Family Movies

It turns out that monsters are more afraid of us than we are of them, according to the animated comedy Hotel Transylvania. Too bad that Monsters, Inc. already tackled this twist of reality ten years earlier.

Read FilmJabber’s full Hotel Transylvania movie review.

I grew out of love with Tim Burton long ago, in reverse correlation to the box office success the director has seen over the last decade. But it’s his smaller, more reserved movies that continue to impress me – Big Fish back in 2003, and now Frankenweenie, a stop-motion capture film that did little from a financial perspective but deserves recognition nonetheless.

Read FilmJabber’s full Frankenweenie movie review.

If you’ve ever wondered what those digitally transmitted theater performances that play at your local cinema are like, now is your chance. Director Andrew Adamson (Shrek 2, The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe) and executive producer James Cameron have pulled a trick to lure regular movie-going audiences to theaters to watch a stage production of Cirque du Soleil: Worlds Away – by adding glossy camerawork and 3D effects. The result is exactly what you’d expect: a good show, but one that is best watched live.

Read FilmJabber’s full Cirque du Soleil Worlds Away movie review.

Two family movies. Two great movies. Two films that share diametrically opposed box office performances.

Finding Nemo and Arthur Christmas were recently released to Blu-ray and DVD, the former in Disney’s Collector’s Edition packaging, the latter for the first time since its theatrical release last Thanksgiving. Finding Nemo is generally regarded as one of the best animated movies of all time, and it is also one of the highest-earning Disney movies over that same period (all time). Arthur Christmas, meanwhile, was widely disregarded by audiences and bombed at theaters.

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As harmless as a veggie sandwich but only as satisfying as one, The Odd Life of Timothy Green is about a sterile couple who accidentally grow a veggie boy in their garden to raise as their own. The movie could easily be a horror film, but it’s actually a feel-good family film. Odd indeed.

Read FilmJabber’s full The Odd Life of Timothy Green movie review.

Santa Claus. The Tooth Fairy. The Easter Bunny. And… Jack Frost??? Children love the jolly fat man who breaks into their homes to bring them presents, the creepy gnat that sneaks into their rooms at night, watches them sleeps and then steals their teeth in exchange for money and the animal that poops out tasty, chocolate-filled eggs for their consumption. Little attention is ever paid to the guy who causes snow days.

Read FilmJabber’s full Rise of the Guardians movie review.

Little kids like video games. Their parents grew up playing video games. How on earth did it take until 2012 for a movie about video game characters to hit theaters? Disney’s Wreck-It Ralph is one of the most entertaining and funniest animated movies I’ve seen in a long time, and I can’t even fathom a single child who will not be enthralled by the picture.

Read FilmJabber’s full Wreck-It Ralph movie review.

As if trying to escape the stench of the previous film, which was as awful as animated movies come, Alex, Marty, Melman, Gloria and their other furry friends spend all but a minute in Africa before fleeing to Monaco in Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted, because apparently it’s much easier to get back to civilization than the first two movies indicated. Plot issues aside, the third entry in the popular franchise is a fun adventure the whole family will enjoy.

Read our Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted movie review.

Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted parades onto DVD and Blu-ray on October 16, 2012! Alex, Marty, Gloria and Melman are still fighting to get home to their beloved Big Apple. Their journey takes them through Europe where they find the perfect cover: a traveling circus, which they reinvent - Madagascar style.

We’re giving away two DVDs – all you have to do is enter now!

A cat burglar steals a necklace and a cat puts the police on his trail in the entertaining and imaginative cartoon A Cat in Paris, an Oscar-nominated animated thriller that defies expectations and pleases on all the right levels. With a running time of only 62 minutes, it’s also an extremely quick watch.

Read FilmJabber’s full A Cat in Paris movie review.

Zany in more ways than one, Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax is a fun animated film that kids will love and parents will appreciate, unless you hate the environment. With a heavy handed message about nature and big industry and questionable musical numbers, The Lorax isn’t perfect, but is consistently enjoyable.

Read FilmJabber’s full The Lorax movie review.

Even after all this time, we’re [thankfully] not quite ready for a Wizard of Oz remake, but that’s not stopping Sam Raimi for directing the colorful Oz Great and Powerful, about a small-time circus magician named Oscar (James Franco) who is swept by – you guessed it – a tornado into the fantastical Land of Oz.

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