Looking for high seas adventure this Memorial day weekend?! The latest Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales comes out today.
It’s been a while since I saw the last ones but I believe this one takes off where the last ones left off. Dead Men Tell No Tales of course features the lovable mess of a pirate, Jack Sparrow played by Johnny Depp. This film features a couple new characters as well as brings back beloved ones from previous films.
The focus is on the trio of Jack, Henry (a young sailor from the Royal navy who has ties to Jack) played by Brenton Thwaites, & Carina Smyth (a astronomer in a world where people think women astronomers are witches!) played by Kaya Scodelario. They must form an alliance to find the Trident of Poseidon to save themselves & their families.
I love a strong, brilliant female main role in a film & Carina is just that!
I’ve always liked Capt Barbossa played by Geoffrey Rush in the other Pirates of the Caribbean films & was happy to see him & his monkey back in Dead Men Tell No Tales!
The scariest parts of the film (in 3D no less) for me was the ghost sailors lead by Capt Salazar played by Javier Barden. The made me jump out of my seat a few times!
I think the PG-13 rating of this film would be what I’d stick with in terms of deciding whether or not to bring your children. For this one, keep kids at home with grandma & you, spouse & teens go enjoy the action of Dead Men Tell No Tales.
Here are a few kid’s crafts inspired by the movie to keep them occupied at home or after the film!
You can check out Disney Pirates for more photos & behind the scenes videos too.
Thanks to Walt Disney Studios for inviting me to the media preview this past week. While I appreciate seeing the film as a solo couple hours to myself, as always, my review is solely based on my own honest thoughts.
Lucy & Zach were so excited to go see The Boss Baby! This film opens in theaters today, but we were able to go a little early so we could tell y’all our thoughts.
Can you tell she was excited?!
Zach & Lucy (age 4.75) both really enjoyed it!
I swear he was excited too
The film centers around imaginative 7 year old Tim Templeton (voiced by Miles Bakshi) & his family, who up until now has been him & his loving parents (Jimmy Kimmel & Lisa Kudrow).
Tim’s mother (voiced by Lisa Kudrow) and father (voiced by Jimmy Kimmel) introduce him to Boss Baby (voiced by Alec Baldwin) in DreamWorks Animation’s THE BOSS BABY. Photo Credit: DreamWorks Animation.
Now enter The Boss Baby! He wears a suit, he talks (voiced hilariously by Alec Baldwin) & Tim thinks something is up & plans to get to the bottom of the story.
(left-right) Tim (voiced by Miles Bakshi) discovers Boss Baby’s (voiced by Alec Baldwin) surprising secret in DreamWorks Animation’s THE BOSS BABY. Photo Credit: DreamWorks Animation.
Cue some crazy adventure & a sweet message about family.
(left-right) Boss Baby (voiced by Alec Baldwin) tries to convince Tim (voiced by Miles Bakshi) that they must cooperate in DreamWorks Animation’s THE BOSS BABY. Photo Credit: DreamWorks Animation.
Zach loved the adventurous ride the brothers went on & Lucy loved the Mommy & the puppies. There were many jokes in the film that were over L&Z’s heads (but none I felt were inappropriate for their age group). I heard just as much adult laughter from the movie crowd as I did kid laughter.
And this week, they’re new favorite way to say bye to their daycare buddies, or hello to Daddy at dinner, is The Boss Baby handshake!
(Also, don’t try to take non blurry photos while Z is trying to eat queso dip. Ha!)
Hope you have a great weekend planned. Anyone going to the movies?! I’d love to hear your thoughts on The Boss Baby too!
We were given tickets to see The Boss Baby but the generosity of 20th Century Fox & DreamWorks Animation did not sway the truthfulness of my post.
I had the chance to take Lucy & Zach to see Moana & in short, you need to go too!
I love strong female characters. I love the example they teach my daughter (& also my son). Moana was determined, friendly, strong, brave & loved her family. Moana is played by Auli’i Cravalho, a newcomer from Hawaii.
Moana takes place in the Pacific & Pacific islands featuring lovable characters that you would expect from a Disney film.
Hei Hei kept Lucy & Zach laughing & Pua was adorable (but not in the film all that much).
Maui you’ll recognize is voiced by Dwayne Johnson who does a super job. He’s sarcastic, full of himself, brave, kinda crazy & super fun. Lucy & Zach both liked him & keep telling my husband about his tattoos.
When I ask their favorite part, Lucy says she liked the mom, dad & grandma best. The dad Tui is the Island Chief. Moana does not call herself a princess, but instead the Chiefs daughter & next in line to be the chief.
The island crazy lady, free spirited Grandma Tala, was one of my favorite characters. She helped encourage Moana to go live her dreams.
Parents of littles be warned, in typical Disney fashion, someone does pass away but it’s beautifully told in the story.
Most of the action takes place while Moana is at sea. Zach ended up in my lap once Moana was in her boat. She & Maui do encounter 3 monsters on their epic adventure. The coconut monsters, the Kakamora, were cute, but they did cause Lucy to climb in my lap too.
The sparkling hermit crab monster Tamatoa had us dancing in our seat (but Lucy reminds me that he was a bad guy). The music in this film was wonderful. I cannot wait to get the soundtrack.
& the scariest monster of all, the lava monster, is who Zach now tells everyone is his favorite part of the movie! My 4.5 year olds weren’t overly afraid & left excited not nervous about the monsters, but I wouldn’t take younger ones that would get scared. My duo have actually asked to go watch Moana again already.
