Guardians of the Galaxy: Our Review, Why We Took Our Daughter, and Her Thoughts

My husband grew up as a Marvel comic book fan, so he has been thrilled with the recent Marvel movies. About 2 years ago we began to introduce our daughter to the movies and she is mostly caught up (except for the Toby Maguire Spiderman series). We started our daughter on the movies by watching them at home and worked our way up to the theater with Iron Man 3. Until this spring, we watched the movies first (rated PG-13) and then made a decision. With Captain America, Amazing Spider Man 2, and X-Men Days of Future Past (also rated PG-13) this spring we felt confident enough with the past films in those series to let her watch the movie without watching them first.

However, with Guardians of the Galaxy which opened on Friday, we were less certain that the film would be one we would let her see based on my husband's knowledge of the comic having more adult themes. So, my husband and I wanted to watch the movie before letting her see it. Fortunately, Disney invited me and a guest (my husband) to a screening of Guardians of the Galaxy last week so we were able to determine whether our daughter could see the movie.

For background on Guardians of the Galaxy, Marvel provided the following synopsis and information:

From Marvel, the studio that brought you the global blockbuster franchises of Iron Man, Thor, Captain America and The Avengers, comes a new team—the Guardians of the Galaxy. An action-packed, epic space adventure, Marvel's “Guardians of the Galaxy” expands the Marvel Cinematic Universe into the cosmos, where brash adventurer Peter Quill finds himself the object of an unrelenting bounty hunt after stealing a mysterious orb coveted by Ronan, a powerful villain with ambitions that threaten the entire universe. To evade the ever-persistent Ronan, Quill is forced into an uneasy truce with a quartet of disparate misfits—Rocket, a gun-toting raccoon, Groot, a tree-like humanoid, the deadly and enigmatic Gamora and the revenge-driven Drax the Destroyer. But when Quill discovers the true power of the orb and the menace it poses to the cosmos, he must do his best to rally his ragtag rivals for a last, desperate stand—with the galaxy's fate in the balance. Marvel’s “Guardians of the Galaxy,” which first appeared in comic books in Marvel Super-Heroes, Issue #18 (Jan. 1969), stars Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, featuring Vin Diesel as Groot, Bradley Cooper as Rocket, Lee Pace, Michael Rooker, Karen Gillan, Djimon Hounsou, with John C. Reilly, Glenn Close as Nova Prime and Benicio Del Toro as The Collector. James Gunn is the director of the film with Kevin Feige, p.g.a., producing. Louis D’Esposito, Alan Fine, Victoria Alonso, Jeremy Latcham, Nik Korda and Stan Lee serve as executive producers. Marvel’s “Guardians of the Galaxy” is written by James Gunn and Nicole Perlman and releases in U.S. theaters on August 1, 2014.

Catch the extended first look below:

My husband and I loved the movie and the way that it continues the Marvel tradition of combining laughs with the action. Guardians of the Galaxy has a run-time of 2:01. The movie was very tight and did not suffer from the bloat that bogs down some movies with longer run times. If anything, the movie could have been a few minutes longer to include a little more backstory on some of the characters or more screen time for the villains. Unlike Loki in Thor/Avengers, the villains, particularly Thanos, suffered from a lack of development/screen time. I can only hope that this is a teaser to a larger role for Thanos in a future movie. While Guardians of The Galaxy is the movie least connected to the other movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it contains a couple of nods to previous movies, particularly as we meet The Collector (who was introduced in a post-credit scene in Thor: The Dark World). Since my husband and I both grew up in the '80s,  it was fun to see Quill's references to '80s music, decor, and pop-culture (he left Earth in 1988). My only disappointment was how they left things with The Collector as I had unanswered questions. When we initially saw the movie at the screening, the post-credit scene was not included so I was hopeful that it would resolve some of my lingering questions (I heard it was not included in most of the advance screenings, even the premiere). We took our daughter to see the movie at a regular showing and did see the post-credits scene. While the post-scene involved The Collector, it did not answer my lingering questions.

