I am happy to introduce our first guest review by Ann Wilson.

Cory Monteith

Got your snack, comfy chair, and musical instrument? Great! It’s time for  Glee, everyone’s favorite underdog to triumph again in the ratings.

The season premier not only managed to live up my expectations, but pass them. Mind, I AM a teenage girl, so perhaps I did enjoy Finn (Cory Monteith)’s face more than the superb acting and splendid singing.

The plotline was as good as ever, reintroducing the characters and their respective problems, and how they’ve dealt with them over the summer (known to the rest of us as “rerun-land”). Quinn (Dianna Agron), the pregnant Celibacy Club captain, (oh, the delicious irony) regains her throne as Miss Popular by becoming a cheerleader. Racheal (Lea Michele) and Finn got together over the summer as Glee Club’s power couple. Old news, but the most interesting addition to William McKinely High was the woman football coach, Shannon Beist (Dot Jones) who is bullied by Sue Sylvester (the ever-hilarious Jane Lynch) and Mr. Shuester, the founder of Glee Club (pretty-boy Matthew Morrison). I’d feel bad, but Beist tried to siphon funds away from Glee Club into those human-shaped steroid cans on the football team. This is not how we do things here, Beist. Glee Club must have all the alumni money, or who will pay for Matthew Morrison’s hair gel?

Overall, I suggest it for 12 and up. There are some very mature themes that could prompt some questions for younger age groups, (“Mummy? Why are they dancing like that with but a tissue covering them?”) and some of the songs and language are a wee bit naughty. Plus, some of the jokes may fly over the heads of youngins.

I love Glee, and this episode certainly met my high hopes. If only Lea Michele’s character had been hit by a bus, it would have been perfect!

– Ann Wilson

Check out the pictures from the red carpet Season Two premiere.

If you haven’t jumped on the Glee bandwagon yet, or if you simply want to re-live season one, you can get Glee: The Complete First Season on DVD from Amazon or download Glee, Season 1 from iTunes.

Because the film is based on a series of books that I read, I expected Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’hoole to be rubbish. After all, ever since I saw Nickelodeon Pictures’ movie Maniac Magee I have dreaded book remakes. (That film was… inadequate.) But was it as bad in this case? Now I’m not as sure of that. The picture was based on the series Guardians of Ga’hoole by Kathryn Lasky. You heard me right. They completely changed the name. Weird.

The story, as one could guess, was not perfectly accurate. Soren, a barn owl, and his brother, Kludd are kidnapped and taken to “The Pure Ones”, aka St. Aggie’s – an orphanage where young owls are brainwashed into becoming soldiers. Soren escapes, along with an elf owl named Gylfie, but Kludd stays and becomes a warrior.

Along with a burrowing owl, Digger and great grey owl Twilight, they search for the Kingdom of Ga’hoole to assist the wise owls in their fight against the army of St. Aggie’s.

The book was a little different. But I kind of understand its adaptation, because the original story was much darker. For instance, Kludd pushed Soren off the tree, he was never kidnapped. Many characters died, and many deaths were gruesome, in other words, slashed throats, lots of blood, and so on. “The Pure Ones” and St. Aggies are two different things, and actually battled at one point. Either way, a bloody mess is not the best way to show a children’s movie, and what teenager would want to see this?

The 3D animation was, actually, quite beautiful, with every feather animated separately. However, I didn’t find many long, heartfelt sequences such as those made by Pixar or Dreamworks. And when they did want a long, beautiful scene, they relied on a slow motion shot every 20 minutes. And those were really just the really dramatic and battle scenes. Nor was the writing all that great either.

Age Recommendation: It’s a kids film. 6+.

Final Verdict: The animation was great, the writing, not so much. 6.5/10

Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’hoole was directed by Zack Snyder (who also directed 300 and Watchmen) and features the voices of Jim Sturgess (Soren), Ryan Kwanten (Kludd), Emily Barclay (Gylfie), David Wenham (Digger), Anthony LaPaglia (Twilight) and Helen Mirren (Nyra).

The movie opens today, September 24th. The soundtrack, featuring the new song “To the Sky” by Owl City, is available for download from iTunes.

Click to buy the DVD on Amazon

The movie Flipped (2010) is really OK for kids – in fact it’s about kids. It’s a romance about first crushes, though, so some less mature children may not like it. Personally, I loved it, but the really little kids may either not understand or be uninterested in it. The movie is based on a book of the same name, by Wendelin Van Draanen.

Flipped is set in a small American town and takes place in the late 1950’s/early 60s’. Second-grader Bryce Loski (Callan McAuliffe; Ryan Ketzner*) and his family move into the neighborhood, across from second-grader Juli Baker (Madeline Carroll; Morgan Lily*). Upon their meeting, Juli knows it’s love, but Bryce, being… well, a 7 year-old boy, is disgusted. It’s tough enough being the new kid on the block, but to have a girl chasing after you!…

As they go through grade school and junior high, their feelings for each other change dramatically.

