The Angry Birds Movie 2 is one that kids will enjoy….for a moment

Our 9 year-old loves going to the movies. He’s a lot like me in that respect, it’s a combination of the relaxation of the film, getting a snack or relaxing for a couple hours. He is almost at the age where he’s able to discern an entertaining movie from a good film. To that end he’s been really excited about seeing The Angry Birds Movie 2. It is what every elementary kid we know is talking about and the reviews have been favorable.

The Angry Birds Movie 2 improves upon the original, but not by much and that’s not saying a lot. Ages 7-9 will enjoy it.

That is, they’ve been favorable if you look at them and then read the review all the way through. The Angry Birds Movie 2 is actually good. It’s the rare film that improves upon the original, and more quotes are out there to talk about the movie. For us this film wasn’t as bad as the first one, which was just slightly better than The Emoji Movie.

So, to that end, The Angry Birds Movie 2 does improve on the original. The film is loaded with jokes, so many jokes that it’s an eventuality that you’ll crack a smile at least once during the movie. Another thing that stuck out for us was its use of music. There dozens of instances of popular song snippets being used to set up scenes. My wife did nudge me when they played The Final Countdown, AKA, the greatest song ever. I forget what scene the song set up, but the :20 of the song was outstanding.

Adults are not the key audience for The Angry Birds Movie 2. For most people over 11 the film will be instantly forgettable. On the way back home I asked the younger son (7YO) if he liked the film. He answered yes and the prattled on about which bird was the funniest, his favorite scene and much to my chagrin, nothing about The Final Countdown. His older brother said that he liked the film, but couldn’t remember one detail about it.

That jibes with what we saw in the movie theater. Our 7YO was laughing out loud and having fun. His older brother was mildly amused and eating popcorn. I suspect that the elder one was there just for the snacks in hindsight.

The plot in The Angry Birds Movie 2 is about a newly discovered island that seeks to crush the red and the black birds. In writing this it’s hard to believe they actually made a first movie about two groups of birds who are out to destroy each other. While this sequel hints at something bigger and better, a la, Minions style, it’s more likely that all of these birds on the big screen will wind up like the Dodo.

Summer matches the season the best of all possible ways

In children’s literature a book is only as good as its illustrations and layout. Summer by Cao Wenxuan with illustrations by Yu Rong is a great illustration of a book that is more than the sum of its parts. Summer starts out with dreamy, pencil-like illustrations of a savannah and the typical creatures that you’d see there. An elephant, lynx, jackal, rhino and others all coexist in the heat. The opening pages of summer match the slower pacing of the season perfectly. As the book goes on the continued heat shortens the patience of our characters and speeds up the pace of the book. The result is a slow build of a book that pays off with reader’s smiling due to the story, its graphic design and colors. 

It’s a testament to musical artists when their releases take on the personality and feel of their title. Alice in Chains did this with Dirt. That release is a benchmark in varied pace grunge that made dirt something you didn’t mind hanging out with. Summer does this too, except it manages to do it at the peak of the day in an already inhospitable area. This book feels hot and this is one bit of heat that you won’t mind feeling.  

All of the animals are hot. There’s not much shade and even fewer trees to provide said shelter. Sometimes it’s the bigger animals that win the break from the sun and other times it’s the small animals that can sneak into the nooks and crannies of the tree. But, everybody has their breaking point and even the non-anthropomorphic animals in Summer get short at each other when it gets too hot.

It’s right about here when they all see a father and son walking across the arid grassland. They notice that the shadow of the much taller father is shading his son. All of the animals realize that between all of them they have a variety of sizes and could probably do the same thing.

This is where the layout of the book seals the deal and delivers the payoff. The first page is 1/6 with a lowly lynx providing shade to a mouse. The next sixth of a page has the jackal giving shade to those two. Other bigger animals join the shade train until they’re all much cooler, when a cloud floats by and provides relief to them all.

It’s a book about the heat of summer, combined with a lesson about sharing with other, as well as being patient. OK, that last one isn’t too much of a lesson, but kids will enjoy looking at the art, reading the poetry and deciding which animal is their favorite. The text is simple enough for second graders to read by themselves. There are some sight words for emerging readers to practice on and that age will love the animals and final pages where they provide shade for one another.