Guardians of the Galaxy is rated PG-13 and after evaluating it at a screening, we decided to allow our daughter to see the movie. The violence is in-line with the other Marvel movies (The Avengers, The Amazing Spider Man, X-Men Days of Future Past). With the lighter tone of the Marvel movies, the violence is more comic-book than gory (as compared to the DC movies such as Batman Begins and Dark Knight which have a darker, bleaker tone and the violence is more real despite also having a PG-13 rating). The language in Guardians of the Galaxy is a bit coarser than in a movie like Captain America or Spider Man, but less than Space Balls (PG rated) which we recently watched. I also found the sexual content to be less than the Iron Man series. For some children, the beginning of the movie may be disturbing as Peter Quill's mother is dying from cancer. Since we didn't get to see the post-credit scene at the screening, I am glad that we saw the movie again with our daughter. Our screening of Guradians of the Galaxy was in 3D and I do recommend that. However, we saw a 2D showing this weekend in part because my daughter isn't always fond of wearing 3D glasses over her regular glasses.

My daughter loved the movie and is now talking of being Rocket for Halloween. Her comment was: "It was the best Marvel movie since The Avengers". She also liked Groot. My daughter really hates long boring sections of movie (aka plot bloat), so she really appreciated the tightness of Guardians of the Galaxy. She also enjoys the humorous side of the movie and even the fun music.

Disclaimer: I am compensated for sales through Fandango links. I appreciate your support of my blog by shopping through my links. 

While you will pay a service fee, it may be worth having your tickets in advance if you will be attending a crowded evening show. I know we often make a special trip to the theater to buy the tickets in advance particularly if we are on a tight time schedule, so the service fee would be worth saving the trip.

Disney Planes Opens Today

Disney's latest movie Planes opens today. We were unable to attend a screening of the movie since we were on vacation in Toronto and Niagara Falls over the past week when the screenings were held.

However, I want to share a few reviews of the movie on blogs that I follow:
Mrs Weber's Neighborhood
Yes/No Films
The Disney Blog

The consensus seems to be that the movie is a little slow to start and that it picks up speed as it goes on. The kids should enjoy the film, so it is worth seeing.


Here is the trailer:

Disney has two online games available:

• FlewTube Website with Videos featuring
• Recipes
• Aerogami
• RC & Model Planes
• Meet the Characters Clips
• More
• Online Game -Propwash Pursuit
• Online Game - Jetstream Racers

Iron Man 3 Movie Review

Iron Man 3 is the latest movie in The Avengers franchise and opens in theaters today. I was invited to a free screening of Iron Man 3 in order to share my review with my readers. All opinions are 100% mine.

Iron Man 3 is a sequel to not just the previous Iron Man films, but also to The Avengers. It will help to have seen the other movies. Particularly, The Avengers. In the film, Tony Stark is mentally and emotionally reeling from the events of The Avengers which are referenced several times. In the movie he is dealing with the internal demons as much as the films villain.

From the official Studio Synopsis:

Marvel’s “Iron Man 3” pits brash-but-brilliant industrialist Tony Stark/Iron Man against an enemy whose reach knows no bounds. When Stark finds his personal world destroyed at his enemy's hands, he embarks on a harrowing quest to find those responsible. This journey, at every turn, will test his mettle. With his back against the wall, Stark is left to survive by his own devices, relying on his ingenuity and instincts to protect those closest to him. As he fights his way back, Stark discovers the answer to the question that has secretly haunted him: does the man make the suit or does the suit make the man?

Starring Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Guy Pearce, Rebecca Hall, Stephanie Szostak, James Badge Dale with Jon Favreau and Ben Kingsley, Marvel’s “Iron Man 3” is directed by Shane Black from a screenplay by Drew Pearce & Shane Black and is based on Marvel’s iconic Super Hero Iron Man, who first appeared on the pages of “Tales of Suspense” (#39) in 1963 and had his solo comic book debut with “The Invincible Iron Man” (#1) in May of 1968.

“Iron Man 3” is presented by Marvel Studios in association with Paramount Pictures and DMG Entertainment. Marvel Studios’ President Kevin Feige is producing and Jon Favreau, Louis D’Esposito, Charles Newirth, Victoria Alonso, Stephen Broussard, Alan Fine, Stan Lee and Dan Mintz are executive producers. The film releases May 3, 2013, and is distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures.

The movie continues Tony Starks' (Robert Downey, Jr.) one-liners, but I don't think they were quite up to the level of the previous movies. He spends more time alone in the film without Pepper (Gwyneth Paltrow), Happy (Jon Favreau), or Rhodes (Don Cheadle). The movie started quick with some action scenes and seemed to run a little slow in the middle before picking up for the finale.