The film is directed by Rob Reiner, who also directed the recently reviewed The Bucket List.

Again, it’s completely fine for kids… There isn’t even any kissing! Probably the most un-kid-friendly thing would be the Basket Boy Auction, but come on… it’s the 50s’!

Speaking of the 50’s, that’s where most of the music for the movie came from. And might I say, they are good choices! Some of the songs were “Pretty Little Angel Eyes” and “One Fine Day”. If anyone out there remembers those.  Click here to get the original motion picture soundtrack for Flipped on Amazon or Click here to buy the soundtrack on iTunes.

Flipped is currently on limited theatrical release in the USA. Click here to get Flipped on DVD from Amazon.

Age Recommendation: I want to make something clear. This is not just a place where I’ll tell you if it’s appropriate or not. It’s also where I’ll recommend if an age will enjoy it. And so, I recommend (but not limit to) ages 8+.

Final Verdict: And the verdict… For Best Rating of Flipped… Goes to… 9/10! *wild applause!* (Who ever said a reviewer can’t have fun?)

*Younger Counterparts

Click to buy the DVD on Amazon

This isn’t just another classic review, so you know. Life Is Beautiful (1997) is both a classic AND a foreign film. The original movie is in Italian, but it has subtitles and an English dubbed version on the DVD. Anyway, this movie is my favorite foreign film. And there is a reason for this. It is, indeed, a great drama, comedy, and romance movie about… Well, it can be split into two parts, really.

The movie is set in Italy and starts just before the beginning of World War II. It is about a young Jewish poet named Guido (played by Italian comedian Roberto Benigni). He takes a job as a waiter for his uncle. He falls in love with an Italian schoolteacher named Dora (Nicoletta Braschi) who is set to marry another man. I wish I didn’t have to spoil anything, but this was a subplot in a way anyhow. Eventually they are married, and she abandons the other guy. Sad, but still, just a subplot…

The majority of the movie takes place several years later during the war. Guido and Dora now have a young child, named Giosué (Giorgio Cantarini). Guido and his son, are arrested by the Nazis and taken to a concentration camp. Desperate to shield his son from hell, Guido convinces him that the whole thing is a game.

This movie is touching and a great watch. This is a good way to learn about the concentration camps in WW2, so teachers, try this film. It has no graphic violence, so it’s pretty age appropriate in that retrospect. It ends sadly, though, so bring tissues.

Age Recommendation: 8+, especially when learning about Concentration Camps.

Final Verdict: 8/10. Usually, I don’t enjoy foreign films. (I’m not racist or anything, it’s just an observation.) But this one is great!

Welcome to a slightly different type of review, a comparison. Today we will be comparing the classic TV show Get Smart and its movie remake.

For those of you younger guys who don’t know, the movie Get Smart (2008) was originally a TV series from the 1960’s. Maxwell Smart is a somewhat air-headed secret agent who works for Control, a secret spy agency, with his female sidekick, Agent 99. They battle an evil organization called KAOS bent on gaining power, taking over the world, etc. (This is indeed the show of bad puns.)

Click to buy the DVD on Amazon

The older members of our audience probably remember the classic TV series, running on NBC and CBS. Max was portrayed by Don Adams, Agent 99 was Barbara Feldon, and the chief was Edward Platt. The original “Cone of Silence”, as seen in a few episodes, was a huge contraption lowered over two people to soundproof them. Agent 99’s part was a weaker role, but she was generally more competent than Max.

Click to buy the DVD on Amazon

The new movie version of Get Smart is quite different. Max is now played by Steve Carell (star of TV’s The Office), Agent 99 is played by Anne Hathaway (star of The Devil Wears Prada and she recently played the White Queen in Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland), and the Chief is Alan Arkin (Little Miss Sunshine). The characters are now supplemented by a larger cast of supporting actors, including techies Bruce and Lloyd (Masi Oka & Nate Torrence), Agent 23 (Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson), and KAOS leader, Siegfried (Terence Stamp). Unlike the original,the new “Cone of Silence” is a high-tech, holographic thingy shaped like a cone.  Agent 99 has a strong female role.

The plot line of the movie features Max’s first real mission. After a nuclear attack on Control HQ by KAOS, Max and 99 go to KAOS’ Russian base to find out where they have been getting nuclear weapons.

All in all, I think the movie was able to put a form of variation on the series. It’s not entirely as much of a classic as the series, but is still just as fun an experience.

Age Recommendation:

Movie: Common Sense Media calls this 12+, but I can’t put such a limit on it. 7+, at the most.

Series: If the movie is hard to limit, then the show I simply can’t limit.

Final Verdict: Movie: 7/10 Series: 8/10