Rise of the Guardians

Rated: PG (thematic elements and some mildly scary action)

  Chris Pine, Alec Baldwin, Jude Law, Hugh Jackman, and Dakota Goyo all play important roles in this family friendly film based upon the 6 book series by William Joyce. I was S.U.P.E.R exited for this film to come out to all theaters on Thanksgiving. In this film, the tooth fairy (Toothena), the easter bunny (E. Aster, A.K.A: Bunnymund), Santa Claus (North), and the sandman (Sandy) unite as one, to defeat the BOOGEYMAN ( Pitch ). But the four of them need a new guardian, and call for Jack Frost. As it turns out, all five of them were once normal people with normal lives, until the man in the moon (MIM) called for them to protect children, giving them powers and new bodys. MIM is only mentioned in the books, though. ( in the movie it is just the moon) I saw this movie in 3-D, which I thought would be very "pop-outie" but even my 3 1/2 year old cousin kept taking off her glasses- WOW. The sandman never talks, but communicates through sand images. Pitch did not seem to even frighten my little cousin, she just called him...."BAD!" The movie was very funny, and I rate it FINE for ages 4+!!
   *9 out of 10 thumbs up!*

Oz: The Great and Powerful

Rated: PG (sequences of action , some scary images, and some brief language) WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS!
 YES... another OZ film set for release March 8 2013. But this is NO remake, it is a completely different story from the Oscar Diggs (The Wizard) point of view. It comes to a point where Oscar must make a decision close to the one Dorothy makes in 'The Wizard of Oz'. He can own all of the treasure of oz, if he defeats the wicked witch of the East( Evanora), where as Dorothy can return home if she defeats a wicked witch (Theodora, the good witch of the south, until transformed to with of the west). This film is kid\family friendly, and I think it will be a box office HIT!! I read the book, so I know what happens. Don't be expecting any witches to die though, since they die in the wizard of oz (this takes place before Dorothy) The book was almost 200 pages, and talked about almost every part of the movie. Many things are WAY more clear, once you discover which witch is which! About 3 parts of the movie aren't in the book, which is a little upsetting. OK , saw the movie last night and enjoyed it so much, I think it was the best 2 hours of my life! It was a little jumpy 4 or 5 times, but other than the darkness this movie was family appropriate.
 *10 of 10 thumbs up* I think this film is appropriate for ages 9 and up ( as a woman is seen in pants and a slip, while rolling on the floor, that's about the only iffy thing)