Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel

Last week, I saw "Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel." In this movie, they were trying to win a singing contest. They were competing against the Chipettes, the girl chipmunks.

My favorite part of the movie was the Chipettes singing. Their singing was like rock and roll. It was kind of funny when Alvin was in the football game, and he caught the ball. He scored a touchdown and won the game. All of his friends said, "Good job, Alvin!"

The scariest part of the movie was when the mean man trapped the Chipettes in a cage and wanted them to go in a rock band that they didn't want to be in. Alvin saved them by flying a remote controlled helicopter!

I would recommend this movie to anyone in the world who likes the Chipmunks, because it was really cool.

See you soon! Bye!

Up

"For Christmas, I got the movie 'Up.' The saddest part of the movie was when Carl hit the construction worker in the head, and Carl had to move. It was sad because Carl lived in that house for a long time, and the place he went had mean dogs.

"The scariest part of the movie was when the dogs chased Carl and Russell. The dogs had really big teeth and they growled and barked really loud.

"The happiest part of the movie was when they got Kevin, the bird, back.

"The coolest part was when all of those balloons came out of the chimney. I didn't know that the whole balloon stack could fit up that chimney. It was cool to see the house fly, because I've never seen a house fly before.

"I would recommend this movie to my friends. It was happy at the end when Carl gave Russell his badge.

"Thanks for visiting me. Bye!"

The Princess and the Frog

The very first movie Sarah saw in a REAL movie theater was "The Princess and the Frog." It quickly became one of her very favorite movies of all. Here is what she has to say about it:

"My favorite part of the movie was when the Princess and the Frog got married at the end. I liked this part because then they became friends and lived happily ever after. When they got married, it made me feel really happy because they got a lot of flowers at the end, and I really like flowers.

"The scariest part of the movie was when Dr. Facilier, a voodoo magician, was trying to get the Prince's blood. When they broke the necklace, he wanted to take the prince's blood so the spell would not be broken.

"The funniest part of the movie was when Charlotte said, 'The prince is going to come to the ball! The prince is going to come to the ball!' She was dancing around and leaning on the table and making the coffee fall over.

"The saddest part of the movie was when Raymond, the firefly, died. But it wasn't too sad, because he got to go live in the sky as a star.

"I liked this movie so much because it was new and I saw it in a real movie theater. My favorite characters were Prince Naveen and Charlotte. I liked Charlotte because she was funny and so excited in the movie.

Thanks for visiting me! Good-bye!"

Welcome to Cinema with Sarah!

Greetings, and welcome to "Cinema with Sarah," a blog for cinema-centric kids, by a cinema-centric kid! As a mom, I've always had mixed feelings about my daughter watching movies and videos. On the one hand, depending upon who you ask, all media is evil incarnate, and should be avoided at all costs. And for us, it was, until Sarah was about two-and-a-half. But then, we stumbled upon "Blues Clues," and away we went--full-on into the land of children's media. Admittedly, some of it is pretty bad. However, some of it, like "Blues" and "Kipper" and other family favorites, is pretty darn good.

As Sarah has gotten older, her taste in movies and videos has shifted (of course). In fact, she just saw her very first movie in a REAL theater--Disney's "The Princess and the Frog." And wow--what an impression that made on her. For weeks afterwords, she kept asking me questions, such as, "What was your favorite part of that movie," or, "What was the scarriest part of that movie," or, "What was the happiest part of that movie?" Surely, there's a literacy project in here somewhere.

As a kid who grew up around media (my dad worked for a local television station), I have an insider's understanding of how it's all produced. Nothing is random in video production--it's all created to elicit a response from the viewer--to laugh, to cry, to be afraid, or to (in most cases) buy something. How nice it would be if we were ALL insiders in the world of video production, learning from a young age that viewing any kind of media with a critical eye is necessary to make well-informed choices. Plus, it's not enough (in my view) to just say, "Oh, I really liked it!" Tell me WHY! What, precisely, did you like? Old English teachers never die, you know--they just keep asking for more details!

So, Sarah and I have created this blog as an outlet to combine her emerging critical movie-viewing skills with her newly emerging literacy skills. Hopefully, this information will be useful to kids and parents alike! Stay tuned for periodic updates...