The other thing about Summer is that it feels like it could be part of a series. Granted that’s due to the fact that we know something happens after summer, but if Wenxuan and Rong are able to produce as high a quality tale for fall, winter or spring we’d be all in.

Dora and the Lost City of Gold, too much nostalgia in the backpack

I’ve never seen an episode of Dora the Explorer. I was familiar with her talking backpack, can-do attitude and educational elements through pop culture, but missed watching that period of Nickelodeon on TV. Because of that, I’m not brining any memories or baggage, be them good or bad to this review. The film reminds peoples about the difference of a film being good, entertaining or both. As a film, it’s entertaining, but it’s not very good, yet, I didn’t dislike the film either.

Dora and the Lost City of Gold is rated PG and has the action, mystery and humor that elementary kids want to see. This incarnation of Dora has her as a teenager in high school and not the 7 year-old that audiences remember her from on television. That was a wise move as it opens up the film to many more people who would not have accepted a CGI Dora. This fact certainly also saved them some money when it came to production costs.

To adults the film borrows heavily from Indiana Jones. It doesn’t matter which one because there were traces of each film in Dora and the Lost City of Gold. The soundtrack in the film was good, but also felt borrowed from those films. The only thing missing was Dora saying “snakes, why did it have to be snakes”, to make the inspiration more transparent.

Dora grows up in the jungle with Diego until they’re about seven years-old and then he moves to Los Angeles. She stays there for 10 more years until her parents have to go searching for a lost city, supposedly made of gold.

The advertising for the film did an excellent job. It’s the sole reason why a nine year-old who has never seen Dora wanted to see the film. It does bill itself as a very kid friendly Indiana Jones, albeit with a backpack and monkey best friend.

The kids enjoyed the movie well enough, but it didn’t leave an impression on them. When I asked them if they liked the film they both said yes. When I asked them what they liked about it they couldn’t say anything and there were no laugh-out-loud moments or action sequences that kept them on the edge of their seats.

For me the film was forgettable, but one that I really couldn’t dislike. Part of that is due to Isabela Moner who portrays Dora. She’s enthusiastic, packed with energy and makes the formerly 2D character her own. The other reason is Eugenio Derbez. He’s a manic comedian with fabulous facial expressions that lights up just about anything he’s in.

Ultimately Dora and the Lost City of Gold is a missed opportunity. It’s certainly full of charm, but not enough to be memorable. The film seemed lost between wanting to establish nostalgic connections with existing fans and creating an older story line that would allow it to demo up. In the end, it’s Tomb Raider lite, very lite, that will be entertaining for deeply nostalgic high school students and elementary kids.

All age comic books for August 14

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This is a great week for all age comic books. The 500 pound gorilla in elementary school graphic novels returns with their latest book. Dog Man-For Whom The Ball Rolls hits books stores and is guaranteed to be all that elementary school readers are talking about this week. Resistance is futile and kids will love this series. Slightly older readers in middle school and up will love Science Comics Cats: Nature and Nurture. This ongoing series from :01 First Second books takes a non-fiction look at various subjects and makes them entertaining and fun to read. Some cool all age comic books this week include Star Wars Adventures Annual, Usagi Yojimbo, Unbeatable Squirrel Girl and more.

Are you new here? Check out the grading system that will hook you into exactly what ages the book you’re looking at is enjoyable for.

Pre-K: those crawlers, toddlers and early walkers 2-5

E: Anyone in elementary school will enjoy this book. 

LE: Lower elementary readers who are 4-8 will enjoy this book.

UE: Upper elementary readers are those who are 9 and up.

M: M is for middle school, those readers that are 12 and up. 

H: H is for high school and you won’t see much of that here. 

Humor

Dog Man For Whom The Ball Rolls, E, M

Dog Man, For Whom The Ball Rolls is one of the best all age comic books of this week.
Jim Henson's Fraggle Rock, Where Is It?

Mickey Mouse TPB Quest for Missing Memories, M

My Little Pony Spirit of the Forest #3 of #3, E, M Uncle Scrooge Colossal Coin Calamity, M Superhero Amazing Spider-Man #27, UE, M, H Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #10, EU, M, H Go Go Power Rangers #22, M, H

Marvel Spider-Man Steals the Show, Pre-K, LE

Spider-Man Steals the Show, great for pre-K through early elementary

Miles Morales Spider-Man #9, UE, M, H

Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #47, UE, M, H What is the Story of Wonder Woman? UE, M Action/Science-fiction Adventure Time, UE, M, H

Dunkirk, M, H

Dunkirk by Sam Glanzman, great for middle and high school readers

Marie Curie, A Life of Discovery, H

Marie Curie, Life of Discovery is great for middle and high school readers.

