Reviews

I completely wasn't ready to like this movie. I've been in the business of steadfastly disliking Hugh Grant, despite his endearing turn in Notting Hill, and the plot synopsis sounded gimmicky and not very promising.

What a pleasant surprise. For anyone who grew up listening to '80s music and watching '80s MTV videos, Hugh Grant's band Pop! is every '80s music cliché on earth brought charmingly to life. They're clearly channeling Wham! and doing a very entertaining job of it. The '80s music and dancing alone are worth the price of admission. Dead-on dancing, music videos and songwriting.

Apart from that, Drew Barrymore is always likable, and Hugh Grant refreshingly refrained from his usual hair-flopping, nervous-tic hand-wringing mannerisms. The guy has to be one hell of a good sport to have made this movie, and he nailed this character.

Even my husband loved it, and he hates chick movies. Do give it a look if it comes up on cable. It was surprisingly good.

All my kids like Pingu, from the 7-year-old down to the 2-year-old, and I have to admit to watching it when the kids aren't even home. It's humorous and innocent, the characters are endearing, and the fact that the characters don't speak any language -- the dialogue is in "Penguinese" -- means that they convey their stories wholly with action, vocal inflection and body language. This is extremely intriguing.

Pingu is refreshingly unlike all the mainstream toddlers' programs out there, which are either excruciatingly heartwarming, unbearably didactic or just plain inane. It's a bit hard to find; at this point we're only able to get it from Time Warner On Demand cable. There are some DVDs available too. But if you have young kids, do check it out. The whole family will enjoy it.

Essential for EC fans and very entertaining for everyone else, this DVD contains all of the essential videos from the earliest days of the Attractions (i.e., beginning with the This Year's Model album -- the first album, My Aim Is True, is not represented). An absolute must is the commentary by Elvis Costello that accompanies the videos -- although he does talk over the music, his comments and reminiscences are so witty and entertaining that you absolutely must give them a listen, as they perfectly capture EC's dry, wry sense of humor.

I'm a fan of his from way back, but even my preschool sons found this video engaging and entertaining -- they actually ask to watch it!

We chanced upon this cartoon while surfing channels at bedtime, and now the whole family is hooked, from Daddy and me, in our forties, down to our 2-year-old son. All of us giggle madly.

This cartoon is reminiscent of old Bullwinkle cartoons, George of the Jungle, and Animaniacs, with a dash of Ren & Stimpy thrown in for good measure. It's silly manic fun, and you have to love any cartoon that can send a toddler and a preschooler (and their parents) into fits of mad giggling over evil lederhosen. Purely priceless. Watch it once -- either you'll get it and be hooked, or you'll never get it. This is a cartoon the whole family can have fun with because it works on a lot of different levels.

There really is no excuse for this movie. I find Chris Elliott fairly obnoxious at the best of times, and he's unusually grating in this one.

Absolutely the only thing worthwhile about this movie is the David Letterman cameo -- it literally is one of the funniest scenes I have ever seen, and Dave's delivery is impeccable. Many are the times I have sat through the beginning of this movie in order to catch the Dave scene. And then I immediately change the channel.

Apart from that, avoid this film at all costs. Even if you are a Chris Elliott fan (I can't believe there are very many of them), he's done better stuff than this turkey.

I saw this movie and loved it when it was released, but when my family and I sat down to watch the 2004 DVD release last night, it was interesting to view this movie in the light of 2004.

The movie itself is good frenetic fun -- very fast-paced, due in large part to Robin Williams' ADD-afflicted Genie. The one-liners and pop culture references fly so fast it's hard to keep on top of them. Still, my kids liked the music and the quick tempo of the movie. I could do without the love ballad "A Whole New World." Sounds too dated Disney saccharine these days.

What added a strange sort of twist to the movie was viewing it for the first time in a post-9/11 world. The two primary male characters, Aladdin and Jafar, have distinctly Semitic sidekicks (Gilbert Gottfried as the parrot and the Genie himself, whose delivery is frequently borscht-flavored). Ironic, that. Also, there are quite a lot of references to beheading, and that gave me the heebie-jeebies.

This movie is, essentially, a Crocodile Hunter show with a paper-thin plot thrown in. The plot is about as useful as the plot in a porno movie, i.e., it really just gets in the way and bogs things down. Anytime one of the "plot' segments comes on, my two-year-old shouts "Boring part!" and has me fast-forward to the next Crocodile Hunter scene.

Steve and Terri Irwin, and the animals they interact with, are their usual energetic, engaging selves. The snore-worthy plot involves a U.S. search for a lost bit of spying hardware, which, without the Irwins' knowledge, has been swallowed by a crocodile they've been hunting.

If you enjoy the Animal Planet show, you'll enjoy this movie, although like my son, I suspect you'll be fast-forwarding through the "Boring parts!"