The Muppets

"Are you one of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles?"

"Y-yes, yes I am."



The second movie we hit on our Thanksgiving day outing was the new Muppets movie. This film had gotten a lot of good reviews so I was pretty excited to see it. The boys and I had seen the Muppets From Outer Space on TV earlier that week so they kind of knew what to expect. They had not had much exposure to the Muppets. So after a lunch at Burger King, along with a bunch of other dad's taking kids out for lunch, we headed back to the theater.

The Muppets movie is about a new Muppet, named Walter, who grew up watching the Muppets with his older brother , Gary, played by Jason Segal. So, Gary decides to surprise Walter and bring him along on the 10 yr anniversary trip with his girlfriend, Mary(Amy Adams).

They head off to California to see the sights. They stop off at the Muppet Studios to find it run down and on the verge of being sold to a business man who wants to tear down the studio. Kermit has no choice to sell unless he can com up with a lot of money to pay for the studio. They go talk to Kermit and ask him to to get the Muppet gang back together to raise money to save the studio. What follows is a bunch of OK songs and some small laughs.

I though this film was OK. I don't know if it was the fact that it was the 2nd movie we saw that day or if just did not impress me. I thought the songs were mediocre and the story pretty predictable. My 7yr old asked me when it was going to be over when we were only half way through the film. It was good to see the Muppets on the big screen and like most of the other films it was just OK. After all the praise I was hoping for another Muppet Christmas Carol or Treasure Island, but ended up being under-whelmed. Still it is a piece of history and I'm a sucker for nostalgia.

5 out of 10.

Arthur Christmas

"I'm telling you it can't be done"

"Nonsense. That's what they use to say about teaching women to read."

I love Thanksgiving time for many reasons: The food, family, friends, starting of Christmas music and the release of seasonal movies. Like many fathers I was ordered to get the kids out of the house so mom could get some things done. What better way to get the kids out than to go see a movie, or two. So that's what we did. We hit our fist movie at 10 a.m. Arthur Christmas.

What a surprise this movie was. I figured this would be a typical Hallmark movie made into a cartoon. Santa's son needs to take over the family business blah blah blah and falls in love with the lonely widow with the adorable child. Well it kind of was, minus the widow part. Arthur is a young man who adores his father who happens to be Santa Clause. He works in the Letter dept. at the North Pole. He responds to the letters that children write to Santa. He loves his job and the whole Christmas scene.

Arthur has a brother named Steve who is next in line to be Santa. He is bigger, smarter and seems to do everything right. He has developed a new way to deliver presents. I loved the first 20 minutes of the movie when we see Steve spearhead the Christmas present delivery operation. It was genius. I was grinning from ear to ear. With all the success of the mission they find that one of the children had been missed. Arthur can not stand the though that a child could wake up on Christmas morning with out a present from Santa. Steve seems to be OK with his success and this small margin of error. Santa who is getting a bit older just goes along with Steve.

Arthur decides to tell his grandfather, Grandsanta, about it and they decide to take matters into their own hands. They break out the old sleigh and enlist the help of a new generation of reindeer. They set off to deliver the missed present with the help of a stow-away elf who specializes in wrapping that is determined to make sure the present is wrapped perfectly upon delivery.

Their journey turns into a comedy of errors. Grandsanta is a bit old and crazy which makes the ride more enjoyable. I really enjoyed this film. I would have to say that it is probably the second best film I've seen this year, following behind Super 8. It was fun and emotional. I would recommend it to anyone.

9 out of 10

L'illusionniste - The Illusionist

I usually get to add a favorite quote at the beginning of my review, but in this film there is never more than one word mumbled at a time. If there is it is in French and still mumbled. so consider this my favorite line "Okay."

The Illusionist is the one of the hand drawn, simple cartoons directed by Sylvain Chomet. He has also known for The Triplets of Belleville. This film is a genius blend of silent films and cartoons. It may seem a bit slow for kids, but the art is fantastic. There is also some humor in it that adults will enjoy. Many of the characters have an odd sense of dry humor to them.

The illusionist is about a man who works from job to job as a low paid illusionist. We see him do show in many small clubs in what seems to be England and he works his way up to Scotland to work in a Pub. Here he meets a young girl named Alice, who appears to be an orphan, working in the pub. He fascinates here with some tricks and as he leaves Scotland to hear to France, she follows him. They end of in Paris working and trying for a better life. There relationship is much like a father/daughter, or a Grandfather/daughter one. He works to take care of her and buy here nice things and she takes care of him too.

Their journey helps them grow as they use each other to fill the voids. This movie was great. I did not get to share all of it with my kids, but one day I will. I think they will like it as they get older. I'm excited to check out the rest of his films, such as Triplets of Belleville and the short The Old Lady and the Pigeon. Handrawn art has been shadowed by computer animation as of late, but with films like this we know it will be around forever.

8 out of 10