Tag: kids

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Other Ever Afters: New Queer Fairy Tales – ★★★★½

Other Ever Afters

A few of these seven LGBTQ fables were truly fantastic and overall the complete collection came together really well for me.

These aren’t just retellings of the same old fables but now with two princesses. Each story was generally thoughtful and subtle that did a great job of imparting a strong moral lesson in the end. Goose Girl and New Name were my faves.

Now I have to go bug my kiddo to see why she only gave it 3 stars.

Rating: 4.5 stars

Crossposted on Goodreads
Buy Other Ever Afters on Bookshop

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Jesus Christ Superstar – ★★★★

Jesus Christ SuperstarJesus Christ Superstar (1973)

Four extra stars just for King Herod’s Song being the absolute funniest thing me and the kids have seen in months. They were so baffled and delighted for much of this musical but that song sent them over the edge and onto the floor laughing.

Rating: 4 stars

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Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind – ★★★★

Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind poster

Took the kids to watch this in the theater today as part of Studio Ghibli Fest. First time for me to ever see a Miyazaki movie on the big screen.

This was one of my least favorites when I originally was running through my Miyazaki blind spots back in 2020, but giving it my full attention now I really enjoyed it quite a bit. I was pleasantly surprised how much both my girls liked it considering how “old” it is and how relatively few laughs there are. They were probably the only 2 people under 30 in the theater today.

Nausicaä is such a fantastic character as are all the other valley residents, but boy do I hate every single Tolmekian and Pejite moron. And they remain pretty much completely irredeemable for the entire movie. (I know we’re supposed to dislike them but still.)

It is bit depressing how little progress we’ve made as a society in 40 years towards the Nausicaä’s basic themes of environmentalism, empathy, and pacifism.

It’s early so not quite as breathtakingly beautiful as some of the films that followed it, but it sure is imaginative and interesting to look at. It is also remarkable how much imagery from this have influenced (or share influences with) current Japanese video games including Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. TotK’s “depths” areas seem like a mix of Nausicaa’s forest and the gloom from Mononoke.

Buying tickets now to go see Mononoke in a month.

? View Letterboxd review
? Buy Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind on Blu-ray

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The Lightning Thief (by Rick Riordan) – ★★★★

Percy Jackson 1 - The Lightning Thief

Rated this maybe a 2.5-star after my initial listen on Audible, but enjoyed it quite a bit more on this reread with the actual paperback.

My oldest kid is very into the entire Rick Riordan catalog but surprisingly never read the Percy Jackson books so I read this to her a little bit at a time at bedtime. (Seriously there’s more than 20 Riordan books and she’s read almost all of them except this main series for some reason.) Not sure if it was the audiobook’s fault or just the extra joy of reading with my kid but I found both the story and Riordan’s writing itself much more engrossing this time.

? View my Goodreads review
? Buy The Lightning Thief on Amazon

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Review: Flight of the Navigator

Flight of the Navigator

Watching Flight of the Navigator with the kids, and in the first 10 minutes we see David and his brother ride unbuckled and wrestling in the back of a station wagon, find out he keeps a giant box of fireworks next to his bed, and then that his parents expect his 8 year old brother to walk home in the dark in the woods and across the train tracks.

The 80s man.

First time I’ve seen this since the 80s myself. All I could remember was thinking it was scary, which watching again with my own 7 year old makes me realize I must have been quite the weenie. She really enjoyed the early mystery and then the tiny cute alien, and unlike her dad didn’t find it one bit scary. It was fun watching it with her and I enjoyed the first 2/3rds, but when the alien ship turns into Pee Wee Herman it lost me a bit for a while before picking up again towards the end.

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? Buy the Flight of the Navigator DVD on Amazon

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The Super Mario Bros. Movie – ★★★½

Super Mario Bros. Movie

Fantastic looking and tons of fun references. Adequate storyline that anyone whose ever played a Mario game could predict, but good enough for a fun afternoon at the theater with the kids.

Although it is not a nonstop laugh fest, it got several big laughs from my kids, despite the fact that they are more into Minecraft/The Sims than they are into Mario. It is definitely a kids’ movie with references for us “olds,” but it was made lovingly and shows a real understanding and appreciation of the Mario characters and worlds.

Anya Taylor-Joy’s Peach and especially Jack Black’s Bowser were definitely the highlights, but all of the performances were good. Yes, including Chris Pratt.

Special shoutout to the nihilistic Lumalee the Luma who stole the show in their brief appearances.

? View Letterboxd review
? Buy the Super Mario Bros. Movie Blu-ray on Amazon