Tots100 Film Club The Lorax - Review by Miss. Poppins

Miss Poppins asked this month if she could write the review for the Tots 100 Film Club and I thought it a super idea. What better way to let you know what a family film is like than it coming from those who ideally the film is intended for. So I shall hand over to her....  

"Over the weekend, myself (Miss Poppins) and Master Poppins watched a brilliant film - The original 1973 TV cartoon of Dr. Seuss's The Lorax. It really was inspiring to see how the Lorax would do so much to save his land and also his friends. At the beginning of the film, a small boy came to the dreadful land of the Once-ler. He then tells the story so viewers could see what's going on. The wannabe millionaire Once-ler drove through a lovely piece of land with very peculiar trees.

Being the thing that he is, the Once-ler got out of his wagon and felt the amazing Truffula Trees. Then he decided to invite his relatives over after knitting the Truffula wool which was a brilliant success. However, one day when he was cutting a Truffula tree down, out pops a small orange thing- The Lorax! "I am the Lorax, I speak for the trees, I speak for the trees for trees have no tongues!" He chimed, and followed the Once-ler while chorusing his song. The Once-ler was fed up. Near the end of the story, the Once-ler looks out of his enormous window, and sees what a mess this once beautiful place was. 

The Lorax then leads the Once-ler outside to witness some more of the mess. Even though he was guilty, inside, he refused to give up his business. The Lorax then said, "Very well then Mr Once-ler, if you won't go, then I will." And like magic he flew up into a hole cloud. Soon, all the Truffula trees were gone and so had the Once-ler's business. All that was left was mud, dirt, grime and a Truffula seed. At the end he handed the little boy the last precious Truffula seed and said, "See what you can make of that and the Lorax and his friends may come back."

Overall The Lorax was a brilliant film to watch, I thoroughly enjoyed it, loved the message about having to look after our planet and would definitely watch it again. I am even asking my mum and dad to take me and my little brother to watch the new one that is out now.  

I would rate this 4.5 out of 5 stars.

Thanks for reading my review, I really enjoyed writing it."

Disclosure: We were proved with one 'The Lorax' DVD for the purposes of this review. All opinions and words my own. 

Tots100 Film Club - Happy Feet Two

As part of my role at Tots100 Film Club and in partnership with Warner Bros this months film for us to review was Happy Feet Two. I had watched Happy Feet with the children a while ago, and loved it as the children did so had quite big expectations for this new sequel....

In the first Happy Feet the story centred around Mumble the penguin who couldn't sing to attract his soul mate, but instead had some fancy footwork moves and indeed went on to find his true love. Moving on to Happy Feet Two, the story opens with Mumble having gone on to have a ( very cute looking ) son Erik, who this time around really hasn't got the dance moves, feels isolated, and runs away with his dad Mumble in pursuit. Mumble tries desperately to connect with his son and so on and so on. I have to admit I got a little lost or should I say distracted watching this film. I loved the first so very much and quite honestly think this sequel doesn't for me live up to those magical feelings I had watching the original Happy Feet.

It felt a little like a repeat but with louder music, more moves and more global warming issues. When Mumble finally returns with Erik they find that a shifting iceberg has trapped the rest of the community and they need to find a way to free everyone. It was what I would term, alright, and there were sparks and flashes of creativity and the animations I have to say are quite magnificent. The scenes of Will and Bill ( the two Krill) are especially dramatic and there are moments of humour and I did laugh out loud at some points. Miss. Poppins got a little bored, whereas Master Poppins' attention was pretty much there all the way through. I did ask him what the film was about when it had finished, his reply "Penguins" which I guess is about right and he did enjoy watching it.

There were quite a lot of plot lines and new characters that I found hard to keep up with, and although children I think ( on the whole ) shall like this film very much, it is the parents who I am unsure shall as much. It just seemed a little unfocused for it to really grab my attention. One certainly for the kids DVD collection but one I imagine shall not be played over and over again.... 

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Disclosure: We received one DVD to watch for the purposes of this blog post. 

Tots100 Film Club - Green Lantern....

As a family who love to snuggle up and watch the occasional movie at home, I happily agreed to join in over at Tots100 Film Club in conjunction with Warner Bros We are not big cinema goers and much prefer to watch movies at home, where the popcorn is cheap and with plenty of space to curl up and relax. When I was sent a little list of possible family friendly movies to review this month, I chose Green Lantern. I obviously need to gen up on my knowledge of films as I soon found out it is rated as a 12 and for some reason I thought this was a Peter Pan type film, maybe was the green suit that threw me. With my children being only 5 and 10 yrs, imo was not going to be one appropriate for them to watch and I offered to send it back. However I was kindly asked if I would watch the film and see what I thought. Oh dear, I am a girly girl who loves chic flick films, and not really into action thrilling adventures....

It took me a while to get into the right frame of mind to watch it, and the first scenes were imo quite rightly not going to be suitable especially for my 5 year old to watch, though I carried on trying to take it all in. Taken from the description of the movie it reads...."In a universe as vast as it is mysterious, an elite force of protectors for peace and justice has existed for centuries. They are GREEN LANTERN CORPS. When a new enemy called PARALLAX threatens to destroy the universe, their fate and the fate of the earth lie in the hands of the corps newest recruit, the first human ever selected : HAL JORDAN ( Ryan Reynolds )"  I have to be honest here, it isn't one for me, though I made it to the end and infact Reynolds in his little green suit was quite easy on the eye ;) However if you love all things action packed, like a reasonably good if not clichéd plot, loud noise and very good special effects then this certainly could be one for you to watch. Bare in mind the rating though, as 12 is there for a reason and imo really not suitable for the little ones. Hopefully next month I shall research better the movie choices and ratings and we can all sit together and watch something more appropriate for us all.

Disclosure: We received one DVD to watch for the purposes of this blog post.