Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland was a promising movie from the very start. The new cinematic technologies of 3D and CGI (computer-generated imagery) almost seemed to have been invented for this famously hallucinatory story. And the offbeat sensibilities of Tim Burton and Johnny Depp seemed a perfect match to those of the story’s author, Lewis Carroll.
Parents’ Choice reviewer Ann Oldenburg got a special sneak peak of Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland. Here’s what she had to say:
“I loved it. It’s so empowering and full of imagination and I love how it encourages bravery and thinking out of the box. I was worried because Tim Burton can be so dark, but it is fantastic. I expected the movie to be so eerie and scary – Johnny Depp’s face in posters with those shining green eyes is creepy! – that it would get a PG-13 rating. But it’s PG. There is a frightening dog with tons of sharp teeth and a menacing, fierce dragon, but the overall feel of the movie is so much about victory and believing in yourself, that it’s perfectly suitable for tweens. It’s up to parents to decide about any children under 6 or 7. There are odd creatures that I suppose might haunt younger children, but overall I was pleasantly surprised that the movie was more wondrous than weird.”
The Oscar race is on now, and we loved Up, the animated film about a 78-year-old man who ties balloons to his house and flies away, with an 8-year-old stowaway. It’s one of the 10 films nominationed this year for Best Picture, competing against Avatar, The Blind Side, District 9, An Education, The Hurt Locker, Inglourious Basterds, Precious, A Serious Man, and Up in the Air.
Up is also competing for Best Animated Film, a category the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences first opened in 2001. Since then over 30 movies have been nominated in this category including several Parents’ Choice Award winners. Whether you’re warming up for the Oscars or just looking for movies for family movie night, our selection of Oscar-worthy DVDs is a great place to get started.
For more than 40 years, the Coretta Scott King Book Awards have encouraged the artistic expression of the African American experience through literature and graphic arts. The awards honor the late Coretta Scott King, wife of civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., for her commitment to continue her husband’s work to foster peace and brotherhood among all races. “The library community is indebted to the awards for encouraging literature about African American history and culture, and making that history come alive for today’s generation of young readers,” said ALA President Camila Alire.
People are all abuzz about Apple’s new iPad – what will it mean for you and your kids? One parent shares their thoughts:
There has been much speculation about what Apple will be announcing today. Will it be a glorified book reader? An iPod Touch/iPhone on steroids? We will find out very quickly here, and then we can all envision how we could use the device. Will it help you at work? Will it be the perfect commuting partner? Will you use it as the mother of all television remotes? Consider this, though. How will it affect our children? How will they use the tablet?
wired.com, How Will the Apple Tablet Change Our Kids’ Lives?, Jan 2010
