Bonus Review: Journey 2: The Mysterious Island

Journey 2: The Mysterious Island

Genre: Action, Adventure, Comedy

General Gist: A boy and his stepfather travel to a mysterious island in search of his long lost grandfather.

Main Players: Dwayne Johnson, Michael Caine, Josh Hutcherson, Vanessa Hudgens

Deb's Take:

So, my 11 year old son was feeling a little like the "middle child" over the last few weeks. He seemed a little down on school, was feeling sandwiched between his sisters and their attention and I decided sometimes a mom's just got to put priorities in line. So I picked him up from school at lunchtime and told him we were going to a movie. I let him get any snack he wanted, and he picked to go to he 3D version of this movie. So, based on the circumstances, me in the middle of the day, in the middle of the week, with my middle child, and all the snacks we could every desire, how could this movie even begin to disappoint ;) Well, it didn't. I didn't see the first movie, "Journey to the Center of the Earth", but my son did, and he was pretty excited about this one. The movie lacked a little development, for me as an adult, but I think it was perfect to keep the attention of my 11 year old. There were some super funny parts, (one quote got my son giggling like a little girl) and also some meaningful moments. The 3D version was pretty cool, although I don't know that it is necessary to get the full effect though. I really enjoyed the creativity of the storyline and the action as well. This movie would have been great for my younger daughter too..It's PG appropriate! The experience with my son was the best though!

Deb's Rate: Matinee..especially if you are seeing the 3D version, it will still cost you a little more.

Week 11: Beastly

This week we say "Beastly". Basically it was a modern day, teenager based "Beauty and The Beast" I didn't realize we were seeing a movie with the same main actor from last week, Alex Pettyfer. It also starred teenage actor Vanessa Hudgens.

The movie itself reminded me of a T.V. Disney Movie. I felt like it was pretty disconnected and "gappy" as far as jumping from scenerio to scenerio. Kind of like there was a place for commericals, but none inserted.

As far as the acting, I do think Alex is a pretty good "new" teenage heart throb, and Vanessa Hudgens is a good teen actor as well. They did good in their parts. Mary-Kate Olsen was too off and freaky for me. I also like the parts played by Neil Patrick Harris and Lisa Gay Hamilton. I sort of wished their characters were more prominent. I like Neil Patrick Harris' sense of humor, although I wasn't too convinced of the blindness.

All in all this is a good movie for those pre-teen and teenagers. The movie was very age appropriate for my 13 year old daughter and I liked the message it was sending, as the whole "Beauty and the Beast" moral goes.

Don't forget we are drawing for our winners for a book and 2 movie tickets, there is still time to vote!

See you next week

Week 11: Beastly

This week we saw the movie Beastly.  I had no idea going into this movie that it was basically a modern day version of Beauty and the Beast.  I didn't realize it until Deb said something about it after the movie.  I really need to become more observant. 

To start out with this movie had Alex Pettyfer.  He was the hot teen alien in last week's movie, I Am Number Four.  Strange since I had never heard of him before and now I'm seeing movies back to back with him in it.  I guess that's what happens when you go to movies every week.  He was okay in this movie.  Maybe a little awkward.  I definitely liked him better last week.  But in his defense I liked last week's movie better anyway.

As I said, this was a modern day twist to the old Beauty and the Beast story.  Since I didn't realize that until the end it made the movie seem random, with way to many holes in the story.  Kyle, played by Alex Pettyfer, is this rich, good looking kid who believes only the outside makes someone beautiful.  This crazy witch-like girl played by Mary-Kate Olsen makes him ugly and says he has to find true love within a year or he'll stay that way.  Vanessa Hudgens plays the girl he falls in love with...yadda yadda.  You know the rest of the story. (Honestly, how didn't I know this was Beauty and the Beast?)  This movie played like a book remake in the sense that you felt like you were missing pieces of the story.  And if you didn't know it was a Disney remake you probably were.

I really like good edgy remakes of old classics.  Like Romeo and Juliet with Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes.  One of my favorites.  But this one fell way short for me.  There wasn't much of it that worked.

To Sum it up: Weird, disjointed and just not there.