Category: Movies

The Betrothed and Ice Princess

Sorry if you haven’t been a huge fan of all the TV and movie content lately. Currently, it’s what’s working but I promise that I have something different coming next week. The Betrothed is actually a book title, not a TV show title, so that’s a little different I guess. But this week, I wanted to share one of my new favorite Disney movies, Ice Princess, and a new book, The Betrothed by my favorite author, Kiera Cass.

Ice Princess, in opinion, is a Disney hidden gem. I think it was made around the time I was a young girl, so it would’ve been a movie I really enjoyed growing up, but since I grew up with satellite TV and very little exposure to Disney Channel, I didn’t know it existed until now! And oh my goodness and I absolutely LOVE this movie. It’s about a teenage girl, Casey that’s a physics whiz and it’s basically all set for her to attend Harvard and live out her mom’s dreams. Casey has the opportunity to complete a summer physics project and win a huge scholarship for the physics program at Harvard, and so she decides to analyze the physics of figure skating. Through her project, Casey becomes so involved in figure skating it turns out, she has incredible natural talent within the sport. She eventually begins competing as a figure skater and gives up attending Harvard to pursue figure skating.

Not only did I adore this movie for the beautiful costumes that Casey wore on the ice, but I really enjoyed the character of the girls in the movie. Instead of being jealous as Casey made leaps and bounds in figure skating, the other competitive skaters supported her and truly helped her out. They made her feel at home which was totally shocking for a movie like this. In most movies, you would except the main character to face some evil, horribly-mean posse of girls, but that wasn’t the case. It was so wonderful to see girls supporting girls in the right way in a movie like this. I loved it. 🙂

I also never realized how much I loved Hayden Panettiere until this movie! Yes, she was much younger in Ice Princess, but she was so pretty and still a very talented actress then. After seeing this movie, I’m much more interested in shows and movies with her.

Overall, I totally recommend Ice Princess. It’s such a good movie that motivates you and just makes you feel so good.

Now we’re gonna flip gears and talk about one of my favorite authors and her newest release, The Betrothed. I would first just like to say that my sister and I ordered a signed copy of the book. THAT’S how much we enjoy her work. Secondly, this book was not exactly what I expected and I’m not totally sure how I feel about it. If you are interested in reading, maybe skip this last part, as it will contain spoilers. 🙂

The Betrothed follows the story of Hollis, a beautiful, strong, young lady coming from a noble family who eventually finds herself betrothed to the king, Jameson. In my opinion, Hollis and the king are a PERFECT match. Anyway, a strange family comes to seek refuge from a neighboring kingdom, and asks the king to take them in and make them members of Coroan society. Hollis is tasked with the decision since the king puts her to little tests, seeing how she may do as queen one day. Hollis allows the family to stay in Coroa and they live in the castle for some time, sort of on a “probation” to see if they truly have good intent in Coroa. During this “probation” period, Hollis has several small interactions with one of the sons of this family, who is extremely talented in sword making. Somehow, she begins to doubt her relationship with the king and falls madly in love with Silas.

The king gives Hollis the queen’s apartments, beautiful tiaras and dresses, and all of his love and support, but Hollis eventually turns all of that down, just before Jameson plans to propose to her and runs away to be with Silas. I wasn’t too happy with this part, especially because the love Hollis claimed to feel for Silas, just didn’t seem fully supported if you know what I mean. Hollis and Silas had maybe interacted like three or four times and had kissed once, and suddenly Hollis wanted to give up BECOMING QUEEN OF A NATION, to run away with some suspicious, mysterious, and beautiful boy from a neighboring nation.

Hollis and Silas end up married and Jameson is devastated but moves on to be with Hollis’s best friend and former lady-in-waiting (which was REALLY weird and uncalled for, in my opinion). You might think, the book ends here, right? Wrong!