Make sure you stay at the movie through the end of the credits (and they are long) as there is an additional scene as there is at the end of each of the movies in the Avengers Universe. Also, if you are a Downton Abbey fan, look for the show to appear twice.

At the screening I attended, the trailers included Thor: The Dark World and Monsters University. There was also a preview for the new Disney XD Show Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. which premiers this summer. My daughter is excited for Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. since it features not just Hulk, but She-Hulk and Red Hulk.

Are you wondering if Iron Man 3 is kid-friendly? Read my thoughts on the kid-friendliness of the movie.

While I enjoyed Iron Man 3 and recommend seeing it, I felt that it did not live up to The Avengers which we loved. One of the people seating behind me was saying that he did not like the movie and was challenged by his companions who did like the movie. I will be seeing the movie again this weekend with my family. During the movie I was evaluating whether I thought it would be appropriate for my daughter. On a second viewing, I hope to be able to focus on enjoying the movie instead of evaluating it.

Disclaimer: I was invited to a free screening of Iron Man 3 by Walt Disney Studios in order to facilitate writing this review. All opinions are 100% mine.

Movie Review: Oz: The Great and Powerful

Yesterday I took my daughter (age 7) to see the newly released Oz: The Great and Powerful. We saw the film in 3D. I really enjoyed the movie. My daughter thought that some parts were a little scary. Still, she enjoyed the film and was glad that she had seen it.

From the official studio boilerplate:

Disney’s fantastical adventure “Oz The Great and Powerful,” directed by Sam Raimi, imagines the origins of L. Frank Baum’s beloved wizard character. When Oscar Diggs (James Franco), a small-time circus magician with dubious ethics, is hurled away from dusty Kansas to the vibrant Land of Oz, he thinks he’s hit the jackpot—fame and fortune are his for the taking—that is until he meets three witches, Theodora (Mila Kunis), Evanora (Rachel Weisz) and Glinda (Michelle Williams), who are not convinced he is the great wizard everyone’s been expecting. Reluctantly drawn into the epic problems facing the Land of Oz and its inhabitants, Oscar must find out who is good and who is evil before it is too late. Putting his magical arts to use through illusion, ingenuity—and even a bit of wizardry—Oscar transforms himself not only into the great wizard but into a better man as well. 

 “Oz The Great and Powerful” is produced by Joe Roth, with screen story by Mitchell Kapner and screenplay by Mitchell Kapner and David Lindsay-Abaire. Grant Curtis, Palak Patel, Josh Donen and Philip Steuer are serving as executive producers. “Oz The Great and Powerful” opens in U.S. theaters on March 8, 2013.

Despite having seen many trailers, my daughter did not realize that this was a backstory for Wizard of Oz. After the movie when she commented that some parts were a little scary, I mentioned that she should have known that Oz and Glinda were ok because they were in the subsequent movies. I was a little surprised that she was scared as she has watched many movies at home that I consider to have more suspenseful moments (Harry Potter 1-3, Star Wars (IV-VI), Jurassic Park, Avengers, and Thor). The difference between the big screen and watching a DVD may have contributed to the intensity of the movie.

I liked the movie, but did find some parts a little slow. I enjoyed learning a backstory for how the Wizard of Oz became the man behind the curtain with his image displayed above. I also liked the continuity with the Wizard of Oz...the sleeping poppy fields, the horses of a different color (briefly visible in a field), and the concept of people from Kansas appearing as the hero's traveling companion in the movie. Glinda (Michelle Williams) was Annie in Kansas, Finley (Zach Braff) was Frank, and China Girl (Joey King) was a spectator at Oz's magic show.

Now that I have seen Oz: The Great and Powerful, I would like to go re-watch Wizard of Oz. However, since the films are only connected through their relationship to the L. Frank Baum works, this is not a true prequel so there will be some inconsistencies between the two worlds.

We saw a 3D showing and I thought it was worth the additional charge. I had no issues with the 3D and liked how it was used in some of the scenes.

Based on my daughter's opinions, I would recommend the movie for children ages 6 and above depending on their tolerance for suspense.

To get ready for Oz, check out these Oz Activity Sheets.

Disclaimer: Boiler plate, Images and trailers provided by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. All opinions are 100% mine. I have not been compensated for writing this post.

Hotel Transylvania Review

Tonight my daughter and I went to see Hotel Transylvania. This is definitely a great pre-Halloween movie. I see us buying it on DVD to watch each year.