Powers in Action #4, E

Science Comics Cats, Nature and Nurture, UE, M, H

Science Comics from :01 First Second has some of the best graphic novels out there. Cats will educate in a soft sell, informative way that allows readers to have fun whilst doing so.
Star Wars Adventures Annual 2019, E, M Usagi Yojimbo #3, UE, M, H

The Swan Princess: Kingdom of Music is elementary-girl comfort viewing

The Swan Princess and its lineage of films are impressive in what they’ve accomplished. The first one was released in 1994 and directed by Richard Rich, a former Disney animation director. Since then the story has gone on to produce nine films which are all interconnect to some extent. The newest one, The Swan Princess: Kingdom of Music has a current singing contest storyline that elementary and middle school fans will relate to. Of course it ties into Princess Odette, Derek and all manner of G rated fun that younger fans will enjoy.

We watched the film with two boys, both of whom enjoyed it. I thought that a singing, princess oriented film would be like Kryptonite to the soul of a 7 and 9-year old boy, but I was mistaken. 

Both of these guys were completely unfamiliar with The Swan Princess, which has gained a cult following in the past 25 years. Since then the characters from the film have branched out to where the title of this DVD isn’t even Since then the characters from the film have branched out to where the titular character of this DVD isn’t even one of the main characters, but that’ll suit young viewers just fine.

Kingdom of Music focuses on the story of a Chinese prince, Prince Li, who is also the best singer in the land. Odette is having a singing contest to celebrate Princess Alise’s birthday and he has to travel from far across the ocean to take part in a contest that he’s primed to win. Alas, Li’s sister is in love with someone who’s cursed to spend his days as a flying serpent, except for the minute that happens just before sunset. Will true love find a way to break this curse? And if so, who will the enchanted couple be?

The Swan Princess Kingdom of Music is entertaining for elementary school kids. Adults will see too much of the uncanny valley in some of the CGI scenes. They look human, but something is just slightly off, like Tom Hanks in that train Christmas train movie. Fans of The Swan Princess story will look forward to and feel obligated to see the film. Elementary aged new brand new viewers will mildly enjoy the film and hope that their parents don’t come in and talk to them. Some fans will also roll their eyes at the to be continued…. message at the end of the film. Spoiler alert.

If your kids are knee deep in The Swan Princess then they’ll want to keep an eye out for the 25th anniversary DVD release coming out.

100% Unofficial Fortnite Pro Guide is more basic than its name implies

When I look at Fortnight I see absolutely nothing that I can identify with. Upper elementary school aged kids, through middle schoolers see something totally opposite. Fornite is a Rorschach Test where gamers see victorious avatars dancing victoriously over their opponents and I see dystopian characters who look like a cosplay version of So You Think You Can Dance. 100% Unofficial Fornite Pro Guide is a book that even those who’ve been playing the game for a short period will benefit from. The reading level is on par with those upper elementary age students that want to up their game or reinforce what they know about one of the world’s most popular video games.

Fornite is by any estimation a massive, world-wide phenomenon. It’s played by more than 25 million people and season 10 of Fortnite has just been released. Even our 7 year-old, who has only played less than a dozen video games, is familiar with Fortnite. He’s also in love with the concept of playing it, which he’ll do soon enough.

We gave 100% Unofficial Fortnite Pro Guide to an 11 year-old gamer who says that he’s very good at Fornite. After giving him an hour or two to read the book I went back to find him on his phone…playing Fortnite.

Me: How was the book?

11 YO Gamer: Good.

Me: So, did you learn anything from it? Where there any top secret tips? (in hindsight, I might have asked this too eagerly….)

11 YO Gamer: No, I knew everything.

Oh, do you really? So I picked up the book and thumbed through to ask him five pop questions from it. What are the four areas? Who is Bonesy? There were a couple other questions, but he gave me such a surly sideways stare I realized that he did know everything in this book and I just looked like the out-of-touch middle aged dad who didn’t know the deal.

