely large amount of material in it and for the most part the movie had only the essential elements to it, although you would be better off having read the book to get the subtleties. Since this is a new movie and most of you probably haven't seen it yet I am just going to present a few random thought (more random then usual). I really really like Tonks (Natalia Tena) but she is only in a few scenes. Luna "Looney" Lovegood (Evanna Lynch) was great. The scenes where Harry teaches Dumbledore's Army were awesome. Professor Umbridge was a great villian in her saccharine sweet evil way. Ginny Weasley is going to be a really powerful witch. Helena Boham Carter chewed up the scenery when she was on screen, but she wasn't on for long. The Weasley twins exit was fabulous. The Thestrals were creepy. Dudley Dursley has really grown up (we didn't see him in Goblet of Fire). Dumbledore's Army is really good at the Stupify curse. Neville Longbottom is coming into his own. The Ministry of Magic is pretty much the way I invisioned it, except for the black glass on the floor, walls and ceiling in the lower levels. You can tell if someone is good or bad just by watching them apperate, The bad guys apperate in a black cloud, the good guys in white of course. Now I just have to wait 7 more days for The Deathly Hallows to come out.

Harry Potter And The Goblet of Fire (2005)

Harry's (Daniel Radcliffe) fourth year at Hogwarts is about to start and he is enjoying the summer vacation with his friends. They get the tickets to The Quidditch World Cup Final but after the match is over, people dressed like Lord Voldemort's 'Death Eaters' set fire to all the visitors' tents, coupled with the appearance of Voldemort's symbol, the 'Dark Mark' in the sky, causes a frenzy across the magical community as hilarity ensues. That same year, Hogwarts is hosting 'The Triwizard Tournament', a magical tournament between three well-known schools of magic : Hogwarts, Beauxbatons and Durmstrang. The contestants have to be above the age of 17, and are chosen by a magical object called Goblet of Fire. On the night of selection, however, the Goblet spews out four names instead of the usual three, with Harry unwittingly being selected as the Fourth Champion. Since the magic cannot be reversed, Harry is forced to compete and brave three exceedingly difficult tasks.

Trivia: Mike Newell is the first British director the film series has had, he turned down directing The Constant Gardener to direct this film. Over 3,000 girls turned up at the auditions for the role of Cho Chang in London. Safety divers swam in with scuba regulators to allow them to breathe without having to surface. These scenes were shot in a huge purpose-built tank with a blue-screen background. Daniel Radcliffe alone logged around 41 hours 38 minutes underwater during the course of filming. At one point during training he inadvertently signaled that he was drowning, sending the crew into a huge panic to bring him back up to surface. Mike Newell originally decided not to have the make-up on Ralph Fiennes to give a more scary Voldemort. But he changed his mind after seeing a minimal make-up design by Nick Dudman. To complement the make-up, Fiennes shaved his head bald as well as his armpits. Stanislav Ianevski, who plays Viktor Krum, has only two lines in the entire film totaling 20 words. Katie Leung hadn't intended to audition for the role of Cho Chang. Her father had told her where the audition was being held and she decided to go before her shopping trip. Ralph Fiennes was not wearing any make up to cover his nose. In order to make the character scarier, film editors digitally removed it. Also, the "red, snake-like eyes" the novel describes were not added, due to the actor's thought that the expression in his eyes would provide a better idea of Lord Voldemort's insanity and malignity. The rock band at the Yule Ball is comprised mostly of members of Pulp and Radiohead. In the run-up to the movie, a Canadian folk group called the Wyrd Sisters filed a $40-million lawsuit against Warner Brothers, the North American distributor of the film, Jarvis Cocker from Pulp and Jonny Greenwood and Phil Selway of 'Radiohead for the use of their group's name. In the book, the band is called the "Weird Sisters" after the witches in William Shakespeare's "Macbeth" but was reportedly renamed the "Wyrd Sisters" for this film. Before the movie was released, however, Warner Brothers removed all references to either name for the band. Nevertheless, the Wyrd Sisters moved for an injunction in a Canadian court to prevent distribution of the film in Canada. This motion was dismissed by an Ontario judge. The animated hedges in the Third Task were based on Stanley Kubrick's abandoned idea for the hedge maze chase sequence in The Shining. "The Shining" was written by Stephen King, who is an avid fan of "Harry Potter" author J.K. Rowling.

