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.

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.

Disneynature Earth came out on Blu-Ray and DVD last Tuesday. Did you buy it yet?

I thought it was okay…I really liked it when the ducks jumped out of the nest! (I really like ducks!) :). But Maya kept crying when an animal was about to be eaten. There’s no blood and they don’t really show it all the way (except for a shark part), but there are some cute animals in danger and that made Maya upset. She’s 6. Besides that, I think it was good! And some of the scenes are funny! So I think people who don’t mind animals getting eaten would like this!

The extras were really good and one of the reasons why is because they tell you how they got all the awesome shots because of some special cameras and stuff! All of the scenes are really pretty and now I know why. And there is a lot of funny stuff like a polar bear who isn’t afraid of anything and some cameramen flying into a tree in their hot-air balloon!

Click on the image below to make it bigger and print it out to learn how you can help the polar bears. It’s easy stuff like using reusable bags at the grocery store, or using reusable lunchboxes and water bottles and napkins. You still have until September 15th to use a discount code for water bottles at Baying Hound, remember? Now’s the time!

Lena

Disney is releasing Hannah Montana: The Movie on Blu-Ray and DVD, and Pete’s Dragon: High Flying Edition on DVD on August 18th. I’m not a big Hannah Montana fan, but I guess the movie was cool. Basically, in the movie, she can’t be both Hannah Montanna and Miley Cyrus at the same time. Ginger and Maya liked it a lot, but Maya didn’t want to do the review. I guess she didn’t have to because she’s only 5.

I haven’t watched Pete’s Dragon yet so all I know is that there is a dude named Pete and he has a dragon, and I think the dragon’s name is Elliot. It’s a very old movie. It might be good. I think people who like really old movies would like this one. I guess I might like it because I liked Marry Poppins…I don’t know…

-Lena