I don’t think we (& by we, I mean Lucy, Zach & I) have been anticipating anything like we have the sequel to Finding Nemo. Finding Nemo was a college weekend de-stressing, chill movie for me then when we got tired of ‘Let It Go’ing 5 times a weekend, we showed L&Z Finding Nemo very early on. We’d fast forward through the traumatic beginning & show them the sweet, poignant story of love between a father & son. Nemo, Marlin, the sharks & my favorite Dude Crush became staple names in our household & “hold my fin” is often said instead of holding hands for busy parks or walkways.
As soon as we heard the Finding Dory release date, I had it down for June! We shared with Lucy & Zach the trailers & promotion photos, talked about what the new characters names might be & what they might do in the new film. I found Zach two Nemo & Finding Dory tops at Target & pre-ordered Lucy a Finding Dory KPea dress online. We were ready to go when I got the email that we were invited to see Finding Dory in 3D!
Can you tell they were excited! They ran from poster to display to the aquarium (“Mommy, Nemo AND Dory are in there!”) & I had to corral them just to get into the theater.
Speaking of, make sure when you go see Finding Dory, you get there a little early as the new animated short film Piper is absolutely precious.
I see Lucy & Zach searching for baby sea gulls on our next beach trip!
Glasses on, snacks in hand & we were ready for Dory! I was prepared for a few scary (for 4 year olds) parts of this film & was happily surprised that L & Z were not nervous a single time! A few jokes (as typical for Disney) went over their heads but Finding Dory is definitely in my opinion safe for the preschool age crowd.
The new characters are darling & funny & perfect mix in with the return of beloved Finding Nemo characters. I might’ve squealed when my favorite guys were back on the big screen. Ellen DeGenereres comes back as the voice of Dory, with Albert Brooks back as Marlin & Nemo voiced by Hayden Rolence.
I asked Lucy & Zach their favorite part & Lucy all week has said Mommy, there were 3 Dorys while Zach corrects her that were were four then LOTS of Dorys! (Bless their hearts, all Blue Tang fish look alike to them 😛 ) Zach says he loved the octopus & Lucy said she also liked the cuddly otters. I loved how they focused this film on Dory’s story- from baby fish, to her meeting Marlin, Finding Nemo & then took them to current with her, Marlin & Nemo in the reef & Dory beginning to recall more of her past & wanting to find her family.
We picked up the Finding Dory busy book at Costco this week & have been reading more about Hank, Destiny & Bailey & more! These guys had me laughing every time they were on screen.
Of course, we had three seats & at one point all of us were cuddling in my lap. It was a late night for them & they did get a little sleepy but perked up for the end of the film. The story of family & what & who is your family was such a sweet message for me as a parent watching Finding Dory. I hope you go with your kids & enjoy it as much as we did!
Insider tip, stay until the end of the credits for a peek at old Finding Nemo friends too!
Since Lucy is all into coloring these days, here’s a few coloring sheets that will help get your little ones (even more) excited over seeing Finding Dory!
While we did get passing to see Finding Dory early on behalf of Disney Pixar, my review is honest & not persuaded by their kindness.
Did y’all hear?! The highly anticipated sequel to Kung Fu Panda & Kung Fu Panda 2 released in theaters last Friday! Have you seen it yet? What did you think?
We were honored to be asked to go to the Raleigh/Durham premier showing a couple weeks ago & it was Lucy & Zach’s first in theater film!
Zach & Lucy wandered the red carpet, enjoyed pre-show crafts, munched on popcorn bags bigger than their heads then sat so still as Kung Fu Panda 3 took over the screen.
Jason & I loved watching the wonder in their eyes as some of their favorite characters were on a really big screen! In 3D!
After it was over, as L&Z played around the fountains, I asked what they enjoyed about Kung Fu Panda 3 the most. Lucy’s favorite was the Rhino villians & Master Shefu. I’m surprised she didn’t say the popcorn; pretty sure she ate close to 1.5 bags of it! Zach loved all the pandas, especially the cute little ones. I loved seeing Po as the hometown hero & what his encouragement brought out in his new friends!
Speaking of hometown heroes, I had the pleasure of being on the media side of the red carpet to welcome some of Raleigh’s own hometown heroes to view the film.
We actually walked in with the family of Johanna Colon & they’re are all so nice. Easy to see that she gets her glowing personality honest. She’s been dancing since she was a toddler & ruled the stage in her dance recital performance which has led to YouTube fame, talk show appearances & her mom might’ve alluded to us being able to see her in prime time beginning in March. Look for her y’all, Johanna’s going places!
A south east Raleigh hero is Erin Dale Byrd, winner of the INDY Citizen Award & she’s also the founder of the Fertile Ground Cooperative. She shared with us the highs & some hardships of leading a cooperative that’s community volunteer ran. With her spirit, drive, laid back style & spunk, I know it will help thrive in the SE Raleigh community.
We also got to meet Sunny Lin & Sophia Woo, winners of season 6 of Food Network’s Great Food Truck Race. These ladies were funny, stylish, business-savvy & humble. I haven’t seen their truck yet, but I can’t wait to track down & try eating from their Pho Nomenal Dumplings food truck!
Like Kung Fu Panda’s Po, these local heroes are funny, spunky, talented & charming. I loved the chance to interact with them & look forward to watching what they continue to do for Raleigh area in the future.
Who’s your hometown hero? Have you seen Kung Fu Panda 3 yet? What’d you think?
Thanks to DreamWorks & Twentieth Century Fox for presenting the Kung Fu Panda premiere in Raleigh & for inviting me as well as my family. While we did see the film & enjoy popcorn & drinks for free, I was not otherwise compensated nor do that effect my review of the film.
(Also, don’t try to take non blurry photos while Z is trying to eat queso dip. Ha!)
