Worth the Wait!

My children have been waiting all summer for the Disney Channel premiere of "Phineas and Ferb: Across the 2nd Dimension".  Well, it premiered last night, and as of 15 minutes ago, they've watched it 3 times.  Thank goodness we have that DVR.

What starts out like any other day for Phineas and Ferb gets complicated when they accidentally smash Dr. Doofenschmirtz's latest invention, the Other Dimension-inator.  So, being the charitable boys they are, Phineas and Ferb help Dr. D fix his invention, much to the chagrin of Agent P (Perry the Platypus).  In the other dimension, the boys find that the other Dr. Doofenschmirtz has taken over the tri-state area.  What follows is an adventure to save Perry, get back home and save their own tri-state area. 

This movie was surprisingly good.  It wasn't just a longer version of the TV show, but actually had a "movie" feel to it.  I rate it 4 stars, and my kids rate it the best movie ever.  Of course, they are prone to exaggeration.  Hopefully "Phineas and Ferb: Across the 2nd Dimension" will be available on DVD or Blu-ray soon.  Otherwise, I'll never be able to delete it from the DVR.

Some Book Reviews

Well, it's not quite Nuke with 600 book reviews in one post, but I have 3 to review in this post.

Gregor the Overlander  (Underland Chronicles Series #1):  This Suzanne Collins book is one my kids and my wife really wanted me to read.  They have listened to the first 2 books on CD, and are planning to listen to/read the other 3.  So, last week we got book #1 on the Nook and I set to reading it.

Overall, this isn't a bad book.  It's probably a 3.5 star book.  Gregor is 11 years old, and he lives with his mother, grandmother and 2 sisters.  His father has been missing for 2 years, 7 months and some days.  While caring for his 2 year old sister Boots, Gregor and Boots fall into The Underland, a world underground where humans, giant bats, giant cockroaches and giant rats live and not in peace.  When the humans find Gregor, they tell him he is a prophesied warrior, and he sets out on a mysterious quest.  Along the way, there are betrayals, some action, new friendships and a reunion. 

Like I said, not a bad book, and since it reads fast, I was glad I read it.

True (...Sort Of):  This book was one my wife chose to do as a read aloud to the kids on a recent trip we made.  As I was driving, and almost all the reading was done in the car, I got to listen too.  Author Katherine Hannigan spins a really good tale of friendship, of overcoming perceptions and of learning how to do what's right. 

The story centers mostly around Delly Pattison, a 5th grader who likes surpresents (surprise presents).  But, her surpresents tend to get her in trouble.  In fact, she is in trouble so often, that most of her family and friends have given up on her.  That all changes when Delly meets Ferris Boyd, the new kid in town who is like no one Delly has ever met before.  Ferris comes with her own set of troubles though.  Can Delly overcome her troubles and help Ferris? 

There is a side story involving another kid's (Brud Kinney) interaction with Ferris as well, but I think the Delly/Ferris story is definitely the main theme.  I really enjoyed this book, and my wife read it so well.  This story is funny at times, sad at others, and heartwarming at others.  A great choice for a read aloud book with kids.  There are some tough themes at times, so I'd suggest kids 8 or older. 

The Warlock (Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel Series #5):  This book actually made me want to read the 6th and final book in this series by Michael Scott.  Everything that happens in book #5 happens in a 24 hour span, which makes for fast paced action.  Where book #4 seemed predictable and frayed, this book starts to bring things back together.  I'm glad I stuck with this series.  Here's hoping the final book brings it home. 

It's Over

Last night I went to see "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part II", which will be known as HP7p2 for the rest of this blog.  The Deathly Hallows was my favorite book, and I thought HP7p2 would be my favorite movie, but I don't know if it was as good as the fourth movie.

Don't get my wrong, I liked HP7p2, but since I knew what was in the book, I was a bit disappointed with the few things that were left out of the movie.  Overall, the movie was true to the book, but where it deviated was a bit disappointing.  I give the movie a 4 star rating, trending towards 4.5.

If you think about it, the 8 movies in the Harry Potter series is really pretty amazing.  So often, these great books get screwed up when converted to movies.  As examples, see "Eragon" or "The Lightning Thief".  The fact that the producers, directors and cast were able to stay relatively true to J.K. Rowling's vision is pretty remarkable, and that has to count for something.  And, if you have never read the books, the movies do a really great job telling the story, but once you read the books, you'll miss what was left out of the movies.

I never wanted to be one of those "the book was better" type of people, but...the book was better.