Fantasia (1940)

27 Dec 2012 Leave a comment

by Kim in Ballet, Classical Music, Introduction to..., Movies, movies 3+, movies 5+, Parenting Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Fantasia (film)

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Released: 1940

Rated: G

Length: 120 – 124 min. (varies depending on what version you have)

Age: some parts 3+, others 5+ (see below)  Commonsense Media sez: 6 +

Scary Factor: Mickey attacks renegade broom with an axe and savagely chops it to bits; battle to the death between two dinosaurs; a gigantic devil rises over a mountain commanding a host of demons, the dead rise from their graves

Also: some modest (dare I say artful) nudity among fairies and mythological creatures; much wine drunk by very tipsy god Bacchus

Interests: classical music, fairies, mythology, dinosaurs, ballet

Next: the movie Fantasia 2000; live symphony concerts for children; Nutcracker ballet live or movie version
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The House in the Night

17 Feb 2012 Leave a comment

by Kim in Books, books 3+ Tags: , , ,

CALDECOTT MEDAL WINNER – 2009

The House in the Night

Susan Marie Swanson, text

Beth Krommes, illustrations

Houghton Mifflin, 2008

36 pp.

Age: 3+

Interests: night, bedtime, night sky, sun and moon

Other books by this illustrator: The Lamp, the Ice, and the Boat Called Fish; Butterfly Eyes and Other Secrets of the Meadow, The Hidden Folk

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The Iron Man

04 May 2011 Leave a comment

by Kim in Books, books 7+ Tags: , , ,

aka: The Iron Giant

by Ted Hughes

London: Faber and Faber, 1968

62 pp, 5 chapters

Ages: 7 and up  (could be read to younger children, though space creature is pretty scary)

Interests: sci fi, robots, space, dragons

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WALL-E (2008)

13 Apr 2011 Leave a comment

by Kim in Movies, movies 4+ Tags: , , , , , , ,

Rated: G
Length: 98 min
Age: 4 + … watchable at 4, better understood by 5 or 6          Commonsense Media sez: 5 +

Scary factor: our main characters are chased about, but nothing very threatening; Eve has a gun in her arm that she shoots at inanimate objects; in one scene she accidentally sets some huge oil tankers ablaze – no danger to characters, but it’s big and fiery, so may be alarming; a bad robot falls a great distance and breaks apart

Intense: some sad moments near the end when Wall-E seems broken-down/dead, but Eve is looking after him and it’s easy to allay concerns (“He’ll get better!”) because he does!

Language: one ‘heck’

Interests: space, robots, spaceships, environment
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All writings posted here are © Kim Thompson, unless otherwise indicated. For all artwork on this site, copyright is retained by the artist.