You know, every time I watch this movie I go along and think , hmm, that's nice, gee, Harry gets to play the "well, I came in last but then I did something selfless so I get bonus points that ends up screwing Viktor Krum" card, oh, Mad Eye Moody is giving Harry insider information, hmm, that's nice Harry and Cedric are going to tie, HOLY CRAP! THEY LETS KIDS WATCH THIS? The last 15 minutes of this movie (and book for that matter) have some really mature subject matter, suitable for the PG-13 crowd but how many parents are going to tell their kids that "gee, sorry, your too young to watch Harry Potter. (Well, I guess if they read the book they know what to expect. This whole movie is dark, like the whole film was shot at night. We also get to see the kids become young adults and see them start to notice the opposite sex and all that adolescent stuff. The dance was hilarious, I would totally be Ron or Harry, sitting on the side scared to death to dance, but then again, I am painfully shy, which is probably why I am still single. Well, next up is the new one. I am really looking forward to this. Why you say? (you did say that didn't you?) Well, I am going to tell you anyway. I have decided to see it in IMAX 3-D! Whoo Hoo. I already have my ticket for tomorrow. Ain't the Internet wonderful, Each time I checked the times, yesterday and today, the rest of the day was sold out, and most of tomorrow was already sold out too, but I was able to get tickets for the time I was looking at online. Sweet.

Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban (2004)

Approaching his third year at Hogwarts, Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) has had enough of his muggle relatives. He runs away from them (finally) and enters his third term facing trouble from more than one side: for using magic outside the school and from the news that a notorious criminal, serial killer Sirius Black (Gary Oldman), has escaped the wizard's prison at Azkaban and apparently is headed for Harry. Hilarity ensues as the school calls in supernatural help against Black in the form of Dementors, but unusual things continue to put Harry in peril. He is thrown into a confusing sequence of shifting allegiances and shifting shapes where nobody is who or what they seem. Who is the real criminal? What is the real crime? Who is telling or knows the truth? If only he had enough time to figure things out.

Trivia: Emma Thompson accepted the role of Professor Trelawney to impress her four-year-old daughter, Gaia. After the death of Richard Harris, many actors were considered for the vacant role of Albus Dumbledore. Christopher Lee was in the frame for a while, and there was a rumor (reported in many newspapers) that Ian McKellen was also considered. The Harris family wanted Peter O'Toole to be cast for the role but O'Toole declined. Richard Attenborough also lobbied for the role but was ultimately turned down. Honeydukes "is floor-to-ceiling psychedelia" and includes Mexican skulls made of sugar. The cast was told that the Honeydukes candy was lacquer-coated, when in fact it wasn't, to prevent candy from disappearing between takes. The set for Honeydukes was previously used as Olivander's Wand Shop in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, and Flourish and Blotts in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. The tattoos on Sirius Black's body and hands are borrowed from Russian prison gangs. They are markings which identify the person as a man to be feared and respected. Alfonso Cuaron coached Daniel Radcliffe in one scene where the latter had to act awed: "Pretend you're seeing Cameron Diaz in a G-string". It worked. During the filming of the sleeping bag scene, director Alfonso Cuaron and the filmmakers played a practical joke on Daniel Radcliffe by hiding a remote-control-operated Whoopee Cushion in his sleeping bag. According to Cuaron, Daniel tried really hard to stay in character while everyone else was laughing.

So far this is the best of the three movies. The characters are set, the world of Hogwarts is well established and they can get down to truly telling the story. As I alluded to yesterday, the new style of Alfonso Cuaron is different from Chris Columbus who gave up the director's chair but produced this movie. First off, the kids are more casual and more of what I would picture a British school would be like, no robes but instead the kids get to wear dress shirts and ties. Second, Hogwarts is in a different, more rugged area. Hagrid's house is no longer across a small lawn, but rather down a hill. It gives it more of a feeling of the Scottish Highland then the first two did. Of course, I might be biased because I read the books, but the story in this one is very solid and I didn't see many errors even knowing about the time travel aspect at the end, there didn't seem to be any rough edges. The three main kids really help carry this one, (with the help of great performances by Gary Oldman and David Thewlis who plays Professor Lupin), they are really growing as actors. You can really see the dark turn that the series is headed for that will really get ramped up in the last four movies that will each feature deaths of major characters.

Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets (2002)

When Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) is visited by an impish creature who warns him that danger lurks at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry this year, Harry decides to ignore his warnings to not return to school. But when the non-pure-bloods begin to get attacked by an unknown enemy, Harry begins to investigate the strange goings on at Hogwarts, including: a new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher (Kenneth Branagh) who seems to be more in love with himself than his teachings, strange voices coming from nowhere and haunting Harry's footsteps, a new Slytherin Team Seeker who just happens to be non other than Draco Malfoy, and a depressed and sulking spirit who haunts the girl's bathroom. And, of course, the ensuing hilarity and the growing threat of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, who may just be the one planning the attacks. But, could he have an accomplice?

Trivia: Fourteen Ford Anglias were destroyed to create the scene where Harry and Ron crash into the Womping Willow. The "Let's just hope Mr. Potter will always be around to save the day" "Don't worry, I will be" dialogue was improvised by Daniel Radcliffe and Jason Isaacs. As Harry enters Professor Dumbledore's study, a portrait of Gandalf the Grey is included in the collection of the great wizard paintings. It is above the door-frame and slightly to Harry's right. While chatting with the Grangers at the bookshop, Mr. Weasley says, "I understand that other muggles are afraid of you." This makes little sense unless you know that both Hermione's parents are muggle dentists. The Weasley's car is a Ford Anglia. This is actually the same color and model car that author J.K. Rowling and her best friend from school used to ride around in when they were younger. She used the car for the book, and later the movie, out of her fond memories driving in it. The script originally said that Hermione would hug Harry and Ron in the final scene. As the then eleven-year-old Emma Watson was embarrassed about having to hug the boys in front of the entire cast, Chris Columbus allowed her to changed the scene so instead Hermione just hugs Harry then starts to hug Ron but the two get embarrassed and resolve to only shake hands. Watson also stated in a recent interview that she kept letting Daniel Radcliffe go too quickly, so the filmmakers eventually had to freeze the film for a few seconds to make the hug last longer than it actually did.

It is amazing how much the three main kids (Dan, Rupert, and Emma) grew up in just one year. They are also a little more comfortable in their roles in this one. The story in this one is a little different then the others. Voldemort isn't really a big part of the story (well, actually he is but he really isn't if that makes any sense). This film marks the end for Chris Columbus who directed the first two films. It also marks the end for Richard Harris as Dumbledore. Harris died shortly before the release. The style will change in the next movie without Columbus at the helm, but that is a story for the next film isn't it?

Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone (2001)

Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) is an average bespectacled 11 year old boy who has lived with the Dursley family ever since his parents died. For some reason the family has always mistreated him. On his 11th birthday a giant man named Rubeus Hagrid (Robbie Coltrane) hands him a letter telling him that he has been accepted as a student at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Harry learns that his parents were wizards and were killed by an evil wizard Voldemort, a truth that was hidden from him all these years. Hilarity ensues as he embarks for his new life as a student, gathering two good friends Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint) and Hermione Granger (Emma Watson) along the way. They soon learn that something very valuable is hidden somewhere inside the school and Voldemort is very anxious to lay his hands on it.

Trivia: Richard Harris only agreed to taking the part of Albus Dumbledore after his eleven year old granddaughter threatened never to speak to him again. Author J.K. Rowling insisted that the principal cast be British and she got her wish, with two exceptions - Richard Harris was, of course, Irish, and Zoe Wanamaker, though she has made her name as a "British" actress, is actually a US citizen. Other non-Brits in the cast include Verne Troyer, born in Michigan, USA, who plays Griphook (the second Goblin in Gringots' Bank) and Chris Columbus' daughter, Eleanor Columbus, who played Susan Bones. There was a huge media outcry in Gloucester, England when it was decided to use the local Cathedral for some of the Hogwarts scenes. Protesters wrote letters by the sack-load to local newspapers, claiming it was blasphemy and promising to block the film-crew's access. In the end, only one protester turned up. Among the portraits on the shifting staircase, you can clearly see a painting of Anne Boleyn, King Henry VIII's second wife and the mother of Queen Elizabeth I. Anne Boleyn was popularly believed to be a witch. The inscription around the Mirror of Erised says: "Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi". Reading the inscription backwards it says, "I show not your face but your heart's desire." The Hogwarts motto, "Draco dormiens nunquam titillandus" means "never tickle a sleeping dragon".

