Tot TV Watch

I hope everyone is having a great Memorial Day today. Many of us will be celebrating with our family and friends, but don’t forget to take a few moments out to remember those that are fighting for your country and those who have in the past.

For many of us Memorial Day marks the beginning of summer. The weather is getting warmer. The kids are finishing up the school year. Parents are trying to figure out what they are going to do with bored kids all summer. Raising4boys.com has an excellent entertainment solution for some of those long summer days.  Head over there and check out the list of theaters offering free or low cost kids’ movies available this summer.

summer, movies, kids, raising4boys.com, memorial day

It looks like the kids will have something else to look forward to in August besides just going back to school. Disney’s “High School Musical 2″ will be premiering on the Disney Channel August 17th.

Hal Boedeker at the Orlando Sentinel was given the opportunity to preview the movie and gave the following summary of the plot:

Still bummed that she was upstaged in the first movie, Sharpay (Ashley Tisdale) plots her revenge. She arranges for Troy (Zac Efron) to land a summer job at her family’s country club and tries to isolate him from his friends. He, however, brings his pals along to work at the club.

Undeterred, Sharpay tempts Troy with opportunities. He loses his way and alienates his buddies.

The movie will follow a similar format to the first, including an assortment of original songs. It will also throw some high school sports action in, this time including the baseball team.

Gary Marsh, entertainment president for Disney Channel Worldwide, says that the theme of the second movie will be “What’s important to me?” It will be about the struggle to find your own moral compass and then follow it, rather than just going along with the crowd.

As previously reported, “High School Musical 2″ will see a return of all of your favorite stars from the original movie.

Here’s a video of interviews with some of the cast:

High School Musical, High School Musical 2, premiere, Disney, Ashley Tisdale, Zac Efron, Gary Marsh, YouTube, video

According to Toon Zone, Toon Disney is celebrating Spring with a “Spring Break Animal Beach Party” Monday, April 2nd through Friday, April 6th. Each day they will feature a double showing of a different animated Disney movie at 3:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. ET/PT. The following movies are scheduled for the week:

• Monday, April 2 - Leroy & Stitch
• Tuesday, April 3 - Kronk’s New Groove
• Wednesday, April 4 - The Fox and the Hound
• Thursday, April 5 - Tarzan
• Friday, April 6 - Bambi II

Toon Disney, Toon Zone, spring break, Disney, Leroy & Stitch, Kronk’s New Groove, The Fox and the Hound, Tarzan, Bambi II

On January 12th (check local listings for times) Disney will premier their new movie for the tween crowd called “Jump In!”. Although it is not a musical, they are hoping that it will be as successful as their previous effort, “High School Musical”.

“Jump In!” is the story of a promising teenage boxer, Izzy Daniels (Corbin Bleu), who discovers a love for competitive double dutch jump roping. His father (played by his real-life father David Reivers), an ex-boxer, is not thrilled with his son’s new discovery because he would prefer for him to follow in his footsteps and compete in the Golden Gloves. There is also a blossoming romance between Izzy and his double dutch teammate, Mary (Keke Palmer).

Disney channel is working hard to get the word out about the new movie and have released the movie’s soundtrack and two music videos at disneychannel.com which will be available through January 5th. The soundtrack will be released in stores and on iTunes Jan. 9.

Jump In!, Disney, Corbin Bleu, David Reivers, Keke Palmer

So there’s this show you want to watch but you don’t what channel it is on or what time it airs. So, how do you find it? You can go to tvguide.com and search for it by the show’s title and they will tell you when it is scheduled to air and even what channel it is on based on your geographic location. My guess is most of you already knew that but I just discovered it while searching for Charlotte’s Web (which is indeed playing on Friday at 9 a.m. Central on Cartoon Network).

So Charlotte’s Web is a movie, not a TV show. But it is a classic and it has been on my mind ever since I heard that there was going to be a new version out starring one of my favorite child actresses, Dakota Fanning. The deal was sealed when I also found out that Sarah McLachlan had recorded a song for the soundtrack.

I can’t wait to go see the new movie, but now I also want to watch the old cartoon version. My guess is that no one in my family will want to watch it with me. My son might hang in there a while with me, but his attention span just doesn’t allow for viewing an entire movie quite yet.

Are you looking for something new for your kids to watch this holiday season? If you are, then tune in to Noggin on Wednesday, Dec. 13th at 5:00 pm ET. They are featuring a new holiday special by National Geographic Kids’ Entertainment called I’ll Be Home For Christmas.

The special follows characters Toot and Puddle on their holiday adventures. The characters are based on the best selling Toot and Puddle book series by author/illustrator Holly Hobbie.

For a sneak peak of the holiday special check out the trailer at tootandpuddle.com and click on the computer. The movie is also available on dvd from the Toot and Puddle website.