2019-03-30T20:00:00-04:00 | Page 2 of 3

Didi Dodo, Future Spy: Recipe for Disaster is an elementary school go-to

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Inspector Flytrap approves. For that matter, so do Princess Labelmaker, Emperor Pickeltine, Origami Yoda and many others. Tom Angleberger is the author that lives in your child’s library. The Strange Case of Origami Yoda and its series is what your middle school student knows the best. That series of books has sold more than four million copies. The elementary school reader knows Inspector Flytrap and laughed along the way with this very enjoyable series. Now, from the pages of Inspector Flytrap comes Didi Dodo, Future Spy: Recipe for Disaster. This is the first in a three-book mini-series about a spy who is also a dodo and your first through fourth grade readers will love this book.

Our fourth grade student took the book from my office and promptly misplaced it. Coincidentally, he lost it after he read it, so he was able to tell me that it was great, very funny and much like Inspector Flytrap. I asked him to go into detail about the book and all he could remember was that it was about Didi Dodo and a stolen brownie recipe. “Oh, but you’ll love it”, he reassured me.

Sure enough, after finding the book he was right. Didi Dodo, Future Spy: Recipe for Disaster is just the sort of book that kids in fist through fourth grade will love. Those on the younger side of that range will need to read it with someone older, but those third graders will be able to breeze through the book and enjoy every moment.

It has the same vibe as Inspector Flytrap and that’s because Angleberger wanted this character to live in the same world as her erstwhile bug eating friend. He’s creating his own elementary school, early chapter book universe where they can cross over, ever so briefly for a cameo, guest spot or assistance solving crimes. There is a little crossover in this book, but for the most part it’s all Didi Dodo, plus Koko Dodo-who is a great baker, Cousin Yuk Yuk, Penguini and a couple others.

The chapters in the book are short enough for struggling readers to read one and feel accomplished. They’re also short enough for. The book is also complimented with illustrations by Jared Chapman. Chapman has a way of drawing characters that perfectly capture the chaos and mayhem that they’re thinking. You’re looking for an angry yak that looks like Slim Pickens mixed with a James Bond villain? No problem he’s in the book and provides horsepower of energy to keep our future spy hero on the run towards success.

Didi Dodo: Future Spy, Recipe for Disaster is great. Kids will reread it a couple of times and then ask when the next one comes out. This is where you can recommend Inspector Flytrap if they’re in elementary school or age them up a bit for the Origami Yoda series. Either way they’ll have a hoot of a time while they wait for the next one.

Master Z, Ip Man Legacy succeeds as a film, not just a martial arts movie

I do love martial arts films. Even when they’re bad, they have entertainment potential for me. It’s some of those films, as well as, James Bond films that require them to be graded on a curve with a caveat. Master Z stems from the Ip Man films, which are entering their fourth incarnation, but have required the “good for a martial arts movie” caveat since the second one. Master Z has a title that belies its quality. This is a grade A martial arts movie that entertains martial arts fans, action movie audiences and might just convince casual movie goers to give these films a chance.

Master Z starts out with our titular character (played by Max Zhang) announcing that he’s giving up the fast-hands-for-hire game and going legit, but not before he’s challenged by an equally fast paced opponent. He’s done some bad things for good reasons, but now Cheung Tin Chi wants to go straight and narrow, spend some time with his son and avoid danger and the police. He opens up a grocery store, but danger, the growing crime scene and a drug underbelly can’t avoid the man who almost beat Ip Man.

Granted, I’m glossing over some of the plot details. Part of that is because martial arts fans know what to expect from these genre films. The other reason is that Master Z swims in some of these tropes, but it also splashes headlong against them.

The women are victims. Yes, there are some weak women in Master Z; but one of the baddest, strongest characters is a woman (the legendary Michelle Yeoh) and there is also a great scene where Liu Yan helps defend her friend against a gang of thugs.

