On March 2nd, Disney and Studio Ghibli released Ponyo on dvd and blu-ray, and special edition dvds of Kiki’s Delivery Service, My Neighbor Totoro, and Castle in the Sky. All of the movies are good, but our two favorites right now are Ponyo and Kiki’s Delivery Service.

Ponyo is a movie about a fish that meets a little boy named Sosuke. He names her Ponyo. After meeting him and spending time on land for a little bit, Ponyo is brought back out to sea by her dad. He keeps her in a bubble, but she tells him she wants to be human, then she breaks out of her bubble and goes back to find Sosuke.
It’s a good movie. I like the character of Ponyo because she is energetic and she likes ham. Sosuke is smart and he’s nice.
The special edition dvds have a lot of bonus features where we can watch Miyazaki talk about the movies he made and why he made them. Those parts are interesting.
Liberty

I like Kiki’s Delivery Service because I just like how the town looks and how the characters act and how Kiki delivers stuff. And Miyazaki films were probably the first anime movies I watched and now I watch all I can! I also like Kiki’s cat, Jiji. And I always like the old-fashioned bakery where Kiki ends up working. And the old lady’s house! And sometimes I feel like I would like to work at a bakery just giving bread to people. And I liked the sound effects. If I lived in a town like Kiki’s, and my mom had to go out and buy something, I would probably go with her and just stare at the town and stuff. In the bonus features, Miyazaki says he wanted the town to look like a bunch of little European towns mashed up, but especially a town in Sweden that he visited and loved.

-Lena

P.S. Disney gave us these DVDs for free.

I’m always looking for movies about awesome women that I can force my daughters to watch, so of course I said “we” would review Amelia, which came out on dvd on February 2nd. Since this site is supposed to be all about what the kids thought, I’ll just tell you that Lena (10), Liberty (10), and Maya (6) were only interested in the scenes in which Amelia was flying. Amelia’s love life was heavily featured and just not interesting to them at this point, and that made them miss the point about Amelia’s courage and strength. We’ll keep it on hand for when the girls are older and can appreciate the many facets of a strong woman’s life, including the “disgusting kissing.”

P.S. Fox gave us this movie for free.

Get ready for the release of season 1 of “Glee”! It’s coming out on December 29th, featuring the first 13 episodes, the director’s cut of the pilot episode, exclusive behind-the-scenes featurettes, and audition videos from the cast.

Exciting, right? Watch “Slushie Jam” and get even more excited:

When we got the pitch to review Disney’s Up, Maya immediately said, “I’ll do that review!” She saw the movie in the theaters and really loved it. Now that review time is here, she said, “I don’t want to be videotaped,” so I asked her what she would say about Up since she liked it so much and she said, “I would say tell Lena to do it.” Okie doke.

The kids are tired of reviewing, but let me tell you, all of the kids and grown-ups in this house loved this movie and some of the grown-ups (probably about 1/2) were so moved by the first 15 lovely minutes that they cried in a most unbecoming way. Pixar is good at the movie stuff.

Maya said her favorite character is “the doggy,” and I would have to agree. Dug is hilarious and lovely. His PR people were kind enough to supply us with the transcrpit to an interview that Dug recently gave. Read it and then go buy Up! It’s in stores everywhere!

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Q: We’re here to talk to Mr. Fredricksen’s dog, Dug.

Dug: Hi there! I just met you. You are nice, I like you! Do you have peanut butter?

Q: No, sorry. I don’t have any right now.

Dug: I am on a mission to find some. It is my favorite. Oh, you are tall.

Q: Yes, thanks. So tell me, do you have friends?

Dug: Oh, yes. I have many friends. There’s Alpha. There’s Beta and Gamma and Epsilon…and Theta—I do not like him. He is smells of bugs—and Kappa and Lambda…

Q: Okay…

Dug: Omicron…Sigma. Delta..

Q: I think we’re good. We got it. What I meant was do you have people friends?

Dug: Oh, yes, I like people. People are nice. Like my new master.

Q: Tell me about him.

Dug: Yes, yes, my new master, not like my other master, no. My new master is very nice. He smells of prunes. He found me while I was on a special mission! I was lost and sad in the fog. The fog makes me sad. Then I was happy to find him! He and Russell are very nice. They have a house with balloons. They like my howling and barking. Can you bark? We can bark together like this, “Woof! Bark! Bark!” Do you want to try howling?

Q: I can’t right now but maybe later. Tell me about your special mission?

Dug: Oh, yes. My pack sent me on a special mission all by myself. And when I found my new master and Russell I found the bird! I wanted to take the bird back to our camp and make him my prisoner—SQUIRRELL!– It was my first time to see the bird up close.

Q: Tell us about your old master.

Dug: He is good and smart my old master. He made me this collar so that I may talk. I am good at talking. I am scratching now. There are fleas. Can you reach under my jaw? I am a good tracker. When I am on a scent I will find what I’m looking for. That’s why my master sends us out—to track the bird. He’s been looking for this bird a long time.

Q: Thank you for talking to us, Dug.

Dug: You are nice. I like you. I am going now. Have you seen the bird? I think I lost the bird and my new master in the trees. The bird is fast and he is tall. You are tall. Do you have any peanut butter?

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs: Diamond Edition comes out today! When Liberty and I were little, we loved Snow White! We watched it at our grandma and grandpa’s house, but we were also a little scared of it at some parts. So we would run in the kitchen and hide.

The new dvd and blu-ray combo pack has lots of interesting extras. I love extras! You can learn all about how the dwarfs were made and the brainstorming that happened before they were made by clicking here.