Get Pumped For Marvel's The Avengers: Age of Ultron

By Meg Hodson

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #AvengersUnite #CollectiveBias

It should come as no surprise that in a household with three young children that they get a teensy bit excited about going to the movies. We don't go too often; we save up for the best of the best, It's without question that we will be going to see the new blockbuster Marvel's The Avengers: Age of Ultron when it hits theaters May 1st.

I didn't have to twist my kids' arms when I said we were heading to Wal-Mart to check out all their cool new merchandise for the movie and use the new Marvel's The Avengers: Age of Ultron app, downloadable on Google Play and the iTunes store.

As we navigated the store, I had the app open and ready to scan. It turned into a fun treasure hunt for my kids! I showed them some of the images they needed to keep an eye out for and we scanned them as we reached them, unlocking fun information about the movie. The app is super easy to use. Here are my best tips:

1. On the home screen, you will see many icons below the Marvel's The Avengers: Age of Ultron image. As you click on each one, it will tell you what that category is of the app. Feel free to visit each one for fun content!

2. To scan the images in your local Wal-Mart store, you will press the far left icon, the "discover" icon. That will then take you to the various images you will look for to scan and unlock content.

3. Press each character across the top of the screen to subsequently show each image to scan. When you find a matching image in the store, simply hold up your device to the image. It is super sensitive, so don't worry about having to center it perfectly. It will pick it up and unlock content!

We picked up some pretty fun merchandise as we shopped, too. We splurged and picked up some Doritos and Cheez-It's featuring  Marvel's The Avengers: Age of Ultron characters. My son spied some "incredible" Hulk hands that he just had to have.

Finally, my kids had fun compiling a video showing their excitement for the movie and honoring their favorite characters.

Which Avengers character is your favorite, and why? 

An "I Haven't Seen It" Review of Disney's Frozen

By Meg Hodson

Yep, it's true.  I am one of the 7 people who hasn't seen Frozen yet.  I mean honestly, if you are parents and families out there, I would imagine you only go to the movies a few times a year?  Well, we are selective about what we choose to see in the theaters and what we wait to watch on DVD.  Part of it is cost, part of it is waiting for something worthwhile to see on the big screen.  

This time around, my husband took my kids to see Frozen when it was in the theater.  I stayed home.  I had a little "me" time.  No big deal, right?  Well, they got home and pretty much were GUSHING about this movie.  I was like great, so it was good much like Tangled was?  Even my husband chimed in....."Disney hit it with this one, it is really good."

Photo Credit

I love my share of Disney movies.  I always loved Beauty and the Beast.  I could watch Cars over and over and still hear a joke or one liner that I somehow missed before.  But at the same time, I've had a problem, too.  I've had an issue with Disney princesses.

I am willing to accept that some girls want to follow in the steps of Cinderella and Ariel; they want to be swept off their feet right away and ride off into the sunset with their prince.  But I also want Disney to appreciate that this is not right for all girls; they want to be independent, free spirited, and take a path of discovery that does not involve men......at least for a little while.  What Disney failed at for so many films is always choosing the former as their ideal princess.  Why I'm not sure.  But it always kept a silent grunt churning in the back of my mind.  

Many might say this isn't a big issue; it's make believe, it's a movie, just let the kids have fun.  I didn't have proof or support for my argument either way until I heard a friend relay her story of when she became a stepmother.  She married her husband, who had three young children from a previous marriage.  She became the primary caregiver for them (as well as later having a biological child).  She was bathing them one night when they questioned "You're not like other stepmothers, like in Cinderella?"  It was a touching moment.  It also showed the impression that such themes can have on kids, in this case young girls.  

So, as I sat in the car on our recent road trip, the kids began to watch Frozen.  We had picked up the newly released DVD just a day before we left.  I was prepared to either require headphones for the viewing or get heavily immersed in a book to "tune out" most of the film.  I did want to see Frozen, but I wanted to be genuinely surprised and watch it in the comforts of our living room.  I was able to tune out for the most part, but couldn't help but clearly hear the scene below from the movie:

My ears smiled.  Thank you!  I don't know how many times I've told my daughter that she is not going to marry some guy she just met on a ship when she is 17 (she needs to finish high school, right?)  This is all I had to hear to immediately have a positive impression of the movie.  Throw in some fun humor (aka his best friend's name is John) and in just 2 minutes, I am giving the movie 2 enthusiastic thumbs up.  

Will the rest of the movie live up to my excitement over this scene?  From my kids' insistence that we watch this movie as soon as possible, I venture to say "yes". I can't wait to watch it in it's entirety.  

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A Mom's Review of Thor: The Dark World

Let me preface this review with statement that our household is a huge fan of the Avenger's and all things superhero!  So, I suppose going into the movie, we were slightly biased in being predisposed to liking the movie, but I will try to bring some objective reviewing to this article.  

Thor: The Dark World is the follow up to the original Thor movies from 2 years ago, as well as building off the popular Avengers movie from 2012.  As you might expect, the movie is filled with an enticing storyline, plenty of heroic action, and, of course, good looking people!  What resonated with me and this versus the first Thor, is that Chris Hemsworth (Thor), Anthony Hopkins (Odin), and Tom Hiddleston (Loki) are so believable in their character form.  They play their parts well.  I was surprised at how drawn I was to Loki and wanting him to be good and work with his brother, although he was still full of rage.

