DreamWorks Animation and Pearl Studio’s co-production Abominable is an action-packed heartwarming adventure for the whole family, with a really impressive 95% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. Released in time for the half term on Digital 3rd February and on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray and DVD 10th February from Universal Pictures Home Entertainment.


Abominable is brought to us by the team who created How To Train Your Dragon, and has a great voice cast, including Chloe Benne, Sarah Paulson, Eddie Izzard, Tenzing Norgay Trainor, Albert Tsai, Tsai Chin and Joe Izzo as Everest.


Disgruntled teenager Yi is struggling with life a little after losing her Father. She lives with her Mother and Grandmother, and takes on lots of different odd-jobs to save up to try and take a trip that her Dad had planned to take with her. One day while hiding in her den on the roof, she discovers a Yeti, who has escaped from a science lab.

The Yeti is friendly and cute, and just wants to go home. He's also a bit magic and has some tricks up his sleeve involving plants. Along with her friends Jin and Peng, Yi embarks on an epic journey to return her Yeti, Everest, to his mountain home and his family - with the scientists and money men in hot pursuit...

The Secret Life of Pets 2 is now available on DVD, Blu-ray, 4K Ultra HD and Digital Download from Universal Pictures Home Entertainment. They've sent us a copy to review and I have a Blu-ray to give away to one of my readers too!

What are your pets doing when you aren't at home?


This heartwarming animated sequel from Illumination, the studio that brought us Despicable Me, Minions and Sing, is also led by a star-studded comedic cast. All of our favorite Pets and their growing families are back in a new chapter which really examines the deep bonds between them and their humans.

The voice cast includes Patton Oswalt (A.P. Bio), Kevin Hart (Ride Along Series), Eric Stonestreet (Modern Family), Jenny Slate (Despicable Me 3), Tiffany Haddish (Girls Trip), Lake Bell (Children’s Hospital), Nick Kroll (Sing), Dana Carvey (Wayne’s World), Ellie Kemper (Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt), Hannibal Buress (Neighbors) and Bobby Moynihan (Saturday Night Live).

Excitingly for me, Harrison Ford takes his first ever role in an animated film as new addition Rooster, the very mature farm dog who they meet later on in the movie.

Wonder Park is a sweet feel-good family movie which has a couple of slightly more serious moments. Paramount Home Media Distribution sent us a copy to review, as well as some Wonder Park goodies, and we all really enjoyed it! Out today on Download & Keep, and on Blu-ray and DVD from 19th August, it's a great film to fill a rainy Summer afternoon.

Wonder Park has a great cast including Jennifer Garner, Mila Kunis and Ken Jeong, and centres on a young girl named June, who has created an amazing amusement park with her mother. They imagine and draw all of the rides and attractions, fill the park with animal characters who have fun all day, and it's a very happy place to be.

When June's Mum becomes ill, June loses her happiness, and she turns her back on the Wonder Park. Unknown to her, it can't function without her and it quickly falls into disrepair, and is overtaken by Chimpanzombies. When she returns she finds it broken and the characters desperately unhappy. June feels the weight of responsibility and realises it's up to her to cheer the whole park up in time to save it, and in the process, she also finds her own joy...

Blockbuster is a brand new game from the very clever people at Big Potato. A party game for 4 or more, played in 2 teams, film knowledge is a bonus, but definitely not essential.

Frankly it's hilarious and even my 9 and 10 year old boys, who don't even know 2/3 of the films on the cards, think it's hilarious too.


Our parcel arrived with a big "Quik Drop" label, and I knew what it was instantly! I practically lived in Blockbuster for about 10 of my most influential years. The very thoughtful people at Big Potato had sent us everything we needed for a movie night...


The packaging is THE BEST PACKAGING IN THE WORLD EVER!! A real genuine imitation Blockbuster video box. Nostalgia is pouring into my soul.

Today sees the DVD and Blu-ray release of epic family-friendly adventure, The Kid Who Would Be King. We've watched it and it's a great family action movie, and I have a DVD copy to give away to one of my readers, courtesy of 20th Century Fox.


My boys will watch quiet and considered films, but mainly they like a good lively film with plenty of action, so The Kid Who Would Be King was a hit with my boys. It's PG rated and there's no gore, but a strong storyline with plenty of peril and fight scenes. Some characters do not survive to the end of the movie.

Alex thinks he’s just another nobody, getting bullied at school and told what to do by his teachers, until he stumbles upon the mythical Sword in the Stone, Excalibur. Now old school magic meets the modern world and with the help of the legendary wizard Merlin, he must unite his friends and school yard enemies into an allied band of knights to defeat the wicked enchantress Morgana. With the future at stake, Alex must become the great leader he never dreamed he could be and save the world.

On Easter Sunday we were invited to see a private screening of The Boss Baby at the Hilton Hotel in Manchester. I've never watched a movie in a hotel before and it was such a lovely event and so well organised that I thought I owed it to them to write about it.


