Disfans

What do you suppose I purchased at Super Target today? It’s obviously a DVD…

Yes, that’s right, it’s ….

Ratatouille!

(I know I look like I’m not thrilled, but I really am! Just fiddling with the camera…)

I knew it was coming out soon, but seriously, I’ve had my mind on so many family related issues right now, I’ve just had my nose to the grindstone and haven’t looked up in a while. I was at SuperTarget today, picking up at the pharmacy, and I glanced up and saw the happiest little boy in his mother’s shopping cart, and he was holding a Ratatouille box. No wonder he was happy!

My eldest daughter was with me, and struck up a conversation about the movie with him. He informed her that they had the DVDs in the very store we were standing in and she should get a copy. I agreed with his sentiment wholeheartedly, and as you can see, I snatched up a copy.

If you recall, I shopped around a bit for my copy of The Jungle Book, but this time, I just pounced. $15.99 is a pretty good price for the movie, and Target has an “Exclusive Bonus DVD” with deleted scenes, etc. Kind of like the normal second disc you get with 2 disc sets. I’m glad I got it at Target, though, because as I noticed from the discussion on the MiceChat forums, the second DVD isn’t included at other stores.

I’m going to keep my eye out for the Pixar Shorts DVD coming out very soon as well.

In case you missed it before, here’s my original review of Ratatouille. I’ll put up a review of the various DVDs and their special features, coming soon.

In honor of Meet the Robinsons, on DVD today, I’m reprinting my original review. This was from the 3D screening at our local theater. Enjoy the movie!!

I brought my kids (girl age 12, and boy age 8 ) to see the movie with some trepidation, having read a few reviews of this movie online, I had heard it suffered some from too many cooks syndrome, having so many writers.

We got there early to avoid crowds and make sure we got choice seats. There is nothing worse than trying to find a seat in a crowded theater in the dark, with 2 kids, popcorn and drinks. As a consequence of our early arrival, we didn’t receive 3D glasses, before we sat down. I hoped we’d soon find out why.

Other people arriving asked the same question, as they arrived laden with snacks, and one gentleman finally went out to find that later arrivals were getting their glasses on arrival. Soon a theater employee came in with an armful of 3D glasses.

Black horn-rimmed style glasses, which reminded me immediately of my father’s glasses, and a standard “Do not use as sunglasses” warning on the plastic overwrap. I was quite glad to see we all got fresh new pairs of 3D glasses and that they were not paper. These were sturdy plastic, and not uncomfortable to wear.

After the standard previews, we were treated to a visit by the Robinson’s robot, advising us to put our glasses on. A preview for The Nightmare Before Christmas in 3D (which my 8 year old boy found “scary”), was then followed by a Donald Duck short, which we are told was originally produced by Disney in 1953 as a 3D cartoon. “Working for Peanuts”, was a cartoon I had seen many times on television before, but I had never seen it in 3D, and had no idea it was originally produced that way.

Finally to the main feature. After all those previews, preliminaries and the cartoon short, it was finally time to see the movie.

I immediately took to the main character, Louis . He is the traditional Disney orphan, an endearingly sweet nerd who invents things in his room at the orphanage, while trying to get adopted. Its not going so well. He gets a brilliant idea for an invention to help him find his real Mom. It seems like a familiar theme for a Disney movie, with a sweet little orphan child looking for their parent, and maybe that’s why I sort of felt weary at this point. When the action begins, and Louis meets the protagonist, Wilbur, the movie took off for me.

I was anticipating a story that was confusing, with so many writers, but I found it easy to follow and very entertaining. My children loved it. Rather than a standard Disney adventure, with a problem and a resolution and happy ending, this was a rather convoluted story, with complex ideas and many characters. There were a LOT of characters to keep track of but I didn’t feel confused or befuddled even though I thought that some of their appearances were a bit fleeting. I thought the kids might have difficulty following this kind of “sci-fi” idea, but they got it, and enjoyed it. It was a very basic science fiction story, not that complex, but just enough of a twist on reality to make an enjoyable story. I’m not sure that smaller children would get it, but I might be wrong, my kids seemed to have no trouble with the idea. The basic idea of family and people who love you makes it easier to understand.

The message of the movie, “keep moving forward” is a great one, and I found it to be a refreshing one. I have been to a lot of kid movies, and the ones that try to give the kids a message are very annoying to me. The best way to ruin a movie, is to stop the action, or sabotage the cuteness and put a heavy message into it.

Meet the Robinsons puts a positive idea into a movie for kids, doesn’t preach it too hard, and makes an enjoyable story out of it. I really liked this movie, and the kids did too. We all enjoyed ourselves and I would love to buy this movie when it comes out on DVD. We laughed and yes, I teared up at the end, and then I teared up again when my son told me his favorite part was the end. I can’t tell you what happens, because that would ruin it for you.

I would recommend this movie to anyone. Even people who don’t have children might like this movie. We can all use a reminder to not let failure drag us down, and keep moving forward.