My daughter thought the movie was "CRAZY"...which is her highest compliment. She can't wait until we get it on DVD to show dad (who is out of town at a conference). She said "if he doesn't think it's a bit funny, he's a weirdo".

Hotel Transylvania features the voice of Adam Sandler as Dracula, a single vampire father to Mavis (voiced by Selena Gomez) whom he has protected from humans at the Hotel Transylvania, a hotel just for monsters. Just as they are preparing to celebrate Mavis's milestone 118th birthday, a human name Johnny (Adam Samberg) arrives at the hotel. Wanting to save the party, Dracula disguises him as a monster. Mavis, who has always wanted to explore the world is fascinated by Johnny's tales.



I loved all of the different monsters featured in the movie with some incredible voice talent...Kevin James as Frankenstein, Fran Drescher as his wife Eunice, Steve Buscemi as Wayne the Werewolf and Molly Shannon as his wife Wanda, CeeLo Green as Murray the mummy, David Spade as Griffin the Invisible Man, and Jon Lovitz as Quasimodo. There were several jokes that went over the kids head, including a jab at Twilight.

Overall, the movie was a nice pre-Halloween movie. I'm not going to put seeing the movie at the top of your priority list, but if you have some free time in the next month or so, it is worth the time to see it.

There are coloring and drawing sheets on the Hotel Transylvania website as well as some games. I have also included links to several Apps for your iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad.


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Rio - A Fun Family Movie

Disclaimer: I am an Amazon Associate and iTunes Affiliate. I am compensated for sales through links to those sites. My opinions are not in any way affected by my relationships with the vendors.

Update 4/11/14: Rio 2 has been released today. To prepare for the film, Amazon has great prices on Rio. Rio (Blu-ray/ DVD Combo + Digital Copy) and Rio (DVD) is $8.

After hearing about Angry Birds for a few months, back in January I finally installed Angry Birds on my  Android phone. My daughter discovered my playing it and fell in love. So I bought it for her iPod Touch. Well, she quickly became an Angry Birds addict, sometimes she would wake me up in the morning talking about her Angry Birds dream or asking to play.

Needless to say, we were very excited when we heard about the Angry Birds movie. The anticipation built when the Angry Birds Rio game was introduced. She kept asking me when it was coming out and if it would be before she was getting her tonsils out. Fortunately the movie came out the weekend before she got her tonsils out, so we got to see it on opening Saturday.

We made a great movie time choice, 2:20p, since our theater had some special events in conjunction with the Rio release. They had tropical birds from a bird sanctuary there when we arrived. For a donation, you would receive a tail feather from one of the birds. I am hoping that they had fallen out and were not plucked. They were also doing face painting and had coloring sheets available. We had not known of these special events so we did not arrive early enough to participate. After our movie, the birds were gone, but they were still face painting, so my daughter was thrilled to get the Rio logo painted on her cheek.

We really enjoyed the movie. We saw the 3D version which was nice, but I don't think it was necessary. The main character in the movie is Blu, a rare blue macaw who has been living in Minnesota as pet of Linda after being captured as a baby in the rain forest. We learn that there is only one other blue macaw, Jewel, and that Linda must accompany Blu to Rio de Janeiro so that Blu and Jewel can be bred. There is an immediate conflict between domesticated Blu who cannot fly and Jewel who has lived in the wild and wishes to return to the wild. The story follows Blu and Jewel as they are repeatedly captured and escape. There is also a side story with Linda and Tulio from the bird sanctuary.

I was really impressed with the vocal performances, especially Jesse Eisenberg as Blu. There were frequent laughs in the movie. It was able to hold the attention of all three of us. I was a little concerned when they talked about breeding Blu and Jewel whether it would be appropriate for a 5 year old, but I did not find it inappropriate.

My daughter said that she liked this movie a lot better than Hop which she had seen the previous weekend with my parents.

We will definitely be purchasing this movie when it comes out on DVD. We may even go see it again as my husband and father were unable to join us.

Need a Gift? Alice in Wonderland is 67% off!

Today's Amazon Gold Box Deal is the new Alice in Wonderland movie. You can purchase it on DVD for $9.99, Blu-Ray for $13.39, or Blu-Ray/DVD/Digital Combo Pack for $14.99. All of these prices are 67% off of the regular list price.