Shortly after the wedding, Silas and a majority of the people at the wedding, including Hollis’s parents are brutally murdered, leaving Hollis devastated. Silas’s mother and younger sister survive the attack but then decide to return to their former country, in hopes that their king may be merciful that they will not be found and killed there. Hollis initially plans to go back to Jameson for comfort, just to live as a member of the palace, but then decides to chase after Silas’s mother, and follow them back to their former kingdom, to meet with a friend she had made in the palace during a royal visit, and to possibly uncover if the king (not Jameson) had been behind the attack on her family.

Ultimately, I enjoyed the book because I always enjoy the work of Kiera Cass, but I was a little disappointed. I live for the glamour that comes with every Kiera Cass novel. The dresses she describes and the lifestyle of a palace is just so appealing and her imagery is just so vivid, that I imagine myself with America from The Selection, or Eadlyn from The Heir, and even Hollis from The Betrothed. With that said, so much happened in this book, but at the same time, it feels like nothing happened. I personally would have really enjoyed if Kiera Cass gave us the life of Hollis Brite, becoming the queen of Coroa and one of the women that she had seen immortalized by Coroa for their excellent leadership and character but she didn’t take that route. That’s perfectly fine but I would have enjoyed a slightly different story. Hopefully the next one will be better. I guess we’ll just have to see when it comes out! Maybe read along with me and we can see what happens next together! 🙂

Have a good week everyone and stay healthy and safe!

July 19, 2020
It’s Been Nice to Catch Up on Some Childhood Favorites

Courtesy of Susan Holt Simpson on Unsplash

Amidst the chaos that is my life right now, I’ve really enjoyed being able to catch up on a few of my childhood favorites during my spare time. You might be asking yourself, childhood favorite whats?? I’m talking about TV shows and movies, but mostly TV shows.

Lately, my sister and I have really been enjoying Kim Possible, Wizards of Waverly Place, Sonny With a Chance, and Phineas and Ferb. If you’re looking for some truly enjoyable Disney shows to watch, I recommend all four of these.

Growing up, my sister and I never had cable TV. We were the kids that grew up watching shows like Arthur and Cyberchase on satellite TV. The only true exposure we had to the magic of Disney Channel was at our grandparents’ house in New Mexico. On every trip, we watched a lot of Disney but we didn’t grow up with the Wizards of Waverly Place knowledge or Hannah Montana knowledge that a lot of other kids did. There’s nothing wrong with that, but at the time, Allyson and I definitely thought that there was. We were missing solid chunks of storyline and plot!! Looking on it now though, I’m glad with the amount of TV exposure my sister and I had, because we enjoyed much more time playing outside, being in the real world.

More than ever, I’ve found it very relaxing and beneficial to my wellbeing when I take a study break. I do a lot of studying and attending online lecture so it’s definitely needed. Having a chance to feel nostalgic by watching some of little Ana’s favorites and escape from the chemistry and biology and biochemistry that has consumed my life lately is pretty wonderful. I’ve also found that going on walks is really therapeutic and a great way to utilize a study break. 10/10 would recommend.

Well this post is much shorter than usual and that’s because I have an exam tomorrowwww. Yippee. Have a good week everyone and maybe check out some of your childhood favorites this week and share what they are with me! 🙂

July 12, 2020
Unpopular Opinion: Hamilton Isn’t THAT Good

Picture from Hamilton on Disney+

So Disney+ released Hamilton on its platform yesterday. What did I think of Hamilton? I’m going to be honest here. It wasn’t my favorite show, I’ll start by saying that. And I know that a lot of people are going to come after me and say a lot of things about how incredible the show is. In some ways I agree! I’ll share what I liked. But overall, I don’t really like the hit musical, Hamilton.

If you aren’t familiar with Lin Manuel Miranda and his work on Hamilton, I recommend you either watch the musical or at least make yourself familiar with the show before reading this post. There will be spoilers! 🙂 But for the most part, I’m pretty confident that everyone and their grandmother knows what Hamilton is so I’ll dive right into what I liked and didn’t like.

I’ll start with the positives. I really enjoyed the set and all of the effects. From that perspective, Hamilton was incredible. The use of movement with the stage and the use of LIGHTING in this production was phenomenal.

