Movies

Time to catch up on some movies we have watched, but we have not posted to our blog.

We watched "Ponyo" as a family. It is an animated movie from Japan that used American actors for the voices in the version released in the United States. Disney released it for the US market.

The movie was interesting. I am sure, some of the odd parts of the movie come from the differences in the American and Japanese cultures. It was very difficult for me to believe that the main character, Ponyo, was a goldfish. It had a human face on it and when the boy, Sosuke, first rescues it and when his mother saw the "fish," they didn't freak out that it had a human face! Other than that, the story was quite good and the girls loved it.

As I mentioned earlier, Ponyo is a "goldfish" that is rescued by Sosuke. She falls in love with the boy and transforms herself into a human. However, the transformation changes the earth's balance and the two children must save the world.

On IMDb, I gave it 5 of out 10 stars. I would probably give it more stars if some of the storyline made more sense to me. I am sure my girls would give it many more stars.

The other movie we watched together as a family was "How To Train Your Dragon." This movie was very surprising. I did not think I would like this movie, but it was great. The storyline kept me interested, and the underlying tone of the message of not judging before you get to know someone was powerful.

Hiccup is a young Viking trying to meet his father's expectations to become a Viking warrior. The vikings are fighting the dragons that raid their village almost nightly. When Hiccup wounds the mysterious Night Fury dragon, he cannot bring himself to kill the dragon. Soon, the two form a friendship. Together, they fight to make the dragons and Vikings understand each other.

On IMDb, I gave it 9 out of 10 stars. I highly recommend this movie. The girls liked it, but I think Deb and I liked it a lot more. It seemed more geared to adults than children. Or it could be that our girls are chickens and don't like scary stuff like dragons.

Over the weekend, Deb and I watched a "chick flick" called "Confessions of a Shopaholic." We were pleasantly surprised by the lack of sex and sexual innuendos in this movie. A few swear words were heard which made us cringe.

Basically, the movie is about a journalist that lucks out in getting a job for a finance magazine. She gets the job to help those in debt while she is heavy in debt herself since she loves to shop and buy. A few things seem to be a stretch--like when her boss tries to get her to write a story that she has no idea how to do it but still gets it done. It did provide some laughs and in the end, all works out.

I gave the movie 5 out of 10 stars on IMDb. I am sure Deb would give it a lot more, but, hey, it's a chick flick!