The Hilton Hotel are rightly proud of their association with animated family movie The Boss Baby. They want to promote their family friendly side, so that families know they can come and stay and be fully catered for - in fact, children stay and eat for free.

Monday 6th Feb saw the release on DVD of the thriller from Entertainment One - The Girl On The Train. With a fantastic cast and more than enough passion, intrigue and action to satisfy everyone, this is a movie that is perfect to watch on Valentine's Day.


Starring Emily Blunt as the eponymous and very troubled main character, supported by Haley Bennett and Rebecca Ferguson, as well as Justin Theroux and Luke Evans, The Girl On The Train is rated 15 and is not a gentle romance at all. The suspense is held throughout, and your allegiances change as you find out more backstory, and follow the twisting plotline.

Last Saturday we got up ridiculously early to catch the train down to London, for a special screening of the LEGO Batman movie courtesy of Warner Brothers. It was something we were incredibly excited about, and it really didn't disappoint...


We were tempted to take lots of LEGO Batmen with us, but remembering what happened to the rear end of our LEGO Scooby Doo Mystery Machine, we decided it better to choose one, and it was Tartan Batman who got a day out. I've already posted about the whole LEGO Batman trip to London, this is our review of the movie itself.

The latest release from Entertainment One is Roald Dahl's Revolting Rhymes. A two-part animated movie based on the classic collection of stories by Roald Dahl, and a huge hit at Christmas on TV, Revolting Rhymes comes to DVD on 6th February, and is available now on Digital Download.


The film has a warm and familiar style, as the animation is by Magic Light Pictures, the team behind award-winning films The Gruffalo and Stick Man. There is the usual light-hearted humour, and fantastic expression on the faces of the characters.

The British cast is great (everyone loves Roald Dahl) and includes my 8 year old son's favourite current children's author David Walliams, as well as Tamsin Grieg, Rob Brydon, Dominic West and others.

Warner Brothers have asked me if I want to write about some of their Christmas Family Movies, and I'm more than happy to oblige. Christmas is truly the most wonderful time of year for films. Everyone has some actual time off to relax, the weather outside is frightful and the whole family are home for Christmas. Get the popcorn and some hot chocolate, grab a blanket and snuggle up to spend some special time together getting into the festive spirit...


Animation is a festive winner and The Polar Express is a gorgeous Christmas movie which has a lovely tale of honesty and friendship behind it. Adults watch this one for the nostalgia and the quite tricky storyline, children at first watch it as a magical train to Santa, before they get a bit older and begin to understand the deeper meanings. The animation style does fall deep into uncanny valley, so it's not to everyone's taste.

The secret life of pets is an animated family movie from Universal pictures, and is released on released on Digital Download tomorrow Monday 31st October. The movie tells the tale of Max and Penny and a host of family pets. Max is abandoned and Penny finds, and rescues him. She takes him home and they spend the next few months getting to know each other and keeping each other company in the flat.


One day Penny brings a new dog home from the pound, Duke. Max is very jealous and decides he needs to get rid of Duke, but it goes wrong and both Max and Duke find themselves lost.

Max and Duke need to find their way back home, but are being watched by the evil fluffy white bunny Snowball and his ragtag gang of escaped pets. They encounter several adventures along the way, including nearly drowning after Duke is taken by the Animal-Catcher, and the van has an accident on the way to the pound.

Anyone who knows me well will know I've always been a fan of horror. There's no better evening for me than one involving an early night for the little children and a couple of horror movies.

Warner Brothers have asked me to write about my top horror films to watch this Halloween, and in return they're going to send me 5 of my favourite classic horror DVD's, so how could I resist?


1. The Exorcist (1973)
Anything parodied that much has to be worthy of watching. The Exorcist really is a great example of the psychological and disturbing. Possibly the 'horror' and swearing aren't as effective and shocking now as they were back in 1973, but the bed scenes will stay with you. The acting is excellent and very chilling. You can thank The Exorcist for all of the 'possessed child' movies since...

2. Friday The 13th (1980)
Many classic horror movies have sequels and Friday The 13th seems to have more than any other - Jason Vorhees is apparently unstoppable. The original 'kids at camp get murdered one after another by someone seeking revenge for wrongdoings and years of bitterness' movie. Remember the rules kids...

3. The Shining (1980)
One of my favourite books and equally good as a movie, this Stephen King and Stanley Kubrick classic has depths that you miss the first 5 or 6 times you see it. You watch the main character's fall into insanity, as you will his wife and child to make their escape - virtually impossible due to their remote location and Winter snow. Psychological and disturbing, one of the few horror films which does not rely on anyone else as the aggressor. This is what could happen to any of us if we spent months confined...

Everyone's favorite pizza-loving heroes return in an epic new live action adventure Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out Of The Shadows on Blu-ray, Blu-ray 3D, 4K Ultra HD, DVD and On Demand on Monday 24th October. Released by Paramount Home Media Distribution and Universal Pictures (UK) just in time for half term...