Each of the actors and actresses were incredibly talented too. I really enjoyed watching the young lady that played Eliza. She was phenomenal and I loved her voice. I also loved Jonathon Groff’s appearance as King George. His vocals suited the role extremely well. His work with Frozen has definitely not gone unnoticed by me and the same goes for his work in Hamilton.

And now onto what I didn’t like as much in this hit musical. I’ve never been that big a fan of rap and that’s basically what most of the music is in Hamilton. That’s just a preference thing. I’ve never really liked the beat or tone of rap and for an entire musical to be that way just wasn’t my cup of tea. It felt so repetitive at some point. There definitely were a few songs I liked from the show, but in general, the music was just a pass for me.

Lin Manuel Miranda has an interesting sound too. I’m not sure if I like it or hate it, but personally, I thought his sound was just a bit odd in Hamilton. He is clearly a very talented and brilliant man and I must give credit where credit is due. He spent years putting this show together and it has definitely paid off. Do I enjoy him as a performer though? Most likely not.

I really wasn’t a fan of the ending either. This is REALLY where the spoiler is going to hit if you aren’t familiar with the history of the United States or the show so if you’d prefer to see for yourself, then stop reading here. 🙂 In the end, they sing a song called “Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story” after Hamilton is shot by Aaron Burr in their duel. I did enjoy the duel rap though, I must say. Anyway, after Hamilton is shot, Hamilton’s life is played out before us. The show ends a few minutes later with Eliza singing about how she started an orphanage to help kids that remind her of her precious Alex and then she screams in horror (I’m assuming because she has learned that her husband died in a duel) and the show fades to black. Personally, I feel like the show could have had a greater impact if it ended right after Hamilton was shot and then the stage went black. Does anyone else feel that way about the end? I’d be curious to know.

I did mention my opinions on the set and the lighting from the show and I’ve touched briefly on the talent of Hamilton but the biggest reason I don’t think Hamilton is all that great comes down to the fact that the show just didn’t have that “wow factor” that a lot of Broadway shows seem to have. The music was just constantly going with the rapping and dancing and I found myself zoning out occasionally. There just wasn’t a whole lot of different within the show if that makes sense. Hamilton would rap and they would dance and then someone else would rap and then it would just repeat and to me, it felt like that for the two and a half hours following the opening song. It got kind of old kind of fast and I found myself wondering WHEN the show would be over about forty-five minutes in. That hasn’t ever happened to me when watching a Broadway show before. Again, that could just be because I just don’t have the taste for Hamilton like others do.

I’ve mentioned this before but we are all entitled to our opinions and if you really enjoyed Hamilton, I’m happy for you! I wish this were a show that I could learn to love and appreciate as much as a majority of the world, but I unfortunately don’t find myself in that population. If you haven’t seen Hamilton yet and you own Disney+, I recommend checking it out for yourself and I’d be curious to hear your opinions! Have a good week everyone, and happy belated Fourth of July!

July 5, 2020
Quarantine is Real- Some Ideas for Free Time
Photo by freestocks on Unsplash

It’s Palm Sunday everyone! Not going to lie, I wasn’t quite sure what I was going to post this Sunday, but then I got it. We’re all at home and some of us have nothing to do, so what’s better than a list of recommended movies and TV shows and other things to do to clear up those quarantine blues and boredom that may be growing?
MOVIES

As far as movies go, here’s a couple of movies I recommend. If you’re not really into chick flicks and rom-coms/comedy and Disney movies, this may not be your list. And if that isn’t the case, maybe this is a list of movies that you consider? I was going for a feel-good, happy, something-to-make-you-laugh bunch of movies with this list, so if that’s something you’re looking for, here are my recommendations:
Clueless
Mean Girls
Miss Congeniality
Police Academy (1, 2, or 3)
Parental Guidance
Don’t Tell Mom The Babysitter is Dead
Bad Hair Day
Adventures in Babysitting
Storks
Boss Baby
Wreck-It-Ralph
Ralph Breaks the Internet
Cinderella (live action and animated)
Frozen
Frozen II
TV SHOWS

