Eloise at Christmastime

A sequel to Eloise at the Plaza and happening immediately after the first movie is Eloise at Christmastime. The young girl is at her antics again, meddling into the business of anyone and everyone at the Plaza hotel in New York City. 

Eloise at the Plaza

This movie is great for kids who love Dennis the Menace and Home Alone and any type of movie where children meddle in other people's business. It is based off the book series "Eloise at the Plaza". 

My son and I definitely enjoyed it - there was a lot of giggling going on. I may have to check out the book series now!

Cinderella 2: Dreams Come True

Next up is the first sequel to Cinderella, which is basically another one of those short story compilations similar to what they did for Atlantis and Cars and Beauty and the Beast in some of their sequels. 

For being such a big Cinderella fan, I wasn't impressed with this. The stories didn't flow or make much sense with the overall fairy tale. 

Child of Glass

Next up is a random movie from the 70's called Child of Glass. I believe it was a TV movie. 

This one was not my favorite. It was hard to follow and pretty random. 

Brother Bear 2

The sequel to Brother Bear is next. I didn't realize how many stars voiced the characters in this one. Mandy Moore voices the main female Nita and I was surprised at how many Disney projects she's done, from Princess Diaries to Tangled to Kingdom Hearts. Great, now her first single is stuck in my head. Anyway, on to our thoughts!

The ending was a bit predictable but very sweet. I enjoyed it anyway!

Beverly Hills Chihuahua 2

Continuing with the Beverly Hills Chihuahua series, we move on to the sequel.

Disney loves doing the talking-dogs thing, and it doesn't seem to get old. This movie was cute and there were definitely some funny parts that the kid enjoyed. I'm noticing a theme with the dog movies - the dogs always end up being a hero and catching some sort of bad guy. Interesting. 

One more in this series to go! 

Beauty and the Beast: Belle's Magical World

This week I watched Belle's Magical World. It did not do the original story any justice.

It seemed like a couple of episodes of a failed TV show put together and turned into a movie, like the Atlantis 2 we watched. I don't think it did the original story any favors and they could have done so much more with a sequel. I think this was made during that weird Disney time when they just kept throwing out random sequels to movies in an attempt to make some money. Anyway, this movie is miss-able. 

Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas

Our first movie of 2016 is a sequel - Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas. The gang is all there and they have a flashback to a Christmas they spent together when they were all still household objects. 

It was a straight-to-video film and it really wasn't the best Disney sequel, but it was nice to see it right around Christmastime. The kid didn't seem too impressed. 

I cannot wait to see the Live Action version next year! So many exciting things are happening with Disney movies in the next couple of years! 

Bambi 2

Next we watched a sequel that was a Straight to Video movie. I had never seen this one before but it is supposed to be set in the middle of the first movie, a "Mid-quel" I guess.

I actually enjoyed this one a little more than the original because it was more entertaining. The movie was about Bambi's father having to take care of Bambi after his mother died. He tries to find another mom to take care of Bambi for him while also training him to be the next Great Prince of the forest. 

Atlantis: Milo's Return

I think they meant to make a TV series out of this, but instead put three episodes into a sequel and moved on and away from Atlantis after it didn't do well in the box office. 

If these stories were part of a TV series, we might watch it. But it was a randomly pieced sequel that didn't make much sense to the story overall. I found it hard to follow. Not much else to say about it!

We took inspiration by going on our own little adventure into the woods to take some pictures of the Halloween costume we have picked out this year. The kid also dressed up as Harry Potter and a Ghostbuster for some parades in the area. 

Angels in the Endzone

This week we watched the sequel to Angels in the Outfield - Angels in the Endzone. I don't think either of my boys were really entertained, but this cast was pretty interesting! David Gallagher and Matthew Lawrence! Oh, to be a pre-teen reading those teen magazines again. 

The kid doesn't even remember watching this one. It was predictable and a bit boring, but we got through it. Definitely not comparable to the original.

We went to the local high school to see them play football. They lost, but what are you going to do? It's not like we have any angels out there helping our team. The kid had a blast since it was his first football game ever. 

Aladdin and the King of Thieves

This week we watched the third Aladdin movie. 

Robin Williams is back as the Genie, making a ton of pop culture references and jokes. We meet Aladdin's father, who turns out to be the King of Thieves searching for the Hand of Midas. 

Once again, I love the music. I am excited to hear they are planning to make a live-action Aladdin movie about the Genies. As far as the straight-to-video sequels go, I think the Aladdin sequels are pretty good. 

We were inspired by the thieve's secret hide-out and the Cave of Wonders from the original movie. We found a cavern nearby to explore. If you are wondering where you can find a cave or cavern to tour in the U.S., check out this website. It was a really cool experience -literally - it was 52 degrees while the surface was somewhere around 95 degrees (F). 

The Return of Jafar

It is time for The Return of Jafar - a sequel to Aladdin!

I love every song in this movie, too! There were so many pop culture references in this one, which is always fun for the adults. The kid loved it and was giggling throughout the whole movie. Robin Williams wasn't the Genie in this movie, and while the man who voiced the character this time tried his hardest to mimic his style, I still found myself missing Robin. No kid is going to notice, though! All in all, it was a fun sequel with a different story line. I like when sequels have a different or continuing story line instead of just repeating the first movie over again! 

We made genie lamps out of small glass jars and glitter. Lots and lots of glitter. I accidentally dropped my phone in the glitter. I'm hoping a genie will appear every time I swipe the screen. 

And look! Left over glitter that can be used as Pixie Dust for a later film! 

Air Buddies

Air Buddies is a spin-off of the Air Bud series. 

It was cute. This time the animals talk so that adds a little extra interest for the kids. Some of them were pretty funny. The poor puppies ran away after they found out they were being given up for adoption. A little bratty kid wants the puppies. The story line is similar to the original series. 

We decided to stamp a few puppies and color them. I made my puppies into a card. 

There are quite a few of these "Buddies" movies, but instead of doing them all now we are going to watch them later as they come up in the alphabet. Trust me, it is better this way! 

Air Bud Spikes Back

Air Bud is back and he learns to play another sport, this time Volleyball. 

I love kid movies but I think we can all agree that this particular plot is getting old. Maybe if I didn't just watch the first four movies this one would have been a tiny bit more exciting. Maybe. I think at this point I was just done with the series. At least there was a parrot this time. 

We went over to the park and played at the volleyball net. Volleyball isn't really one of my favorite sports and the sand was pretty hot. It was neat to try something new though. 

Air Bud 7th Inning Fetch

Get ready for another sports movie about a skillful dog and yet another villain who likes to kidnap puppies. 

Another repetitive plot, but this time we get to see a girl play. Another villain comes along to kidnap the puppies. Buddy the dog plays baseball and tries to save his pups. The kid seems to really enjoy this type of movie so I think a 4-7 year old audience won't really notice. 

We love baseball in this family. The boys are always playing in leagues during this time of year. This week we were able to watch one of my nephews play in a tournament. It was very exciting to watch the winning team!  

Air Bud: World Pup

Back again with another Air Bud sequel. This time, he plays one of the kid's favorites, soccer. 

Buddy got a bit busy this time around and had some puppies. Big surprise - they get kidnapped! Another villain, another sport, another kidnapping. These movies are starting to get a bit predictable! This one was straight to video. 

I am sure you could take a wild guess - we were inspired to play soccer! The Kid seems to be enjoying each different sport, so that's nice. Honestly, though, we were at a birthday party with a pool when I tried to play soccer, so it lasted maybe 3 minutes. Oh, well. 

Stay tuned for even more Air Bud movies... next time!