The Book of Life

The Book of Life directed by Jorge Gutierrez and produced by Guillermo del Toro

Review by Katie Rose

                The Book of Life is a recently released film that has been truly underrated. Colorful, creative, and unique, this children’s movie tells a magnificent tale of self-discovery and love.

The Corpse Bride

The Corpse Bride  Directed by Tim Burton and Mike Johnson

Review by Kaite Rose

                 Well it is October, so I have to do at least one Halloween classic!  The Corpse Bride is one of my all-time favorite movies. Considering the glory of stop animation combined with an all-star voice cast, and of course coming from the mind of Tim Burton, there really is a lot to love here.  What I love most about this movie, however, is the characters! And the music is pretty snazzy too!

Fever 1793

Fever 1793 By Laurie Halse Anderson

Review by Katie Rose

 

                I JUST finished this book, and I was so excited about it I had to move it to the top of my review list! It is another historical fiction, but it is also a children’s book. In any country’s history, there are horrifying events that occur, and then are forgotten. Sometimes they are deliberately ignored to undermine the suffering of those who were persecuted….and sometimes they are forgotten because people simply did not want to remember. The story of the yellow fever outbreak of 1793 is one of those instances.

The Hunchback of Notre Dame

The Hunchback of Notre Dame  Directed by: Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise

Review by Katie Rose

 

                I know, another Disney film! Well, in my personal life, I just moved to a foreign country (hence my lack of a post last week), and I find in times where so many things are changing, it can be helpful to go back to the familiar. Therefore, there will be Disney! So this film is the highly underrated Disney classic, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, based off the novel of the same name by Victor Hugo. It takes place in the city of Paris circa 1482. It has a male protagonist, the unfortunate and deformed Quasimodo, who has been shut up his entire life due to his appearance. There are themes of race, emotional abuse, sexism, and corruption in religion in this film that make it one of the darker, and more deep films Disney has ever produced.

Gathering Blue

Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry

Review By: Katie Rose

                In the world of young adult literature, dystopian futures are in. The Hunger Games and Divergent are just two examples of dystopian stories that have soared to fame, and have even earned themselves movie adaptations. Both stories feature young women caught in a struggle for justice and freedom in a controlled and depraved future. However, this surge of dystopian young adult fiction has been around for a long time, and these two stories are certainly not the first to focus on the life and struggles of a young girl. Gathering Blue was published in 2000 by Lois Lowry, the writer of the beloved classic, The Giver.  The two stories take place in the same world, but in different villages that are both authoritarian societies that use fear to control the masses.

Atlantis: The Lost Empire

Atlantis: The Lost Empire

Directed By: Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise

Review By: Katie Rose

                For those of us who are super Disney nerds, there are terms for different eras of Disney animated movie making. There was the Golden Age, which was 1940-1958, and includes classics like Snow White and Sleeping Beauty. Then there was the Disney Renaissance, which ran from 1989-1999. Those are all the films I grew up with such as The Lion King, The Little Mermaid, and Aladdin. Then something happened. Disney branched out from their normal story telling style, and even animation styles, and created a wide range of films that were financially not very successful. There are many different names for this period of movie making (including the unflattering “Dark Ages”), but I prefer to call it The Experimental Era.  Despite that lack of money that came from these movies, many of them were very good! The one I want to tell you about is my favorite from this time period, Atlantis: The Lost Empire.