As far as TV shows go, I was going for a similar, feel-good, pick-me-up vibe for the most part. I’m not really all that big of a TV person, considering that school is typically my entire life, but when I do have time for TV, there are a couple of things I watch. If you’re gonna watch a TV show, binge watching can be a lot of fun, but I’d try to limit it to an episode or two, for health’s sake.
9-1-1
Game of Thrones– definitely NOT a happy show to watch though, heads up
Lego Masters
The Good Place
Schitt’s Creek
Saturday Night Live– I recommend watching older seasons. In my opinion, they were just more funny then.
BOOKS

I’ve been reading a lot more lately, and honestly, I recommend that you all do the same. I’ve always loved reading but school literally sucks up so much of my time and it’s sad how little I’ve read over the past year and a half. This quarantine has given a lot of people so much free time. You are free to do whatever you want with your free time, but I’ve really seen this as an opportunity to develop (or redevelop) some new and more healthy habits, involving less screen time. One of those habits, has been reading, and so I’ll share some of my favorite reads of all time and as of lately that may interest you:
The Selection series by Kiera Cass
The Siren by Kiera Cass
Heartless by Melissa Meyer
The Red Queen series by Victoria Aveyard
The Jewel series by Amy Ewing
The Winner’s Kiss trilogy by Marie Rutkoski
The School for Good and Evil series by Soman Chanani
The Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins- she’s making a prequel to the series!!
Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling – these are good movies to watch as well
Unstoppable by Maria Sharapova
Rafa by Rafael Nadal
With All Due Respect by Nikki R. Haley
Driven: A Daughter’s Odyssey by Julie Heldman
And if you’re looking for something else to read, this blog is another option. 🙂 I’ve been posting for the past five years on this blog and I update it every Sunday, so if you’d like to receive email notifications when I post, you can subscribe at the link below! I promise you won’t receive any annoying emails, just notifications for when the next post goes up!

Make of the most of this quarantine and good health and time with family. Most importantly, I hope you are all taking care of yourselves, friends, and family. Despite the fact that I just shared a bunch of books and TV shows and movies for you to enjoy during this quarantine, I encourage you to get outside if you can and get some fresh air and enjoy nature. We all need it. If you feel like you need someone to talk to or want to see your idea as a blog post, you can always reach me on my contact page and I’ll get back to you as soon as possible. 🙂 Stay happy and stay healthy. I’ll see you all next week.
April 5, 2020
Frozen 2: Currently My Favorite Movie

The Walt Disney Company and Walt Disney Animation Studios

I actually went and saw Frozen 2 the day it came out, but I decided now was a good time to post. It would be an easy blog to write and I need an easy blog right now because finals are coming uppppp. Part of the reason I decided to write about Frozen 2 now is also because I wanted to write this after a lot of the reviews had gone out and hopefully more of you have seen it by now. This post will be spoiler free (for the most part) for those of you that haven’t seen it, so with that said, I’m gonna talk about my favorite movie right now. 🙂

The plot with Frozen 2 was incredible. I loved the maturity of the film and I really feel like I grew up with Frozen so to see to characters be six years older too was a really cool connection. I think I was in 8th grade when the first one came out and I was obsessed with it then, so here I am now as a sophomore in college and not much has changed in regards to my love for Frozen or Disney. Haha.

The end was not at all what I expected it to be but it was also better than anything I would’ve ever fantasized the ending to be. Just incredible and oh so cute. I really appreciated what Disney did with Elsa. She hasn’t needed a love story and I’m truly happy that they decided to stick with her story as a strong, independent queen who doesn’t need a man to feel good about herself. The story of her discovering the origin of her powers was extremely powerful and her continuing journey of self-discovery was so fun to follow. Her transformation toward the end and her outfit with her hair down is my favorite of all time. Anna’s dress in the end is also very pretty. Disney crushed it with the design of the characters and the animation for this movie in general. Wow, just wow.

