1776

1776 has become a family tradition in our home. It is a musical telling of the story of the drafting and signing of the Declaration of Independence. Each year around July 4th we like to watch the movie and sing along with the clever, compelling, and even educating songs. This year the girls (Courtney and Belle) both watched it more than once. The role of John Adams is played by the actor William Daniels (known for his turse attitude in such roles as Mr Feeney in Boy Meets World, Dr Craig in St Elsewhere, and the voice of the car KITT in Knight Rider). There may be other recognizable actors, but the characters really steal the attention and the songs capture the mood and the story is incredibly compelling. This movie is highly recommended by all in my family.

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian

While mom and older sister were outta town on a mini Disney vacation, Belle and I went to see the latest in what promises to be a long line of Narnia movies. It was Belle's second viewing and it was at her request that we saw the show. I would have opted for Get Smart or Wall-E, but timing and a seven-year-old daughter's requests trump my good judgment most of the time.

Belle liked the show. She was excited about the prospect of knowing what was going to happen before I knew it. She also loved some of the characters, I think. It was a story that played into her own fantasies of power and victory.

But I (Steve) am having trouble remembering anything about it to say whether I liked it or not. It is not that I did not see it. I did not step out to use the bathroom or to make a phone call -- I did not even fall asleep -- the show just did not make enough of an impression for me to recall now, a week later, anything about it. I have flashes of memories of scenes, but no feeling other than indifference. I do not even want to try to remember this movie. I guess that tells me what I must have thought about it at the time.

So my recommendation is take the kids to this movie. You could easily make a worse choice, and the kids will like this one. But the adults should not expect much out of this show for themselves.

Kung Fu Panda

I saw this movie with the whole family and had a great time. The plot is nothing special: underdog-does-good. but it is visually fun. It is also fun to listen to. The voices of Jack Black and Dustin Hoffman were easily recognizable, but I had to really work at Ian McShane (a personal favorite). I totally did not recognize Angelina Jollie or Lucy Liu (their voices did not add as much to this movie as their names do).

This movie is great fun and I can see it being in the family library of movies. It is not as good as Ratatouille (I suddenly realizethat I have not reviewed that very excellent cartoon movie).

Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Just like its title, this movie is too long and too contrived. I saw the movie with my mother-in-law RuthAnn and we both agreed that we did not hate it. But neither of us loved it. It relies heavily on special-effects, some mildly interesting action scenes, and very little on character development.

So go see the movie because how can you not go see such a well-established franchise movie? But do not expect to be excited by it the way you remember being excited by the first Indiana Jones movie.

Damn Yankees

The whole family saw South Plantation High School's production of DAMN YANKEES. The play is set in the 1950s and is about an avid Washington Senators baseball fan who hates the rival Yankees. His love for baseball causes him to make a deal with the devil himself to become a franchise-changing talent of a ball player. His love of baseball vs his love of a faithful wife are the core conflict of the show. But there are enough other sub-plots and interesting characters to keep the audience interested throughout the show.

The kids in this production did an excellent job. There were several very good singers and the dance numbers really exceeded expectations. For me, half the fun was watching the joy and fascination on the faces of our daughters, Courtney(15) and Belle(7). Their smiles were uncontrollable during more than one scene, and Belle was wide-eyed while watching the dancers run down the isles and jump on stage. More than one dance number lasted several minutes and involved fairly complicated and well coordinated choreography. It was a total joy to watch them pull it off as well as they did.

Overall, it was a real pleasure for the whole family to watch and listen to the musical performance of Damn Yankees. And it was a joy to help support the young talent at Courtney's South Plantation High School.

Wicked!

The whole family went to see WICKED and the whole family loved it. For those who may not know, the play tells another side to the traditional Wizard of Oz story. I was impressed by how well they made the psychology of this alternative story. They really did a good job with the characters' motivations. The performance level of the actors was very satisfying. I would use words like tremendous and incredible, but I really have very little experience with professional level plays. I will say that there were no disappointments. Our seats were almost as far away and to the side as is possible. We were looking down on the stage and actors. Nonetheless we heard and saw and enjoyed the play as well as we had hoped and never once felt disadvantaged by our seating position.

I know I speak for the whole family when I recommend seeing WICKED. In fact, it was such a fun day at the playhouse that I would consider seeing it again.

Horton Hears a Who and Boston Market

After spending the day at a waterpark for Courtney's birthday, the whole family went to see HORTON HEARS A WHO. It turned out to be a great show. Well directed and acted, it also had a fairly inspiring message. The whole family enjoyed it. We had fun identifying people that we all knew that personified characters in the movie. We unanimously agreed that Horton is Walker's friend Joe.

It was Courtney's birthday so she could have gone anywhere but she chose BOSTON MARKET. I had never eaten at there before that day. The chicken was very juicy and tasty and the kids loved their macaroni and cheese. A nice benefit of eating there is that the whole family ate for a fraction of what it would cost at a full service restaurant.