Two Thumbs Up

I have a few suggestions this week for some family entertainment this holiday season. The journalistic integrity of my blog (?!) requires that I disclose that I am not an unbiased source when it comes to these recommendations.

My first recommendation is The Princess and the Frog. Ryan and I attended the wrap party a couple weeks back, and I thought it was the most beautiful animated film I have ever seen. Ryan thought it was right up there with other classic Disney animated films, and that's after he responded to the trailer with "and they think this is going to do well?" Interesting story about this film is that it's from the same directors who did The Little Mermaid and Aladdin, who were eventually shown the door at Disney, and then brought back again when the Pixar leadership took over. If you want to see the trailer, go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8N-kIiELUA.

My second recommedation is a half-hour Christmas special Disney Animation Studios did for ABC titled Prep and Landing. It premieres December 1 after the Charlie Brown special, so have some peppermint hot cocoa and make a night of it with the fam. I can't do the story justice, so check a little bit of it out for yourself at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etq-d8Ci7uI.

Hope you like it!

Halloween

Halloween has come and gone, but Kieran's Batman fetish is still going strong. His Batman costume is literally beginning to disintegrate. He was very disappointed when the Halloween decorations on the homes and business around here came down. Halloween is serious business in these parts. A house down the street even built a movie-set quality haunted house in their yard. Here are some photos of a few of my favorites:

Here are our first-time trick-or-treaters:

And of course...

We've been watching some of the old Batman and Robin cartoons from the 1960s on YouTube, and I finally understand the context for expressions like "The Dynamic Duo" and "The Boy Wonder" that my dad used all growing up.

Let the holiday season begin!