If you feel like splurging, you can get the combo pack with a film cell photo frame for $39.99. This amazing deal usually retails for $121.94.

I do not recommend this movie for preschoolers - it is the Tim Burton film starring Johnny Depp, not the original Disney animated cartoon. However, this would make a great gift for an adult or teen on your holiday shopping list.

To be honest, my husband and I did not really enjoy this movie when I borrowed it from the library. However, I know it had great box office numbers. I also tend to not care for Tim Burton movies which may be part of the reason I did not like it.

Tinker Bell & The Great Fairy Rescue - Review and Coupon

Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue was released on DVD and Blu-Ray combo pack yesterday. I had pre-ordered my copy of the Blu-Ray combo pack at Toys R Us and picked it up today. If you plan to purchase it, you can get a $10 Disney Movie Rewards Coupon for the movie. The coupon is only good on the Blu-Ray combo pack which includes a DVD. At most stores, the coupon will make the BluRay combo pack less expensive than the DVD only version. Since the combo pack includes both a BluRay and a DVD, you do not really lose anything by getting the combo pack.

Yesterday, I was at the grocery store and walked by a RedBox. I have an app on my HTC Droid Incredible that lists codes for free Red Box rentals. Since I was going to be baking, I decided to see if they happened to have Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue in the RedBox. I was in luck, they did. My daughter was thrilled to see the movie, although she didn't understand why she wasn't getting to keep it. I have not yet decided whether the movie will be kept for Christmas or whether it will just be a special treat.

My daughter really enjoyed the movie and getting to meet Lizzy, the little girl who captures Tinker Bell and whom Tinker Bell then befriends. I can't say that I watched much of the movie with her since I was busy baking. From what I gathered, Lizzy's father is a butterfly collector and works a lot of hours so he doesn't have a lot of time to spend with Lizzy. He teaches her to keep a field journal of her observations. She does this after meeting Tinker Bell and her father dismisses all of her information on fairies as a fantasy and not fact. One really interesting scene is where Tinker Bell uses pixie dust to help Lizzy fly. It is funny watching Lizzy learn to navigate and later to keep herself on the ground when her father comes in. My daughter requested to watch the movie again this morning. so it was a definite hit with her.

My daughter's only complaint with the movie is that the special features did not contain bloopers. She really enjoys these on some of her DVDs. We have not yet watched the Blu Ray, so I am not sure if there are additional features or not. I was disappointed that the combo pack did not include a digital download. Since my daughter has inherited my husband's old iPod Touch, we like movies that include the digital copy. This was the main reason that we opted for the BluRay combo pack of Princess and the Frog instead of the DVD before we even had a BluRay player. I am not going to spend $14.99 in iTunes for a digital copy of a movie I already own. I noticed that Beauty and the Beast's BluRay release does not include a digital copy either. On the plus side, Toy Story 3 has a 4 disc pack that includes a digital download.

Toy Story 3 Movie Review - Spoilers near the bottom

This evening we went to see Toy Story 3 at the theaters. We opted for the non 3D showing since we did not think my 4.5 year old would last for 2 hours with the 3D glasses. I am not sure if this was the right call because as we walked out, she said to her aunt "I thought it was supposed to be in 3D". Although she did say she would not have wanted to wear the glasses for 2 hours.

We really enjoyed the movie. There are enough nods to the previous movie and toys of old to appeal to the adults (and a few jokes that are subtle enough to go over the kids heads). The kids love the action, the familiar characters and the crazy situations.

We knew the story line going in since we had bought the Toy Story 3 Little Golden Book to add to our collection of Toy Story and Toy Story 2. This did not detract from our enjoyment of the book at all. My daughter did comment about story points that were not in the book that she really enjoyed.

There are some notable toys from the previous movies who do not make an appearance and are missed. They do reference some of these toys and refer that they have been lost on the way. We did miss Bo Peep, Etch-a-Sketch, Mr. Spell, RC Car, and Wheezy the Penguin. Also missing is a reference to Al's Toy Barn which was a major element of the second movie and has a passing reference in the first.

However, the new characters fill in quite nicely. Barbie and Ken are lots of perky fun.

Spoilers below the break




They don't take the happy, cheery way out with the villain (Lotso Huggin' Bear). They have the opportunity to have him redeem himself by saving Woody, Buzz, Jesse, the Potato Heads, and Rex, but he continues his evil ways. Of course, he is fittingly dispatched by the end of the movie, much as Prospector Pete was at the end of Toy Story 2.

