The Tale Of Despereaux

Well it's high time I give this CineJax blog a little attention.  I must admit, I lost most of my interest in posting here because I made the process too difficult.  I always wanted to have a YouTube video attached to the posts, but at the time, it took too much effort to get that done (or at least I didn't know enough to make it easy).  I also wanted to have a rating system so I could remember and relate my thoughts to my readers.  In general I just put too many caveats on the process.  For fawks sake, it's just ANOTHER movie blog that 2 people read and no one cares about, so why all the fuss?

Now things have changed a bit.  I've added an iPhone to the mix so I can post from anywhere, anytime, with much less effort.  I'm also using Posterous to post to any or all of my blogs and social networking sites.  Using Posterous has really made things much easier for me.  Not only can I post to any source, they also make posting pictures and movies hella easy.  So now I won't have to do much work to get a YouTube video attached to each post.

With that said, I had another reason for lighting the fire under this blog.  The TripJax family has started family night on Sunday's, where we watch a new (to us) movie and scarf down some popcorn, candy and soda's.  With the new HDTV, it's like being in the theater without the $40 tab.  And since I recently landed Showtime, Cinemax and The Movie Channel for $5 TOTAL a month for the next 24 months, I have a feeling we won't even have to visit Blockbuster very often.  The DVR will definitely be my friend again.

With all the above duly noted, let's get to my first movie posted here in quite a while.  We had to switch family movie night to tonight, so this one is fresh on my mind....

The Tale Of Despereaux

I gotta say I really dug this movie.  For a kids movie, it had it all, except for one appreciated omission that I'll get to in a moment.  For starters, this movie really kept my interest from the beginning.  The main character, obviously Despereaux, was extremely likable and made you really want to keep up with him throughout.

Also the movie had the bulk of what, at least my kids, love to see in a movie.  A bad guy, valiant knight (ish) and a princess who needs help.  Toss in a great supporting cast, a good story line and a job well done by the Director and his crew and you've got a recipe for success.

Oh and the appreciated omission, you ask? This movie didn't try to knock your socks off with comedy at all.  In fact, I only recall laughing a couple of times and I really don't think they were parts where they were trying too hard for a laugh.  Sometimes animated tales can include attempts at humor that does one of three things - 1) only caters to the kids, 2) only caters to the adults; or, 3) just isn't very funny.  It was nice to see them go for something different with this one and just offer an interesting tale that seemed to keep everyone in our family interested.

If I had to put a rating on this one, I'd give it a 4 out of 5.

Okay that is it for now.  Don't expect most of my posts going forward to be this long.  I usually won't have much time to post, so I'll give you the quickie version of my thoughts.

Posted via email from CineJax