Children as ploys are another tropes in films, not just martial arts films, and this is no exception. However, in Master Z it’s handled quite well and the audience is given just enough exposure to believe that he’s a father who loves his son, without it being child endangerment.

Yeoh is a pleasure to see on screen. She’s speaking her native tongue and crackles in every scene that she’s in. Max Zhang also does a great job balancing the drama of caring for his son, adapting the western nightlife of Bar Street and the eventual villains that make their way in.

There is some stunt casting in Master Z that might not pay off as well as you’d like. Tony Jaa is in the film, but it’s only for a couple sequences. Having said that, he’s still great to see and anytime he can be seen in a quality vehicle, even for a couple of minutes is welcome.

What ties all of this together is the action. The fight sequences are amazing and rarely let up. A great example of this is when I left the screen for: 30 to get a snack and came back in to a full on battle. It was that natural down time in martial arts films where the characters get together, talk about their family and then figure out what to do about the town bad guy. I took a snack break then, but it was a fake out from Master Z that just served up more action.

Master Z is directed by Yuen Woo-Ping, the legendary Hong Kong director who did the action choreography for The Matrix trilogy, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and more. From watching Master Z, even if you haven’t seen his other work, it’s obvious that there’s something different about this film. This is fun. It’s quickly paced, has some great humor and photography that makes you take notice. If you enjoy martial arts films you must put Master Z on your to-be-seen list. If you’re a casual action film fan this is one that you’ll want to check out.

The rating for Master Z is probably PG-13, and it’s a middle PG-13 rating. There are life and death elements, but they’re presented in ways that aren’t graphic. Ages 12 and up should be fine with everything here.

All age comic books for April 17

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New comic book day is every Wednesday. As part of this day there are dozens of great all age comic books, many of which will be great for ages 6 and up. Yes Virginia, comic books for the elementary school age audience. They exist and are easier to find than you might otherwise think. In the podcast we’ll chat about buying children’s books by the pound, Steven Universe, DC Super Friends, William the Last, Detective Comics the Complete Covers and more. For now let’s look at three comic books that will entertain those elementary and middle school students who are looking for a cool read.

Star Wars Adventures, #20

Star Wars Adventures brings the fun back to a galaxy far, far away. This monthly series from IDW publishing covers all areas of the Star Wars universe with a very kid friendly twist. The art and content are OK for elementary school aged and up, but because it’s also Star Wars, those older kids might want to dig into it too. There are usually two stories in each issue, a longer one that is more action oriented and a shorter one that’s more comedic. This is one of the gateway reading vehicles that kids will love and it’s also a great comic book and the fact that it has both characteristics is quite the treat.

Adventure Time Marcy & Simon

What happened after Adventure Time ended its run on Cartoon Network? Well, the characters are still producing new mini-series of comic books on Boom! Studios. Adventure Time, Marcy & Simoon #4 of #6 is out this week and sees Simon and Ice King fighting to see who’s the top dog. Fans of Adventure Time, those middle school students (or older) who are looking for something fun and tripp will dig this.

Lumberjanes

Lumberjanes is a great comic book. The fact that’s it’s one of the great all age comic books is even more impressive. It’s as much a comedic comic book as it is jammed with science-fiction. In this issue our campers discover a dangerous creature in the woods. Toss in lots of friendship, great art, quick wit stories that upper elementary school and up will love and you’ve got Lumberjanes. Pick up any issue of this series from Boom! Studios and you won’t be disappointed.

Humor

Superhero Science-fiction/Action

Missing Link will wow, impress and entertain ages 7 and up

We look forward to every film that Laika puts out. It’s ironic that as a youth stop-motion animation scared me, but now it’s an art form that I’ll go out of my way to view. It’s even more ironic that our 9 year-old loves the medium also. He was all in from the moment he saw the trailer for Missing Link. I was in also, but much like when we saw Kubo and the Two Strings, we had to check our reviewer hat at the door.