No, I am not going to go watch Harry Potter And The Order Of The Pheonix tonight at midnight when it opens in the U.S. because one, I actually have a job that I have to go to, two, I am not as young as I used to be, and three I am not crazy (or at least not that crazy). I plan on seeing it Saturday morning and hopefully by then the young kid crowd will only fill up 3 quarters of the theater. So I thought as a good way to get ready to watch it would be to go back and rewatch the first four (and report back to you, my loyal readers, what I rethink about them). So here goes. First off, how many of you noticed that I used the world wide title The Philosopher's Stone? That is the title used everywhere EXCEPT The U.S. (We aren't that dumb people, we could have figured out what a philosopher was. Of course, they did this for the original book also but we still could have figured it out). Did you know that they had to film each scene that contained the word "philosopher" a second time with the word "sorcerer". Pretty sad if you ask me. Anyway, I don't really remember if I originally thought the actors matched their characters but by now I can't see Harry, Ron, or Herminone as anyone else other then Dan, Rupert and Emma. But boy, they were young in 2001. We really have watched them grow up in the last 6 years. I also think it is pretty amazing that just about every secondary character is still being played by the original actors (except Richard Harris, but that was due to his passing away). All in all I think they did a great job creating the world of Hogwarts and the film is a very entertaining film. Well, it is getting pretty late and I have to work tomorrow so I will stop now.

Ratatouille (2007)

Remy has a dream of becoming a chef in a fancy restaurant in Paris, but there is a slight problem, Remy is a rat. This poses a problem until he is meet and befriended by Linguini the garbage boy at Gusteau's. Linguini has no talent for cooking. When Remy fixes a soup that Linguini has ruined everyone thinks he did it and he is promoted to cook. Hilarity ensues when Linguini (with Remy's help) starts to be noticed for his food and he starts to fall in love with Colette who helps him get started. Meanwhile Remy struggles with his family who thinks he should stay away from humans and be satisfied with the food they can steal. Will Remy, Linguini, and Colette be able to save the restaurant from a bad review by the infamous critic Anton Ego who could doom them with one stroke of his typewriter.

Trivia: The animation team worked alongside chef Thomas Keller at his restaurant French Laundry in order to learn the art of cooking. Mr. Keller also appears in a cameo role as the voice of a patron at Gusteau's. Michael Warch, the manager of sets and layout, holds a culinary degree. Several changes to the design of the rats (primarily the nose and ears) were made after Debbie Ducommun, a rat expert, brought down several of her personal pets for the art and animation departments to observe. To create a realistic looking compost pile, artists photographed and researched the way real produce rots. Fifteen different kinds of produce were left to rot and then photographed, such as apples, berries, bananas, mushrooms, oranges, broccoli and lettuce. To find out how to animate the scene where the chef is wet, they actually dressed someone in a chef suit, and put him in a swimming pool to see which parts of the suit stuck to his body, and which parts you could see through.

If you know me you know that I love Pixar. So some of you are probably wondering why I haven't reviewed Pixar's new Ratatouille yet. After all, it did open on Friday. Well, I was out Letterboxing with the parental units over the weekend and having a great time (the world is not just movies after all) so I didn't see it until last night. Wow, it was great. The story is heartwarming. The characters are entertaining. The voices aren't annoying. One of the things I like about Pixar films is that the story drives the movie and they don't stoop to adding pop culture references and highly recognisable voices. Let's take, for instance, oh, I don't know, Shrek The Third. It is a fun movie sure, but in 20 years will kids watch it and be able to get all the pop culture that is soprevalent in just about every scene. And Eddie Murphy and Mike Myers did great jobs bringing Donkey and Shrek to life, but you still sit in the theater thinking, hey, that's Eddie Murphy and Mike Myers. Ratatouille is different. It is classically told and the voices were picked to fit the characters and they do. I purposefully left out the names of the actors who voiced the characters in the ploy summary above because you can have just as much fun watching without knowing as you would by knowing. Another thing that I loved was the fact that Remy couldn't talk to Linguini, he had to gesture or tail slap or even sometimes bite Linguini to get his point across. All to many times in these so called children's movies, they resort to having the animal speak English. Although Remy does talk, the humans only hear squeaking. Oh yeah, Pixar's Paris is absolutely beautiful.

Shrek The Third (2007)

When his new father-in-law, King Harold (John Cleese) falls ill, Shrek (Mike Myers) is looked at as the heir to the land of Far, Far Away. Not one to give up his beloved swamp, Shrek recruits his friends Donkey (Eddie Murphy) and Puss in Boots (Antonio Banderas) to install the rebellious Artie (Justin Timberlake) as the new king. Princess Fiona (Cameron Diaz), however, rallies a band of royal girlfriends to fend off a coup d'etat by the jilted Prince Charming (Rupert Everett) as hilarity ensues.

