Tot TV Watch

Just a few days ago I found the press release about the Wizards of Waverly Place show having a special series of four episodes airing every Friday starting July 24, 2009. Now today Disney released another press release related to the Wizards of Waverly Place. This release is about the upcoming full length Disney Channel Original Movie based on the show. This is a movie I have sort of know about for a while and originally I thought it would come out as part of Wiztober 2009 or whatever they are calling the October lineup this year. Instead, though, it is coming out a little more than a month before I expected with a premiere date of August 28, 2009.

The movie is simply called Wizards of Waverly Place the Movie. In the movie the Russo family goes on vacation to the Caribbean. While on vacation Alex accidentally casts a spell that changes the past so that her parents never met and they do not recognize their kids because the three of them would not exist if their parents never met. They (I think just the Russo kids) go on an adventure quest to find the Stone of Dreams that is hidden in the jungle in order to reverse the spell and save their family.

Leading up the movie premiere Selena Gomez (Monday), Jake T. Austin (Tuesday), Jennifer Stone (Wednesday), and David Henrie (Thursday) will share their favorite four episodes of the show starting at 6pm Eastern Time/Pacific Time Monday, August 24, 2009, through Thursday, August 27, 2009. The 16 episodes will all then reair starting at 12pm on Friday, August 28, and lead up to the movie premiering at 8pm Eastern Time/Pacific Time.

The movie will have two encore presentations the weekend it premieres. On Saturday, August 29, 2009, the encore presentation will feature behind-the-scenes features about the movies special effects. The Sunday, August 30, 2009, encore presentation will include sneak peeks of upcoming episodes of the show.

This morning I went and saw the first showing of the day for Hannah Montana the Movie. Okay, so a few theaters did do a midnight showing and that is way past my bedtime, so I went for the much more agreeable 10am showtime, which happens to also have a special $5 deal for being the first showing of the day for the movie. Anyways, I kind of made the decision to go when I bought the tickets online yesterday morning after thinking I was going to have to wait until this came on DVD because I could not find anyone to go with. I am glad I decided to go see it on my own because it was totally worth it.

The plot is not exactly all that deep, but then again a complex plot can make movies, especially in the theaters, too tedious to watch. It is basically about Miley becoming too absorbed into being Hannah that the Miley part of her seems to have disappeared. It leads to her ruining Lilly’s Sweet 16 and getting in the papers for a superstar fight over shoes with Tyra Banks (I think this was the celebrity, but not positive). She basically is ready to be all Hannah all the time, but her dad would rather it be the other way around dropping the whole Hannah thing. She thinks she is getting her way and going to New York on a private jet, but she ends up back home in Tennessee. Slowly she rediscovers the country girl, Miley. The story includes some wacky Hannah/Miley moments with her trying to keep her secret as Hannah comes to save the small town charm from being taken over by a mall and Miley tries to date a childhood crush. Her secret does not seem safe, as a British tabloid reporter is trying to figure out whatever her secret is to tell the world. Will she become all Hannah, all Miley, or will her identity be revealed leaving her no longer the option to freely be just normal Miley?

The thing I most like about the movie is the music. It is not like the crappy music centric movies that are all about the music and nothing about a plot (sorry, that is just how I see the High School Musical series). Rather the music is part of the plot like in most normal movies, although of course the music is a little more obviously entwined with the plot rather than just background music the characters in the movie are not hearing. Of course, I am biased towards country music and this movie has some great ones.

Tomorrow, April 10, 2009, Hannah Montana the Movie opens in theaters across the country. The movie is based on the popular Disney Channel show, Hannah Montana. The movie is about the pop star Hannah Montana part of Miley’s life beginning to take over as Hannah Montana gains popularity. She is about ready to let it take over her life and give up on her Miley Stewart life. Her dad takes her back to Tennessee for a dose of reality that leads to adventure that includes romance.

I think this movie will be pretty interesting and I know I love the music in it already, as it has several good country songs including Billy Ray Cyrus’ “Back to Tennessee.” The plot sounds pretty good and actually way better than many of the recent episodes in my opinion. I think it will be a good movie to actually go and see in theaters this weekend and I only go to theaters a few times a year, so that is really saying something for me. It even sounds good enough that I am going to go see it by myself on opening day. I have never gone to the movies alone before and actually most of the time it is just the opposite in that I only go because someone wants me to go with them (i.e. my brother dragging me to Indiana Jones and Get Smart last summer, which I would not have gone to otherwise). Only other movie I could ever imagining going alone to is Harry Potter, but I will not because at least my bro always wants to go to those.

By the way if you get buy your tickets ahead of time at Fandango.com or Movietickets.com through April 19, 2009, you are supposed to get a free download of “The Climb” music video. However, I have no idea how this works and I just bought my ticket for tomorrow on Fandango. No special offer was noticeable given to me besides joining some stupid movie club thing that Fandango does. Honestly, though, I do not care to really investigate because I already bought the movie soundtrack on iTunes as preorder and now have it along with the music video that supposedly you get for buying tickets online. Just a warning that it does not appear to come right as your purchase or if it does it is easy to miss the offer.

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.