Sir Lionel Frost (left) voiced by Hugh Jackman and Mr. Link (right) voiced by Zach Galifianakis in director Chris Butler’s MISSING LINK, a Laika Studios Production and Annapurna Pictures release. Credit : Laika Studios / Annapurna Pictures

First off, as a technical exercise in film-making, Missing Link is masterful. The film employs stop-motion animation, 3-D printing, puppets and more. From a movie wonk perspective the film is stunning, but movie geeks are looking for these things. Impress me, I say to myself as I see a film from Laika-and they never fail to do so. Missing Link raises the animation bar from its already high standard from Kubo.

Did you ever see Wallace and Gromit, The Wrong Trousers? There’s a sequence in there where Wallace is chasing the penguin while riding a train set. When I first saw that I was amazed. There is so much movement in each shot, coupled with entertainment and laughs for an almost silent film that it (still) blows me away.

There are multiple scenes in Missing Link that gave me that same feeling. Early in the film our explorer, Sir Lionel Frost, voiced by Hugh Jackman, crosses a shallow pond to meet the mysterious author of a note that was sent to him. When Frost’s foot enters the pond, as well as, a couple other water/ice scenes were jaw dropping. I know it’s a scale model clay figure, but they feel human and make us care about them.

So, the film was a technical marvel, we kind of expect that from Laika. I took two 9 year-olds to see the film, did they like it? One of them had never seen a stop-motion film before and was a bit confused. They both enjoyed the film, as much as a 9 year-old can, but they weren’t doing cartwheels as they left the theater.

On the other hand, I was reeling in its moments, the obvious humor, the very dry humor (courtesy of Zach Galifiankis as Mr. Link), the dry/icy puns put forth by Emma Thompson and more. As an adult, who loves great movies, this was a great time at the cinema that will be repeated many times at home. We also took a 7 year-old to the theater and he laughed the loudest. Perhaps most surpsingly, he laughed at the dry part of the film, which promptly led us to go home and watch some episodes of Mr. Bean or Monty Python.

Personally, this is the best Laika film. It’s wildly entertaining, varied and has a cohesive, linear story that checks off all of the stop-motion dots. It’s a gorgeous time at the cinema for fans of Laika, stop-motion movies. For those outside of those camps it’s still entertaining. For example, our neighbor saw the film and thought it was ‘cute’, while his 9 year-old daughter thought that it was entertaining. We’ll invite the two of them over to watch Kubo or Wallace and Gromit later.

Missing Link is art, yet it’s approachable art for elementary school ages and up that like entertaining films. The curve ball happens because Laika has produced something so different to what most audiences have seen. It’s not different as in ‘challenging’, it’s just a form of animation that they may not be used to seeing. Case in point, Missing Link is leagues above the most recent PG rated film that they saw, which was computer animated. This is heart, soul and fun, but some younger audiences might not see it over the clay skin that they’re wearing.

All age comic books for April 10

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This week the new all age comic books are laden with some great choices for readers as young as 6 years old. To be clear, this is a laden swallow, whose airspeed velocity is certainly comprised, especially if it’s an African Swallow as they don’t migrate. Over in the podcast we’ll chat about a cool coloring book from Disney for older audiences, Science Comics: Weather from :01 First Second, Wonder Twins and much more. For now, here are three great releases that will tickle the reading fancy of those 6 and up.

Clyde, by Jim Benton

You know Jim Benton’s work. Dear Dumb Diary, Dog Butts and Love, Franny K. Stein, Victor Shmud and more he’s an artist and author whose style you’ll recognize. Catwad came out last week. Clyde is out this week and is flat out funny for in second grade and up. It’s an original graphic novel about a grizzly bear who leaves his comfortable cave for the city, where he meets a butterfly from the wrong side of the tracks.

The Mutts Summer Diaries, by Patrick McDonnell

It’s Mutts, but with each comic strip set in the summer, take my money. We love Mutts, it’s a classic comic strip that can be funny one day, even funnier the next, remind you that cats (and dogs!) are awesome and make us laugh or possibly even adopt one. The Mutts Summer Diaries is a collection previously released strips that will appeal to those 6 and up.

Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, #43

Unbeatable Squirrel Girl is the equivalent to all age comic books of Deadpool. She’s irreverent, funny, faces danger and deals with bad guys in her own particular, squirrel way. There is some reading in Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, so it might be too much for seven year olds. However, those reading eight year olds or older that want something fun, hip and impossibly cool need to read this series. Each issue of this monthly series is trippy and lots of fun.

Humor

Superhero

Action/Science-fiction

Bumblbee morphs into quality entertainment in an unlikely IP universe

I didn’t believe the hype. It’s the best Transformers film yet is what all of my friends (and critics) said about Bumblebee. I was burned once too often by a Transformers movie that promised entertainment; but instead delivered robot mayhem that made the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers television show seem like high theater. Now that we’ve seen Bumblebee, we can attest that the word is correct and this film quickly leaves all of the other films by its namesake in its rear view mirror.

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I get the feeling that there is more to this box than meets they eye. #bumblebee, #productprovided, #transformers The movie review is coming up tonight.

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Why was Bumblebee so entertaining? The film takes place in 1987 and certainly benefits from some of the time warp gags that the 80’s can bring, but that’s not the main reason. The lead character is Charlie, played by Haliee Steinfeld, but the movie doesn’t succeed solely because the lead character is gender swapped, a la Ghostbusters 2016.* The soundtrack in Bumblebee is great, even if you’re not an 80’s aficionado.

Nay, the reason why Bumblebee is great is because of the one thing that people who had seen the previous films in the Transformers universe seem to have forgotten, the importance of plot and character development. Early in the Transformers’ films history we were hypnotized by huge robots, excising damage to cities and feigning some human drama in hopes of making the plot stick. After two films the produces were simply trying in vain to get Megan Fox to sign back on in hopes of bringing the teen boys back to the theater.

Because Bumblebee takes place in 1987 it doesn’t have that baggage of needing to acknowledge any of the other films. That is one of the film’s biggest blessings. Pardon the pun, but this is a fresh, fun and unexpected vehicle that will exceed your expectations.

Our 9 year-old saw Bumblebee and absolutely loved it. One of his friends, who had seen some of the other Transformers films, was restless and wanted more chaos (see: stupidity). Bumblebee has lots of action, but it also takes its time setting up the large action sequences with characters that you actually want to see. It’s a film that is able to cross over to those action movie fans, but were scared of the cheese that the previous films in the Transformers universe put forth. It’s a much of a paradigm shift for the Fast and the Furious series when The Rock joined them and catapulted them to the billion dollar level. Bumblebee saves the franchise from going down the gorgonzola highway, now if the next movies can follow suit we’ll readily encourage his younger brother to seek them out.

We were also sent a handful of Transformers toys to play and with and (spoiler alert) the kids loved them. The younger one already knew Transformers, but hasn’t seen any of the films. He had read some of the comic books, like the Star Trek Vs. Transformers series (that was fabulous!), but it’s the toys that have carried these characters from the 80’s to where they are now. All of them were durable, very well constructed and simple for a 7 year-old, who isn’t quite old enough to see the films yet, to use on their own.

*which was horrible

Shazam! is super-fun and great entertainment for 9 and up

Movies from DC Comics and Stephen King need to go bowling or form a support group. People will talk about them, see them in theaters but might add the caveat ‘for a DC Comic movie’ or ‘for a Stephen King film’ when describing them in a positive light. Shazam! is a very entertaining film and is just the sort of superhero film that upper middle school ages and up will love. We saw it with a pair of highly excitable 9 year-old boys who couldn’t get enough of the humor, charm and humility of it all.

Movies based in the DCEU have been frustratingly inconsistent. They are on a roll lately. If you count Teen Titans GO! To The Movies, that makes the most recent three films that have been exceeded their box office multiple times over, as well as, a favorable critical response. Given the huge cannon of superheroes and stories that DC is able to produce, it’s likely that with Shazam! they can finally shake that suffix adjective of ‘for a DC Comic movie’.

