A good movie for children 5 - 10.

"While Stella is browsing on a Halloween site, she somehow transfers a ghost into real life. They work together on making sure the ghost gets his final wish and that Stella has the perfect haunted house this Halloween. I am not much of a watcher of family movies but I think this one was well done and it kept me entertained and laughing. it was a good change of pace and a neat way to bring "horror" to the kids. I recommend checking this one out for family movie night. This one gets a 3 star rating from me."
(HorrorWeb_Jekyll (jekyll@horror-web.com) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0308310/ )


http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi313000217/

Created by PorchLight Entertainment, which distributes and produces some awesome movies for families, "I Downloaded a Ghost" is no exception to the rule. This non-scary ghost movie tells the tale of Stella, the new girl in town and Winston, the cabby comedian who meets death early. Stella wants to have the best haunted house for Halloween, but she is competing against Terry Tomlinson, the rich girl in town.

Winston can't go into the after-life because he has been unjustly accused of robbing a golden cat. Stella can help, but in return Winston must help her with the haunted house. The two use each other to accomplish their goals.

A friendship is eventually formed, not because of usefulness, but because of giving of ones self to one another.

This movie stars Carlos Alazraqui, Ellen Page and Vincent Corazza. Filmed in Canada and made for television in 2004, this film has charm. Reminiscent of Disney movies like "Escape to Witch Mountain", this is sure to be a family favorite for the Halloween celebrations. Rated PG for thematic purposes, there is no documented profanity ot crude humor. This is truly a film for the family.

After watching this movie serve up a special treat with the following recipe:

1 lg box orange Jello. Mix as directed and let set in pan.
Mix 1 package cream cheese with 1 small container cool whip. Top set Jello with mixture.
Crush one package chocolate graham crackers and cover cream cheese mixture.
Use Lorna Doone cookies as headstones and place candy pumpkins around graveyard.

My kids love this and have asked for it every year for approximately 10 years. Maybe it will become one of your family favorites too!

Return to the Neighborhood

I finally went and saw Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. My youngest daughter also came. This was the first Indiana Jones movie she has seen. In our home the Indiana Jones movies were banned about 17 years ago when my third daughter got too interested in the Raiders of the Lost Ark. A satanic scene in Raiders had caught her attention at the age of 6 (this was my parental wake up call to the influence of Television in the lives of children).

This Indy movie has no Satanic rituals, but lots of action. Of course the bugs had to be in there. Scorpions (big black ones) crawling on Mutt's body and stinging him, a large snake to make Indy squirm, and big, fat red ants. I love the bug scenes only because it makes me cover my eyes and shake my hands as if they were on me instead of the characters. Vicarious thrill.

Professor Oxley has lost his mind (haven't the best of us though?) and has been kidnapped by the Russians. Ox is trying to return the crystal skull taken from sacred chambers years before. Marion (the love of Indy's life) goes after Ox, only to end up kidnapped herself. Marion's son Mutt tracks down Indy for help and the adventure begins.

Mutt by the way is Indy's son, but we saw that coming from the very beginning.

My daughter enjoyed the movie and now wants to watch the originals. I will probably let her since she is not six and she knows the difference between reality and fiction, right and worng, and righteousness and sin. But as a good parent we all want to evaluate where our children are emotionally and spiritually to know if they are able to handle such movies.

The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is rated PG-13 for violence and scary images, but there are also some strong four-letter words. For action and adventure I would recommend it.




http://yourldsneighborhood.com/