Retreating back for a moment I asked “what’s the stock ticker for the company that owns Fortnite”? “Well, Epic Games owns Fornite”, he said. I game him partial credit for that answer and directed him towards Tencent.

100% Unofficial Fortnite Pro Guide is a good, more basic book than its name would imply. For non-users it looks and feels like a pro guide, however those Fornite players that are 11 and up are likely to know the majority of the tips in the book. If you’re brand new to Fornite, this is a good primer as it’ll hardwire you about the basics and what add-ons help you play like a better gamer.

Ready to Read adds non-fiction and emerging readers will love it

The Ready to Read book series from Simon & Schuster are one of our favorite books for emerging readers. They’re jammed with color, are perfectly priced and have large-but not too large of a font size. If the font is too large then the inference is that it’s a baby book and they are not baby books. The reading level is labeled as perfect as a children’s book can be. From the front cover you can see what level the book is and on the back cover you can read a more detailed explanation about each of the levels so that readers can have something to aim for on the next level. We love these books. The only problem, until now is that there were no non-fiction titles.

If You Love Dolphins You Could Be….. is the first in a growing line of non-fiction books from the awesome series of Ready to Read books.

They’ve solved this problem with If You Love Dolphins You Could Be and If You Love Video Games You Could Be. Each book has the same format of the Ready to Read books that parents have enjoyed for years, but with an educational, fun and non-fiction direction. Both of these books work and elementary school readers will enjoy the more ‘adult’ content matter.

If You Love Dolphins You Could Be….. is the first in a growing line of non-fiction books from the awesome series of Ready to Read books.

Adult is all relative. We’re not talking about unicorns or superheroes here. The presentation is the same, but in these books we’re learning about a variety of careers that people can aspire to be. In If You Love Dolphins You Could Be has a detailed overview of three careers that involve dolphins or other sea life. On one page there is a glossary of some other sea based careers like an oceanographer, environmental lawyer, underwater archeologist and more.

If You Love Dolphins You Could Be….. is the first in a growing line of non-fiction books from the awesome series of Ready to Read books.

For us these books are perfect. We have a 7 year-old that is a little slow in reading. He is able to read lots of sight words and some bigger words, but has trouble putting them together as he reads. He’s also behind, according to his teachers and that could impact his confidence. As a parent, we want him to read what he wants to read (which means more reading!), but we also would prefer it to be something educational. Call it the Trojan Horse approach to getting books in the hands of emerging readers.  

If You Love Dolphins You Could Be….. is the first in a growing line of non-fiction books from the awesome series of Ready to Read books.

The price point for these books, relative to their colors and how much kids enjoy them is also a great value. The request for non-fiction books in the Ready to Read series was presented to the publisher by lots of educators and teachers. Like me, they loved the format of the books and how much kids love reading them, but wanted more educational options. At the end of each of these books is a graphic that announces that more books are coming. That is a great and needed thing. Kids love to dream about what they’ll do when they get big and there are thousands of options beyond the stereotypical firefighter, lawyer or doctor.

Win a family 4-pack of tickets to see The Angry Birds Movie 2

One of the bigger surprises a couple of years ago was The Angry Birds Movie. I know that our children loved it and the film made almost four times its budget. Granted, box office success doesn’t guarantee a quality movie, but it does prime the pump for a sequel. The Angry Birds Movie 2 is one that our kids have been itching to see ever since they saw the trailer. It opens in theaters on Wednesday, August 14 and we’re giving away family 4-packs of tickets to the Atlanta sneak preview of the film.

Win a family 4-pack of tickets to The Angry Birds Movie 2 Atlanta sneak preview on 8/8. We’re frenemies and the movie looks fabulous.

The Atlanta sneak preview of The Angry Birds Movie 2 is Saturday, August 10 at 11AM. We’ve got four 4-packs of tickets to the show. To enter to win a package leave a comment in the blog post or RT this:

We’ll pick the winners of the packages Thursday afternoon, August 8 at 4:00. Thanks-and good luck!

Update! We just heard that Red, the large and in-charge Angry Bird himself will be at this sneak preview. Be sure to bring your camera so that you can get a photo of big Red and your kids. Red will also be appearing that night at KIDZ BOP Live Atlanta later that night. It’s two chances to meet Red, don’t miss out or you’ll be green of those who did.

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