Photo courtesy of Telegraph UK

The main reason I choose to write movie reviews is to give my take on whether it's acceptable for you to take your children to.  All parents have a wide scale of what they deem an acceptable movie for young children.  So, I don't bring this review to you as an endorsement per se.  I am merely sharing with you what we are watching, as well as touching on parts of the movie that might be sensitive for some viewers.

The language in the movie is little elevated versus the first movie.  Unofficially, I counted 2 "hells" and 1 "s$*t".  As a parent, I immediately was a little shocked at the "s" word and our children already know that's a word that is sometimes heard, but that we, as a family, choose not to use in everyday conversation.  But generally, I am a liberal but involved when it comes to these types of movies that I let my children watch.

In regards to the action scenes, there are some intense moments of beings becoming "fire ridden".  There are a few up close and personal shots of swords and daggers being driven into other people.  I would compare the intensity of this movie to that of The Avenger's.  I didn't find it as intense as Ironman 3.  

Overall, this movie delivers with great action scenes, some fun, humorous one-liners here and there, and the quintessential Stan Lee cameo tucked in there.  I was comfortable taking my children (9, 7, 5) and we had a great time.

Photo Courtesy of Happy Kids, Inc

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Ready For Takeoff!....A Review of Disney's "Planes"

Was it a little like Cars?  Yeah.  Would kids even care?  Probably not.  Did it eventually find it's way?  Yes!  Disney's Planes opened in theaters today.  My children had been looking forward to it most of the summer.  It's fun to go on opening night, so we planned to make it a family date night.  

The movie starts out exciting, with a Top Gun-like dream sequence. We're then introduced to Dusty, the crop duster who has dreams of entering a big around the world aerial race.  As the story progressed, it was shadowing a little too closely it's predecesor, Cars.  Skipper, the plane that helps Dusty train, echoes the personality of Doc.  They live out in the middle of nowhere (hmmmm, Radiator Springs anyone?).

Thankfully, this walk down memory lane is relatively short-lived and the movie starts to stand on it's own a bit as Dusty qualifies to enter the race.  Set to the tune of a pretty rockin' soundtrack, the race sets off around the world, with a few bumps in the road to try to knock Dusty off his pace (predictable, I know). But the climactic scene where he battles the ocean as he tries to make it to Mexico is realistic and even heart wrenching.  The Top Gun touches with the Navy planes is entertaining, too.

Photo Courtesy of Wikipedia

Photo Courtesy of uk.movies.yahoo.com

In Disney's Planes, we are treated to the quintessential one liners, humor, and thematic play on words (i.e., "hold onto your lug nuts) that made Cars so lovable.  Overall, it was well-done, almost cinematic in it's animation, and the voice characters were top notch.  Yes, although predictable at times, it won't come across that way to your children.  They will enjoy it.  I think as adults critiquing movies aimed at children, we need to see things from their perspective a bit more.  My husband and I agree it made for a great family evening.

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Ironman 3 Review: Would You Take Your Kids?

It's the holiday weekend.  We have no big travel plans, just a laid back 3 day weekend. We don't go to the movies too often, so we thought we would take the whole family today.  We decided on Ironman 3.  

Both myself and my husband screen, yet are fairly liberal when it comes to the movies we let our children watch.  They've seen Pirates of the Caribbean, Jurassic Park, The Avengers, and other similar movies.  My viewpoint on the violence in these movies is that they know that it is make believe.  They also know that this is not how we would choose to act.  If a "bad word" is said in a movie, they immediately call it out and know that is not a word that we would use in our conversations.  

We did a brief survey of some friends who had seen the movie with their children. They did note some intense scenes that might be scary.  My summation was that it seemed like it was going to be comparable to some of the other movies they had seen.

Image care of www.g4tv.com

Ironman 3 proved to be a spectacular movie.  Action packed, a good pace between the storyline/dialogue and the action scenes.  Honestly, it's my favorite Ironman of the series, and probably one of the best action movies I've seen ever!  I won't spoil it for those who have yet to see the movie, but I will note the "bad guys" in the movie were intense and a little alarming and we found ourselves covering the eyes of our 4 year old a few times.  My 9 and 7 year old were comfortable and enjoyed the entire movie.  I also noted exactly two "swear words" (hell and damn, each said once).  

For me, the most questionable part of the movie were the brief shots of girls in bikinis. Although Tony Stark's womanizing is "peppered" by the presence of his main squeeze, Pepper, they still somehow managed to eek in gratuitous scenes of women, a few "playing dumb", in bikinis.  To me, this is more of an issue than violence in movies.  As a mother raising a girl, I am more worried about this and the impression it leaves on her.  

But much like the violence, such a topic takes proper coaching from the parents.  I know that some parents out there would never dream of letting their children watch such a movie.  For me, I don't like the idea of keeping my children too sheltered.  I hope I'm finding the happy medium between the world and how I feel is the best way for them to live within it.  

Would you take your kids to see Ironman 3?

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