DPeeters Reviews

Family Ties: Auntie Up (1985) Season 3, Episode 15

heartwarming

[9/10 · 5 January 2024]

I really love this show for all the humor. This episode was an emotional one with great acting by Mallory (Justine Batemen). You can really live into the moment and for sure if you have have come into a similar situation. Even though it was emotional, they still got a lot of humor into the episode without ruining the actual story as a whole.

I especially liked the conversation about God. It was a much more open view than we see in the media these days. It shows that 40 years later, society has regressed back into a much more conservative and divided view on religion and beliefs. This is the case in many of these episodes.

Playmobil: The Movie (2019)

Of course it's one big commercial, but it still entertains

[7/10 · 4 August 2019]

Since this is a film about Playmobil, you can't expect anything else than a promotion of their toys. But still the story is reasonable, the action is good, the comedy is funny (for the target age group) and the visual effects are good.

Go see it without unreasonable expectations and let yourself be entertained. If your kids like playing with Playmobil, then they'll like watching this film.

Wonder Park (2019)

Fun for the kids but has some serious flaws

[6/10 · 10 June 2019]

I went to see this movie with my three kids (5,7,10) and they liked it, so I can't say it wasn't entertaining for its target audience. From an adult critical point of view I did have to roll my eyes a few too many times and reading the reviews, I don't agree with what many people here write.

The movie starts with a family that has extreme unrealistic bliss and love and where the daughter, June, is over-adored in an unhealthy way. She practically destroys her neighbourhood and her parent end up rewarding her with all she ever desired. There are just too many forced emotions here.

The typical 'one of the parents gets sick' story line (which is part of almost every kids story) comes over forced and easily resolved by the mother leaving to get it fixed. This gives an unrealistic and easy solution to the father and daughter not having to deal with the issue in any personal way.

Then the whole maths camp history and nobody makes an issue of this. Teaching kids that if they don't feel like it, they can just abandon everything and disappoint everyone around them.

Finally, the wonder park story itself is fine apart from the creepy monkey zombies that will probably give the target audience (which I think is 5 to 8 year olds) nightmares. June will definitely grow up to be a leader/influencer since she has all the kids in her neighbourhood blindly follow her in whatever project she thinks up. This includes her parent the must of forked over all their savings to pay for her 'dreams'.