The Walt Disney Company and Walt Disney Animation Studios

I really enjoyed the message too. Or at least, there were certain things that I took from the movie, that I really appreciated. Elsa was so dedicated to figure out where powers came from and her dedication and determination to what she wants. Her courage to venture into the unknown and discover herself is something that I hope to have. That kind of drive is something that I hope to have in life. I strive to be a courageous and kind person and I see that through Elsa. I hope that little girls who’ve loved Elsa, as well as Anna, see that in her too and want to be same way. And with Anna, she was persistent in her goals throughout the movie and even when she thought she lost her sister, she wanted to do what was right, even if it was tough. She put herself at risk to free the enchanted forest, even if that meant she may lose her home. And with Anna and Elsa, their bond and their relationship as sisters is something that I hope all girls out there with sisters see and strive to have. Elsa and Anna are so good to each other (for the most part) and they’re so protective, supporting, and loving toward each other. It reminds me a lot of my relationships with my sister. 🙂 Love you Allyson!

The music of Frozen 2 is also incredible. I liked the music in the first movie, but this music was also just more mature and more in touch with what I like. Currently, I’m listening to the soundtrack too! Haha. My favorites are “Into the Unknown” (which is now nominated for a Golden Globe!) and “Show Yourself”. Both are beautiful songs. I also really like Anna’s song, “The Next Right Thing”. Kristen Bell CRUSHED it.

The new characters in Frozen 2 were a good fit and I feel like there wasn’t anything truly unnecessary that was added. Often times, I see that sequels are worse than their predecessors because they add a bunch of poorly-developed, weak characters in an effort to just take advantage of the market for the movie. Frozen 2 didn’t have any “bad” characters in my opinion. I really liked Bruni, Elsa’s cute little salamander, that was introduced in this movie. SUPER CUTE.

On an unrelated note from the movie, I really hope that Disney cuts it off at Frozen 2. In the end, Elsa herself says something about being all done, so I hope that that was Disney’s way of saying goodbye to making anymore Frozen movies. If there are more shorts, I wouldn’t mind those but I feel like the ending of Frozen 2 was the perfect ending. Nothing more is needed.

So will I go see Frozen 2 in theaters again? If anyone wants to go with me, I’d love to. 🙂 Will I be getting Frozen 2 on DVD when it comes out? Absolutely. Frozen has always been something very special to me because the bond between Elsa and Anna reminds me of the bond that I have with my sister. It’s kind of freaky how similar Allyson and I are to the royal sisters of Arendelle. I love it though. I hope you all have a chance to see Frozen 2 at some point. It’s a fantastic movie with a great message and incredibly talented people. Have a great week everyone.

December 8, 2019
Game of Thrones: The End of an Era

Ok. I really don’t even know where to start. Most of you will probably not know this, but I LOVE Game of Thrones. I have always been a huge fan of the show and just recently, as in like last weekend, the show came to an end. Now that my emotions have calmed down, I feel like I am ready to share how I feel about Game of Thrones season 8. For those of you who are interested in the show and haven’t started it yet or are just now working your way through the seasons, I would like to warn you that spoilers will be in this post. Feel free to click away and come back later. 🙂

Alrighty, first off. The music was FANTASTIC, as always. Ramin Djawadi is a musical god. The music is just breathtaking and intense and exciting and beautiful all in one. I listen to the soundtrack for the entire show on a regular basis.

Onto the actual plot of season 8 now. Leading up to the Great War, everything was a bit slow for me. When episode 3 (The Great War) came around, WOW WAS THAT INTENSE. I was sad to see Theon go, but I do believe that his character was redeemed. It was sad to Theon die but I truly wasn’t as upset by his death in comparison to Jorah’s death. Personally, I was more traumatized to see Daenerys’s most faithful and loyal advisor go down. He died protecting her and that whole thing was just so so so sad. With the Great War, I also feel like the Night King deserved a more epic death. I was glad to see Arya get the kill but I still feel like he was worthy of a more interesting death considering that the entire show had practically led up to winter coming. I feel like Melisandre was an unsung hero of the episode. Her fire powers were incredibly helpful to the Dothraki, Unsullied, and the entire army fighting to protect Wintefell. The scene where she kit the Dothrakis’ swords on fire gave me CHILLS.