I threw out my back today people. Thank goodness for The Jungle Book, that I picked up at the Walmart. (sadly, it did not come with the free bookmark I saw online yesterday). DVD Decision

Tonight I just plopped the kids in front of The Jungle Book and threw pizza at them while I sat and rested my back.

I just need to tell y’all about the Enchanted preview. My kids were really excited about this one. We watched the preview a couple of times, because they laughed uproariously at it. Bonus… it opens on my daughter’s birthday. They immediately decided it was a must see. In my opinion, anything with Patrick Dempsey in it, that I can take the kids to, is a plus for me. Our first impression is that this will be a fun movie to see as a family.

Here’s a link to the Disney webpage, that shows the trailer. Enchanted

We enjoyed The Jungle Book immensely. I remember all the songs from the movie, because we had the soundtrack record when I was a kid. (yes, record. I’m THAT old.) But, I don’t think I ever saw the whole movie all at once, just clips here and there on TV when I was a kid. So much fun, and the kids loved it too. They were really entertained, and my daughter recognized small bits from the Kipling version. Thumbs up from the kids.

We haven’t played with the “special features” yet, but I think that the movie itself was well worth the $14., even with no “special features”.

Yes, I know I promised to continue with my trip to Disney, but I hurt my back, and I’ve been lazy today. I have just a little more to do on my Top Ten, and then we’ll get on with it.

Please excuse this little side tangent, I will resume telling you about my trip to Disney tomorrow. I’m putting together a Top Ten list for California Adventure, and then we’ll move on to the story of my visit to Disneyland, which I know all 12 of you readers are dying to get to.

Well finally… The Jungle Book is out on DVD, in a 2 Disc 40th Anniversary Platinum Edition, no less. I want to purchase this movie, because I’m certain my son will love it, I will love it, and my daughter actually read Kipling’s Jungle Book this past summer, so she may get something from it as well. Since the Disney version covers just a very small part of Kipling’s work, and in true Disney fashion, isn’t all that true to the book, all she’ll probably get from the movie is entertainment. However, I’m totally fine with that.

All of that is aside from the fact that it’s a Disney movie that I don’t currently have, and must possess. It’s an annoying fact that my children are continuing to grow up and leave me with fewer and fewer “real” excuses to buy the movies. I’ll finally have to fess up that I enjoy watching Disney movies and Mickey cartoons, won’t I?

Now, I’m not an idiot, I want to get the best price for the thing. I saw that my local SuperTarget has the DVD, of course… at $16.99, and I get a $5 gift card with my purchase. Tempting. Walmart Online tells me that I can have this item for $14.87 plus shipping, and… I get a free … bookmark. What? A book..mark? They realize that this is a Movie, not a book, despite the word “book” in the title? Wow. That hurts, it really, really does. I grabbed a screenshot of this, in case you don’t believe me.

The bookmark reads: “Bloomin’ In The Jungle, Help Plant the Seeds to Beautify the Environment. Brought to You By Walmart and Disney, Walt Disney’s The Jungle Book: 40th Anniversary Edition, Avilable on DVD, October 2.” Sorry, that’s lame. I’m so not paying shipping to get a free bookmark, that reads like it was supposed to be a pre-sale promotional giveaway.

But the price is good. I’m not making a special trip to Walmart to save $2.12, even if it does come with a free bookmark, but I might grab it while I’m there doing my food shopping. (which the hungry, and constantly eating monsters that I live with tell me should be soon)

I checked out Amazon, just to make sure they weren’t running some super awesome deal. Nope. $14.99 seems to be the price there, and I’d have to pay shipping, because this item only “eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25.” If I buy it with the pre-release of Ratatouille, the price is $30.99. Hm… I’m tempted, but decide I’ll drive to the store I have to visit anyway, and pick up the movie. I’ll have it in my hands right away, and chances are, when Ratatouille comes out, there will be some good deals on it as well.

Now I notice that all of these places have claimed a pretty hefty discount percentage, saying 50% off “List Price” of $29.99. I wonder if any place is selling the DVD for $29.99. After a little clicking around on the internet the most expensive price for the same DVD is $23.99 on Blockbuster’s site. Everyone seems to have marked this down from the original “list price”.

I thought, surely Disney must be selling it for the “List Price” of $29.99, they must have set that price for some reason. But no. Check it out. Disney has this item for sale at $19.99 on it’s Disney shopping.com. It doesn’t look like it comes with any free bookmarks either, but it does say Free Shipping on DVDs and Blu-ray Discs. wahoo. I think I’ll go to Walmart and do some food shopping and pick up my DVD, or I just may run out for milk and bread at Target and get the DVD withthat $5 gift card.

