Kiki's Delivery Service

Kiki is a young witch, only 13 years old, and it becomes her big time to go out into the world for a year as it is a family custom. Her Mom wants her to stay for another month, but Kiki is anxious and ambitious. She checks the forecast with her father’s radio and learns that it is going to be a clear night and a full moon. To Kiki it means the perfect night to head out on her Mom’s old broomstick, so that is in fact what she does, but not without the company of her cat Jiji and her Father’s radio.
The night turns out to be anything but clear. It begins to rain and Kiki ends up landing in a train upon a pile of hay. She sees a wonderful city that she has always imagined and wonders if the city has a witch. Kiki and Jiji decide to fly to the clock tower to get a good view of the city. The city is full of markets, lots of people and lots and lots of cars. She asks a man if the city has witches to which he replies “No,” so the city becomes Kiki and Jiji’s new home.
Kiki meets her first new friend Tombo who yells “Thief” to distract the office who wants to write Kiki up for flying and landing in the street. A baby loses its pacifier in the bakery and Kiki offers to return the pacifier, so she and Jiji fly and return the pacifier. Kiki becomes the lady in the bakery, Osono, new delivery girl. Osono offers Kiki the spare room to stay in and in return Kiki will deliver bakery and other items.
Kiki goes on many adventures and makes many deliveries, but most importantly she finds her place in the world.

Despicable Me Movie Review

“I’m having a bad bad day” Are you? Don’t you think it’s about time you get your way? Well watch Despicable Me and you will. This is more than just another story about a villain gone good. It’s full of laughs and memorable characters. When a villain steals the Pyramid of Giza and replaces it with an inflatable pyramid, Gru (the villain turned good) wants to outdo him and comes up with a brilliant plan with his Minions: to steal the moon. At the beginning of the movie Gru does despicable acts and has one goal in life to “become the greatest villain of all time,” until he meets three orphans: Margo (the eldest), Edith and Agnes (the youngest) who show up on his door step one day trying to sell him cookies. Gru of course turns them down until he sees that the cookies may very well be the “in” to the villain Victor’s place which he desperately believes he needs so that he can steal a machine that shrinks things. The girls are a riot as is Gru who deep down inside seems like he was more cut out for the role of a fun loving dad rather than a villain. Despicable Me is an all around good-hearted family film that shouldn’t be missed.

Gnomeo and Juliet Movie Review

Feeling down in the dumps and like the sun will never come out today, never mind tomorrow? Then Gnomeo and Juliet is the movie you ought to see. It is not your typical Romeo and Juliet re-telling that’s for sure. Not only do the neighbors feud with each other, but they have passed on their dislike to one another to their garden gnomes who are the main characters. The blue gnomes, the Montagues, (Gnomeo’s family) and the red gnomes, the Capulets, (Juliet’s family) compete against each other using lawn mowers and feud, which turns out to be surprisingly fierce and funny. Some of the Shakesperean language found in this animated film might be lost on the younger viewers, but the bright colors, Spanish talking pink flamingo and easy to follow story line more than make up for it. It takes Shakespeare to a different level and proves that you don’t have to be a professor in English to appreciate Shakespeare. The movie is full of laughs and all around feel-good family film. I definitely recommend seeing an anything but typical Romeo and Juliet re-telling; just don’t watch this film instead of the original one if you have a Shakespeare exam. Five stars for these star crossed gnomers.

Chop Kick Panda Review

When I first heard of Chop Kick Panda right away I thought it was a pre-quell or in some way or form related to Kung Fu Panda (Po), his brother even? But it isn’t. Lu is the Panda in this short, forty one, minute film about a panda who is a janitor at his son’s school. Lu decides to teach his students and his son Tae Kwan Do, only he can’t perform the art form that well because of being rather over weight. Po and Lu are alike in that neither one really knows how to do the art form, but through determination and some throbbing hands (at least in Lu’s case), they learn to succeed in their art forms. Not to down Chop Kick Panda or the laughs that it can ignite in some viewers when characters fall over or have things fall upon them , but when you get down to the grit of it all, Kung Fu Panda had a humorous and memorable story line, likeable characters, and a good message. Chop Kick Panda however falls short when compared to such a successful film as Chop Kick Panda. After watching this film it made me wonder why a movie so close to another successful film was produced, at least the main character could have been changed that would have given it a more unique story line. Kick Pow Kangroo anyone?