I loved how the little green aliens' obsession with "The Claw" ended up being what saved their friends. It was neat to see Buzz Lightyear reset to demo mode where he really believes himself to be a space ranger and the personality change in his Spanish mode is amusing. I also loved seeing a few classic toys like the Chatter Telephone and the Fisher Price Corn Popper.

Unlike many animated movie series, the quality of the films and story has stayed consistently high. While there are references made to events of the prior movies, it could stand on its own as well. Maybe the secret is spacing the movies far apart (5 and 10 year gaps). They have set themselves up to continue the series with Bonnie instead of Andy. If they decide to do another sequel, I hope they take the time to develop a story and treat it with the care they have with the other films.

Tonight...Cloudy with a Chance of Pizza?

Our anniversary is tomorrow night, however we celebrated last night. Our gift to ourselves was a Blu Ray player. With her grandmother's help, our 4 year old selected Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs on Blu Ray to give us. According to my mom, she was quite insistent on selecting this movie. This surprised me because she did not really like the movie when we saw it in the theater. However, she told Grandma that she was getting it so that we could watch it on Family Movie Night.

Since our weekend was too busy for movie night, we decided to do movie night tonight. We ordered a pizza and had a picnic dinner in front of the TV in the basement. I spread a table cloth on the floor in front of the sofa, and we sat on the floor to eat. It has been a while since we had a basement picnic. I need to keep that in mind for hot summer days since our basement is usually nice and cool.

She has enjoyed the movie much more on this second viewing than when we originally saw it. She remembered a few key scenes from having seen it at the theater.

Princess and the Frog DVD

My daughter received this DVD for Easter and was determined to watch it tonight. I had told her she could watch it during dinner. My husband needed to run back up to work so we offered to take her out to dinner, but she refused so she could watch the movie.

She received the Princess and the Frog Blu-Ray/DVD/Digital Copy combo pack.

We don't have a Blu-Ray player, so I cannot comment on the Blu-Ray portion of the DVD. My parents bought her this version in case we have a Blu-Ray in the future and for the convenience of the Digital Copy. With the sale they got at the Disney Store it was only a few dollars more than the regular DVD which did not have a digital copy.

We really appreciate having the Digital Copy that is compatible with iTunes. This means I can load it on her iPod for our trip to California. The Digital Copy is also compatible with Windows Media Player. Having a Digital Copy that plays on iTunes/iPod is by far the most useful format to us since we have iTunes on both our Macs and we have 3 iPod Touches in our house. Some movies (Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs for example) have a digital copy that is only playable on a Playstation Portable which is of no use to us. Even Windows Media player files are of no use since we are a Mac family. The digital copy came on its own disc and after entering the code in the box, loaded on my computer in less than 10 minutes. I wish more movies would come with this option of paying a few extra dollars to get a digital copy of the movie. I cannot see paying full price for both a DVD and an iTunes copy of a movie, but would pay the few extra dollars.

My daughter is really enjoying the movie. She and I saw it in the theater and she was glad to show parts of it to Daddy. She loves frogs, so this is a favorite movie of hers. She told me the other day that Tiana is her favorite princess because she turns into a frog...followed by Ariel who is a mermaid.

Monsters Vs. Aliens Movie Review

Today with a friend we saw Monsters Vs. Aliens at a local theater as part of a spring free matinee promotion. The movie is currently available on DVD.

We enjoyed the movie. They had an intermission about half way through the movie which was nice to provide a bathroom break. However, it seemed like my daughter had a hard time getting back into the movie. Also, I felt like the initial setup was a little slow, especially for preschoolers.

Prior to seeing the movie, I had read reviews online about the appropriateness of the movie for young children including one that recommended it for children 7 and older. We still decided to go. I did not find the movie bad at all for my 4 year old. Of course, she regularly watches Scooby Doo & Star Wars: Clone Wars cartoons. There is some violence (it is a battle between Monsters and Aliens after all), but none of the heroes dies and even the villains are mostly bounced off screen (presumably to die). Actually during one scene, our kids found the the way the heroes were defeating the villains to be funny and were laughing at it. There was some very mild implication of sexuality/nudity. What was actually shown was very mild with an implication that went above the kids head.

Overall, this was a good movie that the kids enjoyed. I definitely recommend renting the DVD or otherwise seeing the movie.