Episode 4… This was a big one for me. First of all, seeing Rhaegal die was heartbreaking. Literally heartbreaking for me. You could ask my sister and she would tell you that I was a mess. And then to see Missandei die was traumatizing too. That set Daenerys up to become the “Mad Queen”, so to say, for sure. Greyworm did not deserve to see Missandei die and honestly I was so excited for the life the two characters could have had together. This episode was probably the most frustrating for me because it was clear that Daenerys had snapped and the morally good and truly only morally good character in the show had taken a dark turn.

Episode 5 was just a disaster in my opinion. Jamie leaving Brienne was wrong. He should have stayed with her. Considering that he had redeemed himself and come so far as a character, I thought it was pathetic to see him return to his sister Cersei. While I do believe that Cersei deserved a death better than being crushed by falling rocks, I was still pleased to see her dead. She had caused a lot of heartache in the show. Jamie, not so much. Poor Brienne. Poor, poor Brienne. Looking at Daenerys, she had lost everything. I believe her actions were extreme in that she definitely didn’t need to burn down King’s Landing but I do believe that she really had no choice. Cersei and Euron Greyjoy had taken the last few people (and dragon!) away from her life. She had truly slipped into insanity. SO SAD!

And then with the final episode… Oh boy, let’s try not to cry thinking about it. The shot of Daenerys with Drogon’s wings behind her… breathtaking. Some of the best cinematography and editing I’ve ever seen. Jon Snow killing her. NOT SO BREATHTAKING. I feel that Dany’s death was meant to occur based on what happened in episode 5 but I completely stand by my opinion in that she did not deserve to die. That was so wrong. And then to see the last of her dragons burn down the Iron Throne and fly away with her body was so sad too. To think that Drogon would have to live the rest of his 200-year life alone was so sad, and is so sad to think about (even though I know he’s not a real dragon). To see Bran as the king of the six kingdoms was underwhelming, in my opinion too. I’ve never been a huge fan of Bran as a character and his journey to King’s Landing and journey to the throne reaffirm my opinions. His demeanor and deep, monotone voice just don’t sit well with me.

In the end, I was glad to see Jon go beyond the wall. I was happy to see Sansa become the cunning, clever, strong young lady she had become. I was extremely happy for her to declare Winterfell as its own kingdom, making Sansa the queen of Winterfell. To see Arya leave to explore beyond Westeros was exciting too. Could there be a Game of Thrones spin-off from this? The things that made me upset: Dany’s death, the death of the dragons minus Drogon, Tyrion’s betrayal to Dany, Missandei’s death, and Bran’s rise to power. Honestly the whole season was upsetting! In a good or bad way though? It’s hard to tell…

Some of you may disagree and some of you may not. Overall, the season seemed rushed to me. It was still an incredible, unforgettable ending to an incredible show though. It’s so sad to let go of the characters and the story and the amazing world of Westeros but I am excited to see what legacy Game of Thrones leaves behind. I stand by my girl Daenerys til the end, House Targaryen: Fire and Blood.

Have a good week everyone.

May 26, 2019
Frozen by Frozen the Musical

Wow, after seeing the Broadway trailer for Frozen the Musical I just realized that I totally forgot to share my experience at Frozen when it debuted in Denver! Wow, okay. On September 10 last year, my family and I got tickets to see Disney’s blockbuster on stage at the Denver Performing Arts Center. It. was. outstanding.

This, by far, was my favorite show to see. When my family and I first entered the Buell Theater, I was mesmerized by the northern lights dancing across the stage. From the beginning, it was evident that the staging and sets were going to be fantastic. We were not disappointed. From the thousands and thousands of crystals used as ice in Elsa’s castle to Anna and Elsa’s bedrooms to Wandering Oaken’s Trading Post (ooh, and Sauna!) the sets were beautifully designed and put together.