Trivia: In total, its directors and art directors approved more than 5,000 characters for the film. Five actors from Saturday Night Live appear in the movie, two of whom are currently on the show; Mike Myers (Shrek), Eddie Murphy (Donkey), Cheri Oteri (Sleeping Beauty), Amy Poehler (Snow White), and Maya Rudolph (Rapunzel). Two members from the Monty Python troupe, John Cleese and Eric Idle provide voices that are used in this movie. Cleese has reprised his role as King Harold, while Idle provides his voice for the new character Merlin.

Thank goodness this wasn't another Spider Man 3. For any Shrek fans out there, this movie will not disappoint. Shrek, Donkey, and Puss head off looking for Arthur, but it is the princesses that steal the show. Snow White won the Fairest of the Land contest (apparently rigged depending on who you ask. Cinderella is an obsessive compulsive cleaner. Sleeping Beauty is Narcoleptic. Um...man there is too much to talk about and it will give away too much stuff so I am going to stop right here so you can get the full effect. Go see this movie.

Shrek 2 (2004)

Fresh from their honeymoon, Shrek (Mike Myers) and Fiona (Cameron Diaz) are invited to Fiona's parent's castle for a celebration. Fiona's parents are the King (John Cleese) and Queen (Julie Andrews) of Far Far Away. But there is just one problem, they don't know Shrek is an Ogre. Hilarity ensues as the kingdom meets Fiona's new husband. Among them is the Fairy Godmother (Jennifer Saunders) whose son, Prince Charming (Rupert Everett), was supposed to be the one to marry the princess. Meanwhile, the king takes matter into his own hands when he hires an ogre assassin known only as Puss-in-Boots.

Trivia: The Fairy Godmother was originally created for the first Shrek but was cut out and now featured in this sequel. The Fairy Godmother says, "What in Grimm's name..." - a reference to the Brothers Grimm who published collections of many fairy tales such as the ones used in the movie. The potion the fairy godmother gives to the King to make Fiona fall in love with the first man she kisses is labeled "IX", making the bottle "Love Potion Number 9". The entrance to Far Far Away closely resembles the entrance to the Paramount Studios lot. The Counting Crows song that plays during Shrek and Fiona's honeymoon montage replaced a track by Weezer which didn't quite fit to the timings of the visuals. When the Crows came on board, they however had to ensure that their new track did, as the visuals had already been locked down and couldn't be changed. Fiona's mother can be seen in bed reading a copy of "Kings are from Mars, Queens are from Venus". The crowd scene when Shrek and Fiona arrive at Far Far Away's castle involved over 600 animated characters.

There are some other spoofs of famous signs and stores in the background of Far Far Away:

• Burger Prince (Burger King)
• Olde Knavery (Old Navy)
• Far Far Away sign (Hollywood sign)
• Saxon Fifth Avenue (Saks Fifth Avenue)
• Romeo Drive (Rodeo Drive)
• Versarchery (Versace)
• Gap Queen (Gap Kids)
• Farbucks Coffee (Starbucks)
• Friar's Fat Boy (Big Boy)
• Tower of London Records (Tower Records).
• Baskin Robinhood (Baskin Robins ice cream)
• FFPS (US Postal)
• Barney's Old York (Barney's New York)

Take Shrek and add characters like the Fairy Godmother, The Frog King, Prince Charming, and Puss-in-Boots, plus lots more of the secondary characters that made Shrek so fun like Gingy, the Gingerbread Man, the three pigs, Pinochio and such and you get Shrek 2. It's just more of everything that made Shrek good. Then add dozens of new movie references that don't necessarily come from fairy tales but from pop culture and you have a hit. This is actually one of the few sequels that is better then the original.

Shrek (2001)

Shrek (Mike Myers) is a big ogre who lives alone in the woods, feared from all the people in the land of Duloc and he likes it like that. When Lord Farquaad (John Lithgow), the ruler of Duloc, exiles all the fairy-tale beings in the woods, Shrek looses his peaceful life and his home becomes a refugees camp and hilarity ensues. So, he sets out to find Lord Farquaad and convince him to take the fairy-tale beings back where they belong, and leave him alone. Lord Farquaad accepts, under one condition. Shrek must first go and find the beautiful young princess Fiona (Cameron Diaz), who will become Farquaad's bride. So, the big Ogre begins his quest, along with his newfound donkey friend (Eddie Murphy). But, as usual nothing is as it seems and you can tell a book by it's cover and a lot of other cliches you can come up with. Fairy tales will never be the same.