My words of advice here are, don’t believe that SALE!! 50% off List Price!!! sticker you see everywhere. If you shop around, you’ll see the same item for practically the same price everywhere. Its my personal opinion that List Price is for rich folk, and suckers who don’t pay attention. If you happened to be in Blockbuster to return some rentals, and purchased a movie for $23, when you could have purchased the movie at Walmart for $14, then you are either a)Paris Hilton, who doesn’t shop at Walmart (does she know there are Walmarts out there?) or b) you don’t pay attention to small details like where your money is going. (you know there are Walmarts don’t you?)

I understand that some people are opposed to Walmart. You can still shop at Target or even barring that, shop online at Amazon or Disney’s own site, can’t ya? There’s no reason to just throw money away, even Disney doesn’t expect anyone to pay anywhere near that list price for this movie.

Author’s Note: I try not to give away spoilers or ruin the movie, but there are some scenes and plot points I will discuss that I feel are important if you are bringing a child to this movie. I hope that this will not ruin your enjoyment of the film. If you don’t want to be spoiled, skip down to my final paragraph.

My initial reaction when I heard about this film was probably the same one that most people over the age of 18 or so had when they thought about a film starring a rat that cooks. I was disgusted. Rats are revolting creatures that carry disease and the rumor of a single rat in a restaurant kitchen is probably enough to ruin that restaurant. I couldn’t imagine how even the mighty Pixar could turn that into a cute feature film for families.

I watched a few film clips on the Moviefone site, and on the Disney site (see my previous entry), and I started changing my mind. The film looked great, the actors sounded great. I showed a clip to my children (girl age 12, and boy age 8  ) and they were enthusiastic about going to see it. We made plans to go see the movie on opening day, Friday June 29. I was actually looking forward to it, having taken the same 2 kids to see Shrek the Third a week previously, I felt that this movie would probably be much better.

I have been a fan of Pixar since Toy Story came out on video, and my kids wore out the VHS tape. The only Pixar/Disney film I haven’t seen is Cars. My whole family has seen and loved The Incredibles, directed by Brad Bird, who is the director of Ratatouille. Therefore, my anticipation for this movie, after I watched a few clips, was pretty high. I felt confident that if Pixar could make me believe in Woody and Buzz, they could charm me with a rat who cooks.

Before heading to the theater, I had a brief conversation with my 5 year old niece. I told her we were going to see Ratatouille, thinking that if she was interested, I would invite her along. Her mother had taken her to a Sneak Preview a couple of weeks prior to opening day, but I thought she’d like to go with her cousins if she enjoyed the film. Her review was as follows: “You won’t like it.” Stern frowny face, arms crossed over chest. If she had been standing, she would have stamped her foot. Niece’s mom explained, there is a scene where Remy’s dad tries to convince him that humans really have it in for rats, and shows him a shop window full of rat poison and dead rats, which really bothered my niece. She didn’t understand why something like that would be in a kids’ film, and I kind of agreed with her. I decided that at 8 and 12, my kids could probably handle that level of scariness.

I won’t lie to you and say I headed off to the theater confidently with my kids in tow. I was reasonably sure my 12 year old would be just fine, but I wasn’t sure about the 8 year old. He’s a pretty sturdy rough and tumble kid, but he has a sensitive side, and I didn’t want him to be worried or frightened by the film. Then I got a grip, and reasoned that Pixar, unlike other film studios, hadn’t let me down yet, and I’m a good parent, I should be able to handle my son’s concerns, if he had any.

I really enjoyed the film, ick factor and all. There were points during the movie where I turned to my 12 year old and said “that’s just gross” or “now they have to throw all that food away”, but her reaction was “Mom! He’s so cute!” So I don’t think the feeling was mutual. The kids seemed more able to turn off that “ick factor”. There is no blatant grossness like you would find in a lot of films put out for kids today, other than rats eating garbage and even that was only mildly gross in comparison with some other kids’ films I’ve been forced to sit through. (*cough* Shrek*cough*)

The scenery and animation are beautiful, and well up to the Pixar standard. Its all so detailed you really do feel like you are there with Remy and Linguini. I want to see it again just to look at all the beautiful scenes of Paris, and the detail of Gusteau’s kitchen is fantastic.

***Possible Spoilers in the next 2 paragraphs, don’t read if you don’t want to know*** (more…)

At first I wasn’t that excited about this movie. Its about a RAT. ew. Lets face it, rats are disgusting, revolting creatures. I didn’t think Remy was that cute.. he seemed to be a bit more realistic than cute. But I just watched a trailer from Moviefone.com (scroll down and click on Clip No. 1 to see what I saw) and I think I’ve changed my opinion.

Then I went to Disney.com. Since the film opens next week, its alll over their site. Lots of fun videos and clips there. The actors make the movie look very enjoyable. I love Brad Garret, and Will Arnett and while I could do without Janine Garofolo, I might be able to overlook her. Patton Oswalt is a great voice for the rat. I do also love how Pixar used some of their employees for voices because they were perfect for the roles.

This might be a good film. Pixar drags me in again. The rat is growing on me, a bit. I’ll be at the movies on opening weekend, and I’ll let you know what I think and what the kids thought.