Now onto the plot, and I’ll try not to spoil much. The plot remained parallel with that of the movie for the most part. It was different in that the trolls were more like a group of spiritual, part animal, magical, people. They had a very cool dance at the beginning and were a significant part of the musical throughout. Marshmallow is not a part of the show, which is unfortunate, but there are plenty of other additions to make up for his absence. We get to see more of Elsa’s relationship with her parents and her growing fear of being seen as a monster and her struggle to figure out who she is and what to do with herself. Anna remains her old bubbly self but we see more of her relationship with Kristoff and Hans in “Love is an Open Door”. Speaking of music, there were plenty of new songs, some of my favorite being “Monster” sung by Elsa, “Hans of the Southern Isles” sung by Hans, and “Hygge” sung by the people at Wandering Oaken’s Trading Post.

The cast we saw perform is currently the cast on Broadway, which is so exciting, in my opinion. They will also be the cast that puts together the album, which is awesome because I have no problem listening to Caissie Levy (Elsa) and Patti Murin (Anna), time and time again. The leads of the show are extremely talented and Caissie Levy, especially gave me goosebumps with her killer performance of “Let it Go” and other songs. Just thinking about her performance gives me shivers.

Overall, this cast is perfect, the music is perfect, and the show is perfect. If you haven’t seen Frozen the Musical, please do. I think you’ll fall in love with it like I did. Now that I’ve seen Frozen, I need to find some tickets to Hamilton…

March 18, 2018
Reviewing the New Beauty and the Beast

The new Beauty and the Beast came out recently and boy, do I have a lot to say about it! Just a warning, there may be some spoilers in here so if you haven’t seen the movie yet, you may learn some things you may not want to yet. Here we go.

Emma Watson was a beautiful Belle. For many others my age, we grew up with her as Hermoine from Harry Potter. When I first discovered that she would be playing one of my favorite Disney princesses, I worried that I would only see Hermoine, but that wasn’t the case. Emma Watson fit the role of Belle perfectly and had an amazing singing voice. In addition to Watson, the rest of the cast was fantastic. Dan Stevens played the Beast and Luke Evans played Gaston and they absolutely killed it! I actually loved Luke Evans so much that I almost felt bad for Gaston when he died. Stevens and Evans both fit their roles so nicely and also did a great job singing and acting in the movie.

The music was wonderful throughout the movie. I loved that Disney incorporated the music from the original cartoon but I thought it really made the movie different and even better from the cartoon by adding a couple of new songs in. They really fit into the movie.

In addition to adding a few new songs, there were a couple of new additions to the plot to fill plot holes not covered in the cartoon movie. In the cartoon, everyone in the town seemed totally oblivious to the fact that there was a castle and a beast lived in it. I thought that was somewhat confusing. In the live action movie, we learned that when the Beast was cursed, the enchantress that cursed him also cursed the town and erased any memory they had of the prince and his castle. On top of that, from the cartoon, it didn’t make any sense that the Beast had been cursed for many years and characters like Chip didn’t age. In the live action movie, I think the enchantress trapped the town in a time-loop and left them unable to age. That would explain why Mrs. Potts and Mr. Potts where still the same age when they were rejoined in the end and Chip, their son didn’t age as well. If this seems confusing in my writing, there are several other writers who share similar beliefs and ideas with the live action plot. I would suggest reading more about it.

The special effects and CGI for Beauty and the Beast were also executed well. The Beast was extremely realistic and looked very, very real especially when around Belle. The Beast’s castle was also super cool and reminded me a lot of the one in the cartoon movie.

Belle’s dress in the popular dance scene was also gorgeous and I’m really happy that the costume designers didn’t recreate the dress Belle wore in the cartoon movie. This one appealed to the more modern age but was still classical and beautiful on Emma Watson.

And one other thing, I thought that all of the characters were developed much better in the new Beauty and the Beast. We learned much more about Gaston and his sidekick, Le Fou, and also Belle’s father. We learned more about all of the characters in the castle too, and I think learning more about the characters also really helped build the movie’s background and setting overall.

If you haven’t seen the new Beauty and the Beast movie, I’m begging you to see it as soon as possible. I absolutely loved it and I’m so proud of Disney’s latest masterpiece. Bravo!