Shazam! is rated PG-13 and firmly sits in the middle of that rating. The violence wasn’t too much for kids of the age we went with, nor was the language. There were a couple choice 4-letter words, but it’s nothing that they haven’t heard in school and our two audience members knew not to repeat them. The violence was a little more than I expected, specifically, a monster sticking a human into his mouth and then (presumably) biting his head off. Again, this is common for PG-13 films like Jurassic (insert sequel here), but it caught our kids off guard. After the film one of them said, “aw, it’s OK, DC has better villains so that just set things up”.

The greatness of Shazam! also lays in its trailer. The trailer sets up the film, but gives absolutely nothing away. The similarities beween Shazham! and Superman are too many to name. The unknown variables of Shazam! are huge too. The film bridges both of these by setting up the mythos, as well as, letting audiences know that it too is aware of the superhero tropes.

The kids in the film are completely relatable and ones that kids in third grade and up will understand. Ours were laughing out loud and actively cheering on our hero as the film went along. The story in the film is also one that they will easily be able to follow. There are friends like they have, be them good, bad or the bullies.

Shazam! was enjoyable up until the very last frame. It has surprises aplenty and keeps them very close to the chest so that even the most ardent DC fan will see them coming. Middle school and up see this movie without question. Elementary school and up use caution for the language and some action, but ages 9 and up should be OK.

Storm Boy, Pelecanus drama maximus-a la Old Yeller, but with guilt

Storm Boy is based on a revered Australian book by the same name. Published in 1964 and later made into a film in 1976, it seems as germane to growing up down under as their young American contemporaries must do in watching The Sandlot or The Wizard of Oz. If you’re new to how respected this intellectual property is I’ll quote the thespian J. Lo in how to approach Storm Boy in saying “Don’t be fooled by the rocks that I got”. Except, in this case, the ‘rocks’ are the film, ‘got’ is that it might be entertaining for children and I completely blame my wife for getting that earworm stuck in my head.

I thought it was a children’s film. Look at the poster for the film, it has a young boy hugging a pelican. This looks just like an Old Yeller poster would look if that film were re-imagined for today, I initially thought. Wait a minute, Old Yeller was a 50’s film that they showed us in school when teachers needed a break or students had to be taught that it’s OK to have feelings about a lovable, yet now rabid dog. That wasn’t really a film for children at all, was it?

I completely understand the fact that children must be taught the lessons of loss and the hardships of life. Many times it’s far easier to teach these lessons through film, then to have them experience it first- hand. I’m not the type of parent that bubble wraps our kids. Actions have consequences and sometimes it’s better to teach these things with real people or animals, instead of CGI characters that get traded or fall down the PIXAR memory hole.

To that end, Storm Boy is a gorgeously shot film that serves as much as a travel advert for Australia as it does a drama. The beaches are amazing and some of the shots with the pelicans are guaranteed to induce wanderlust. The film might be engaging for audiences middle school and older, just be ready for a heavy, slow paced film that requires your attention. There is a taut dramatic line that the film creates, it was just hard for us to stay on that line with a not-so-serious 9 year-old.

He was into it far longer than I thought he would be, but by the 50 minute mark he was wiggling, asking me questions and wishing that this was animated, had superheroes or fart jokes in it. And maybe that’s the point of Storm Boy, this is an old soul film that requires your attention and does deliver it in a dramatic fashion. There are also modern elements of guilt that older audience will roll their eyes at. The stereotypical teen daughter who is angry and her dad who is not listening to the press over environmental aspects of their business which strains the grandfather/son relationship and where the heck is the pelican to save this film??! That’s what I was thinking.

Pelicans are awesome. For older drama movie fans Storm Boy might be also, but younger audiences will tire of scenes where the pelican isn’t the star. Unfortunately, that would be for about 70% of the film. Storm Boy opens in theaters on April 5.