New family friendly films for the holiday weekend
In Disney’s fantasy-adventure THE BFG, directed by Steven Spielberg and based on Roald Dahl’s beloved classic, a precocious 10-year old named Sophie (Ruby Barnhill) befriends the BFG (Oscar (TM) winner Mark Rylance), a Big Friendly Giant from Giant Country. (Photo courtesy of Walt Disney Pictures.)
Alyvia Alyn Lind portrays a young Dolly Parton in the made for TV movie “Dolly Parton’s Coat of Many Colors” now on Blu-ray and DVD. (Photo courtesy of NBC.)
The turkey has been carved and the last bite of cranberry sauce has been eaten on Thanksgiving. Now is the time where many will shop ’til they drop and decorate for the holidays.
But, when the hustle and bustle of holiday preparations are done, and you want to put your tired feet up the weekend can be a time to reconnect and relax with family this holiday season.
This week, several family friendly movies arrived on DVD and Blu-ray just in time to pop some popcorn and enjoy the extra time with loved ones.
Here are some new selections for this weekend’s family movie night:
n “The BFG”
In 1975 author Roald Dahl introduced the word to The BFG, or Big Friendly Giant, in his classic children’s tale “The Big Friendly Giant.”
This year, Walt Disney Pictures brought the BFG to life on the screen and told the story of a girl named Sophie (Ruby Barnhill, “The 4 O’Clock Club”) who meets the BFG (Mark Rylance, “Bridge of Spies” and “The Other Boleyn Girl”) who ends up being a kind spirit that is outcast by the other giants due to his refusal to eat children.
“‘The BFG’ remembers what it’s like to see with the eyes of a child,” wrote Matt Zoller Seitz for RogerEbert.com.
The film is rated PG for action/peril, some scary moments and brief rude humor.
n “The Wild Life”
This animated, comedy puts a new twist on the classic tale of “Robinson Crusoe” originally written by Daniel Defoe in 1719.
This time, the story is told by a parrot named Tuesday (voiced by David Howard Thornton, “Terrifier” and “Nightwing: Escalation”) about the famed adventurer Crusoe (voiced by Matthias Schweighöfer, “Valkyrie” and “What a Man”) who may not be the great survivalist that everyone has come to know.
He must rely on the help of Tuesday and his animal friends in order to survive.
Everything is fine until savage cats threaten to takeover the island and everyone must work together and rely on their new friendship.
Kate Walsh of the Los Angeles Times’ wrote, “‘The Wild Life’ is a family-friendly take on the story of Crusoe, with a twist, and kids no doubt will be drawn to the colorful animal characters, but there’s a lack of emotional connection that makes the film just another cartoon flick, not a special favorite or animated classic.”
“The Wild Life” is rated PG for mild action/peril and some rude humor.
n “Dolly Parton’s Coat of Many Colors”
Last December NBC shared the true story of country music legend Dolly Parton in the made for TV movie “Dolly Parton’s Coat of Many Colors.”
The movie tells the true story of what life was like for Parton (Alyvia Alyn Lind, “Blended” and “A Deadly Adoption”) growing up in a family that was struggling to overcome tragedy and learn to rely on love, faith and a patchwork coat made by her mother, (played by country star Jennifer Nettles) that shaped her into who she is today.
“To paraphrase something Parton once said about herself: ‘It may look fake, but it’s real where it counts.’ What counts most is the acting, which lends the story a naturalism that the script can’t,” wrote Melissa Maerz of Entertainment Weekly.
n “Pete’s Dragon”
An orphaned boy named Pete (Oakes Fegley, “This is Where I Leave You” and “Children of the Moon”) and his green winged dragon, Elliot (voiced by John Kassir, “Tales from the Crypt” and “The Three Stooges”) are living together in the woods when Pete is discovered by a ranger named Grace (Bryce Dallas Howard, “Jurassic World” and “The Help”) who decides to take Pete in to care for him. She later learns about Elliot, but has a hard time believing he is real.
Matt Zoller Seitz, a reviewer for RogerEbert.com gave the film a 4.5 out of 5 rating saying he was not sure if a film like this was made anymore.
“Common wisdom says Hollywood doesn’t make this kind of movie anymore. But it’s not true. The studios make one of them every few months, and whether they’re great or merely good, they give us respite from the clanking, bashing, burning and pouting that passes for fantasy now,” he wrote. “It’d be a shame to think of this genre of movie vanishing from theaters in a haze, like Elliott turning invisible.”
The film is rated PG for action, peril and brief language.
Other films out on Blu-ray and DVD this week include:
n “Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie” starring Jennifer Saunders, Joanna Lumley and Jane Horrocks and directed by Mandie Fletcher in this comedy about Edina ( Saunders, “Shrek 2” and “Coraline”) and Patsy ( Lumley, “The Wolf of Wall Street” and “Corpse Bride”) who are on the run from the law after knocking Kate Moss into the River Thames.
The film is rated R for language including sexual references and some drug use.
n “Don’t Breathe” starring Stephen Lang, Jane Levy and Dylan Minnette and directed by Fede Alvarez in this horror film about three friends Rocky (Levy, “Evil Dead” and “Suburgatory”), Alex (Minnette, “Goosebumps” and “Let Me In”) and Money (Daniel Zovatto, “It Follows” and “Fear the Walking Dead”) who decide to rob a blind man (Lang, “Avatar” and “Conan the Barbarian”) when they get more than they bargained for.
The film is rated R for terror, violence, disturbing content and language including sexual references.
n “The Intervention” starring Melaine Lynskey, Jason Ritter and Skylar Bernon and directed by Clea DuVall in this comedy about four couples including Annie (Lynskey, “Togetherness” and “Heavenly Creatures”) and Matt (Ritter, “Freddy vs. Jason” and “Gravity Falls”) who learn that the whole weekend was designed as a marriage intervention.
The film is rated R for language including sexual references.
n “Esteros” starring Ignacio Rogers, Esteban Masturini and Joaquin Parada and directed by Papu Curotto in this romantic drama about two friends Matias (Rogers, “Like a Crashed Plane” and “Another Silence”) and Jeronimo (Masturinil, “El Viaje” and “The Trip”) that starts to change right before they start high school.
The film is unrated.