March 19, 2017
Moana Knows the Way

Disney came out with it’s newest Disney Princess movie on November 23. Her name is Moana and I could definitely say that this was another amazing feat by Disney.

The movie Moana takes place in Ancient Polynesia on an island where Moana, the daughter of the island chief ventures out to save her island and restore the heart of Te Fiti. In order to do this she has to find Maui, a demigod who stole the heart many years ago, and take him with her. Together the two sail the sea, encounter many monsters and challenges, and grow as friends. As this happens, there’s a lot of singing and good action that Disney always does a fabulous job with. I’m trying so hard not to leave any spoilers!

I really enjoyed the plot of this Disney movie as there were some twists that I honestly didn’t expect from Disney. They helped make the movie more emotional and intriguing.

The animation was amazing and Moana’s hair has honestly become my goals. Haha. The settings were well put together and the entire movie was professionally and masterfully put together. I would expect no less from Disney!

Moana, Maui, and the other characters who appeared more often in the movie were easy to relate to, had great stories behind them, and were so easy to get attached to. I absolutely loved Moana’s chicken, Hei Hei. Even though he couldn’t speak, his squawking and actions were hilarious and made him one of my favorite characters, easily.

The music for this movie was brilliant. After seeing the movie, I’ve listened to the soundtrack a little too much lately, but it’s honestly hard not to listen to it! The vocals and instrumentals were great and I really enjoyed listening to it. The music of Moana is different from any Disney movie, ever and I think that helps it stand out and really make it unique. My favorite songs from the movie are “Shiny” and “How Far I’ll Go”. They’re great.

Overall, I highly recommend Moana and hope that you all enjoy it or did enjoy it as much as I did. Moana is a beautiful princess and the message of the movie is very powerful and the different culture of Moana and her people is refreshing and interesting.

I can’t wait to see what else Disney comes up with!

December 4, 2016
Who You Gonna Call? Ghostbusters 2016 Review

The long-awaited return of Ghostbusters is now over. The new Ghostbusters movie hit theaters July 15th and since its release there have been mixed emotions and reactions about it. Even before the movie came out, many people were angry or upset with the new film and the trailer became the most disliked video on YouTube. What?! It only received a 5.4/10 from IMBd, a 73% from Rotten Tomatoes, and a 60% from Metacritic. When I first heard that a new Ghostbusters movie was coming out, I was really excited and looked forward to it and then when I heard all of the criticism and negativity towards it, I decided I needed to go see the movie for myself and prove people wrong. Here’s what I thought about the new Ghostbusters movie.

Melissa McCarthy, Kate McKinnon, Kristen Wiig, and Leslie Jones are all very funny women and that can be seen in the shows and movies they star in however, the humor they tend to share is dirty and inappropriate for a younger audience. I was worried about that going into the movie, but once I had seen it, it was actually pretty funny. The jokes were clever and Chris Hemsworth, who played the receptionist, was hilarious. There were a few bad words and a scene where a man showed a certain finger but other than that, the movie was fine. The cast appeared to have great chemistry on screen and the characters were all well-developed and interesting.

The plotline loosely followed that of the original Ghostbusters movie and it was easy to follow. My family and I were entertained throughout the entire movie and it was awesome to see several of the original cast members making appearances in this movie. I’m doing my best not to spoil anything, haha.

As far as special effects went, the ghosts looked pretty cool however it was easy to tell that they were fake. The lasers from the proton packs and guns were also cool but they too looked fake. There was a scene where McCarthy and Wiig were in a portal and it was difficult to focus on the dialogue or take it seriously because the green screen effect was not as great as it could have been. Other than those few things, the special effects were well-executed.

With all of those factors considered, I would say that I enjoyed watching the new Ghostbusters movie. It was funny, entertaining, and a good time all around. To those of you who are Ghostbusters fans that haven’t seen the new movie or interested in sci-fi or fantasy movies, this is the movie for you. Happy ghost busting!

July 31, 2016