Hit or Miss

Sadly, I would have to say that lately we have been having more "misses" from the Hollywood Video by our house. But, there are a few gems that we have found- and then some painful films you should definitely avoid.

The animated films have actually been the biggest winners for us.
Meet the Robinsons: SO creative and fun- and a good story. And Rob Thomas actually wrote the song "Little Wonders" after reading part of the script- its a good song that I heard on the radio before and had no idea it was from the film, but I like it even more now
Surfs Up: Such a funny, cleverly done documentary style film about surfing penguins. Be sure to watch the bonus features where they show how they did the animation process to look like it was being filmed by a hand camera- super clever! Also, Jon Heder is one of the voices and is hilarious as a surfing chicken. The actors actually improvised most of their lines
Miss Potter: This isn't animated but it is so good- its a romantic one- about Beatrix Potter, the woman who wrote the Tales of Peter Rabbit children's series. It has Ewan McGregor in it and it is just so well done. Warning- I cried in this movie- and even for a half hour afterwards, but I also cried a little in the above two movies. I'm just a sensitive bawl baby

Now, onto the painful misses- that both of us are to blame. You really can't always trust the back of the boxes- they can be so misleading. These are hours and money that we wish we could take back
Invisible: had the potential to be good, but turned into a horrible, cheesy after-school-special
The Fountain: Very sad- cried through this one too- but is just really bizarre and out there
Celestine Prophecy: A spiritual story of some eastern zen religion- just didn't really come together for us
The Promise: Looked "promising" since it was by the director of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, but a big let down. Just really surreal.

Moral of the story: animated flicks are the way to go and if you really haven't ever heard of a movie before, even if the back looks good, think twice about giving it a chance.

And if you have any good recommendations- PLEASE send them our way!