Raphael, Leonardo, Donatello, and Michelangelo are back to battle bigger, badder villains, alongside April O’Neil and a newcomer: the hockey-masked vigilante Casey Jones. The film stars plenty of familiar faces including Megan Fox, Will Arnett, Laura Linney, Stephen Amell, and Tyler Perry. The acting is good, and because of the turtles more realistic appearance, it's actually quite easy to forget you are watching 'turtles'. The personality and character are barely sidelined at all, and just as with the original cartoons, there's plenty of tongue-in-cheek humour.

Released earlier this week by Lionsgate Home Entertainment, just in time for Halloween, is the monster-filled movie for children of school age, Howard Lovecraft And The Frozen Kingdom. Based on the 2009 graphic novel of the same name, and inspired by the writing of the American author H. P. Lovecraft, this is a teeny bit creepy and there is a maybe a little peril...


The movie has a great voice cast including Ron Perlman and Christopher Plummer, and Doug Bradley - who the adults watching may recognise as the far more grown up Pinhead from Hellraiser!

In the story Howard visits his sick father in hospital, and his Dad tells Howard to destroy a book that "I should never have written". When he gets home Howard finds the book, and can't help but read, accidentally opening a portal to another world, the Frozen Kingdom. There are all kinds of mysterious creatures there, including a creature who looks like a cross between a bat and an octopus - Spot.

Minuscule: Valley Of The Lost Ants is one of the latest family DVD releases from Lionsgate. A movie suitable for anyone, it mixes animation and live action backdrops really well, to create a nice tale that has enough adventure to keep my boys watching throughout, and is gentle enough to be perfect for a family movie afternoon.
This is a tale of excitement and peril starring a little ladybird who has become separated from his family. He very quickly finds himself attacked by some rogue insects (flies), and in the battle loses a wing.

Almost defenceless and crippled, he befriends a black ant named Mandible, and joins forces with his colony to defend their nest from an invasion by red fire ants.

I was always a fan of Scooby Doo, so it's nice that my children have all enjoyed the TV show and movies too. The latest DVD release is a bit of a collaboration, and features some of the most colourful characters from the world of WWE, as well as some particularly monstrous Monster Trucks.


In typical Scooby Doo fashion, a trip to an off-road racing competition is made all the more exciting by the fact Scooby Doo and Shaggy have parked at the side of the track, which had my children laughing right from the start of the movie.

Asterix: The Mansions Of The Gods will be coming to a cinema near you in 2D and 3D from 19th August, and we've been lucky enough to have a sneak preview screening. A computer animated adventure movie with a voice cast that includes an amazing array of popular UK comedians from different genres, it promised big things and hasn't disappointed.


My partner and I grew up reading Asterix books, but in recent years they haven't seemed so popular, and my young boys didn't know the stories at all. They do now! The cast really bring all of the characters to life and this is one of the funniest films we've watched this year.

The deadpan Jim Broadbent as Julius Caesar and Greg Davis and The Centurion work really well against Jack Whitehall as Asterix and Nick Frost as Obelix. There is slapstick humour throughout, and this is an innocent movie, no-one dies or suffers horrific injuries, they're more likely to be attacked by a fish for singing too loud.

Alpha And Omega features the friendliest wolves you can encounter, and they are back on Monday 25th July with their 4th adventure. Alpha And Omega: Family Vacation pretty much gives away the storyline in the title, but what Kate, Humphrey and their pups don't know as they head off on their first family holiday, is that trappers are on their trail...


Alpha And Omega: Family Vacation is a brand new animated adventure which is action-packed, but has a lot of humorous moments, as well as a few emotional scenes. It's suitable for very young children, and the peril is incredibly mild.

The latest family movie from Lionsgate Home Entertainment is Fishtales. Released on Monday 11th July on Digital Download and from Monday 18th July on DVD. Main characters Ollie, Cleo and Puffer are animated against a backdrop of real underwater footage, and it's actually a lot better than that makes it sound. Think David Attenborough meets Bedknobs And Broomsticks and you get the idea.


When their best friend Ollie the octopus is chased by sharks, Cleo the angler fish and Puffer the pufferfish enlist the help of the fun-loving, worldly manta ray, Crash. Crash and Cleo especially know a lot about the undersea world, and explain everything they see as they go a journey of discovery and wonder exploring coral reefs, the open ocean and freshwater lakes in order to find their lost friend. The group encounter and learn about many fascinating creatures including jellyfish, moray eels and sea turtles.

Today we were up bright and early to go to the Trafford Centre to LEGOLAND Discovery Centre and be among the first people to see the brand new LEGO NEXO Knights 4D movie, The Book Of Creativity, which launched this weekend.


It was a great opportunity for me to complete the photos for my post showing what's inside LEGOLAND Discovery Centre, and if you haven't been before, then it should give you a good idea of what you will find when you arrive.