Trivia: Chris Farley was originally cast as Shrek and even recorded the dialogue. However, after his death, the role was given to fellow Saturday Night Live performer, Mike Myers. A remnant of Farley remains when Shrek uses "finger quotes" - a trademark of Farley's character Bennett Brower. There are 36 unique locations in Shrek - more than any other computer-animated film at the time. Computer animation production started on the project on 31 October 1996 and took more than four and a half years to complete. The principal actors never met each other. All read their parts separately, with a reader feeding them the lines. In Yiddish, Shrek means monster (from the German for terror or fright). In the fire scene outside of Shrek's house you see Papa Bear comforting Baby Bear... later, in Farquaad's castle as he is watching the picture of Fiona on the mirror you see Mama Bear as a rug, skinned and laying on the floor. Her ultimate fate, however, seems to be ok. She re-appears during the Video & DVD Karaoke scene, dancing with Papa and Baby. Over 1,000 fantasy characters invade Shrek's swamp at the beginning of the movie. Prior to release, the movie was viewed by DreamWork's lawyers, since there were concerns that Disney would sue over the movie's not-so-subtle satirical references to the company's films and theme parks. The scene where Princess Fiona burps was not originally included, and was written only after Cameron Diaz burped after drinking some coke during a recording session.

In anticipation of seeing Shrek The Third this weekend, I rewatched Shrek, and will rewatch Shrek 2 tomorrow. I love this movie. It is great. It's funny characters and not so subtle humor appeals to kids. It's irreverence and subtle references appeals to adults. The amount of references to beloved fairy tale characters and Disney is just mind boggling. I did catch something that I don't remember seeing before. I don't think I am giving anything away by saying that Fiona has a magic spell on her where she is a woman by day and an ogre by night. When Shrek gets Fiona out of the castle and he takes his helmet off (before we know about her magic spell) Fiona says that something is wrong and that "I'm not supposed to be an ogre." The "I'm" is kind of muffled so that it is ambiguous, but her mouth is saying "I'm" not "You're" which I assumed she said. It's one of those nice touches that you catch sometimes when you see a movie again.

The Jesus Film (1979)

Jesus of Nazareth, the son of God raised by a Jewish carpenter. Based on the gospel of Luke in the New Testament. Here is the life of Jesus from the miraculous virgin birth to the calling of his disciples, hilarity ensuing, public miracles and ministry, ending with his death by crucifixion at the hands of the Roman empire and resurrection on the third day.

Trivia: In the scene where Jesus healed the Gerasene demoniac by casting the demon into the pigs, the only way the crew could get the pigs to act crazed was to light firecrackers and frighten them. However, this is one of the few scenes which is not accurate to St. Luke's Gospel. In Luke, they ran off a cliff. The man playing the corpse of Jesus later became a seminarian because of the film.

According to The JESUS Film Project, The Jesus Film is the Most Widely-Distributed/Translated Film in History — Originally distributed in 1979 by Warner Brothers in theaters nationwide, the two-hour "JESUS" film is not only the most widely-distributed, but also the most translated film in history---with more than 950 separate language translations and more than 6 billion exposures globally, topping Oscar greats Gone with the Wind, The Sound of Music, The Lion King, Titanic, and The Wizard of Oz.

The JESUS Film Project has a very unconventional film distribution, they take the film and penetrate the most remote, dangerous places on earth through a massive logistical operation involving hundreds of staff and volunteers who tote generators, makeshift screens, and portable projectors to film showings, often to people who have never heard of Jesus and some who have never seen a film or TV.

I saw an Easter special about religion portrayed on film and they talked about this movie being seen by more people around the world then any other film ever. Well, I am a film buff. What kind of buff would I be if I had not seen the most watched film ever? It was very interesting to see what that world was like. The film makers spent five years researching the time period to represent it as accurately as possible and Jesus's dialog is taken strait out of Luke. But I think the most amazing thing about this movie is the whole JESUS Film Project thing. These volunteers take the film and a screen and a generator and speakers and travel into remote areas of the world to show this film. When they translate the movie in to a new language they take some pretty extreme measures. They have native speakers come in and translate the script, then they rewrite it as close as the can to the same number of syllables used in the film (without changing the message) so that the lips match the speech. Then when they are ready to record it, they use native speakers. Many of the people watching it have never heard outsides speak their language without accents. Now that is what I call dedication.