Christmas Movies

Only seven more days until Christmas! How did it go by so fast?

 

Despite my home looking very Christmassy this year, I still don't feel it's Christmas yet.  I guess it's time to pull out the Christmas movies and watch them together with the kids! Which means try to entertain baby with something while we watch or wait until she sleeps.

 

I'll share with you my 3 favorite Christmas movies!



Photo from Amazon.com

1) The Shop Around the Corner (1940)

It's a black and white movie by Ernst Lubitsch with James Stewart Margaret Sullavan as main characters.  Hollywood produced a remake in 2008 and re-named it "You've Got Mail" with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan.  I watched both versions and while I do like the more recent version, I think it is a fade comparison to its original. 

 

It's a romantic comedy with some drama but the overall tone is rather light despite some very sad events.  The story takes place in Budapest, Hungary during Christmas time.   Our two lead characters work in a shop and do not like each other.  But eventually, fate does reconcile them.

 

The backdrop reminds me of your typical Hollywood inside studio filming.  The acting is beautiful and you immediately root for James Stewart.  I think Stewart is absolutely admirable as an actor and he shines in this charming love story.

 

Margaret Sullavan is pretty and natural.  She pulls off her role with conviction.  Note to Wizard of Oz's fans, you will find Frank Morgan in the role of the shop owner.  In case you don't know about him, Frank Morgan is the actor who played 5 roles (including the role of the Wizard) in the 1939 Wizard of Oz movie. 

 

Photo from Amazon.com

 2) Mickey's Chrismas Carol (1983)

 

This was my favorite Christmas cartoon when I was little.  I love the animated version because it is a lot less dramatic than the movie version.  For a kid, it's a good and light introduction to Dickens' classic tale.

 

I love how Disney has added many characters from other movies into this film like Jiminy Cricket, Goofy and Daisy.  I would totally recommend watching this movie with your kids!

 

Photo from Amazon.com

 3) Little Women (1949)

I have seen 2 film versions only of the famous novel written by Louisa May Alcott: the 1949 and 1993 versions.  I love Wynona Ryder and Susan Sarandon in the modern movie but I still like this 1949 version the most! 

 

All the actresses were gorgeous!  Their costumes were to die for.  The scenery was perfect! And the story was moving and sang to my heart.  I don't have one single bad thing to say about it... except June in the role of Jo was maybe a bit over the top.

Janeit Leigh was so incredibly sweet and Elizabeth Taylor was perfect in her role!  I think the casting was genius and I can't wait to watch it again.  It's one of those movies that you'll never forget.

I have added a Christmas Movie section in my Amazon Shop which you can see on the sidebar too!
 

Do you have a favorite Christmas movie?

The Nutcracker And The Mouse King

While looking for Christmas books for my Christmas Books Advent this year, I was surprised and happy to find The Nutcracker And The Mouse King book by E.T.A. Hoffmann and illustrated by Gail de Marcken.  I didn't hesitate to purchase the book.

The pages are filled with gorgeous and detailed illustrations with so many vivid colors!

 

 

 

 

This book is lengthy and not the short version children may be accustomed to.  The pages are filled with text as you can see below and there are many dialogues.  This may take more than one night to finish for little kids.

 

 

I grew up with a somewhat different version of the usual children's Nutcracker book.  It was not the whimsical ballet version but rather the Russian animation from 1973. 

 

The first video is in Russian.

For English subtitles, you can watch this version:

I was enthralled by Tchaikovsky's music and the sad story of the Nutcracker.   The characters were beautifully drawn and the mood was just right.  It had everything: love, beauty, drama and action but it was not too tense for little kids.  This movie became one of my favorite to this day. 

I have seen the Nutcracker ballet in a theatre a few years ago and although I loved the performance, I wasn't as moved as when I saw the animated movie.

My son love this book!!! So far, he has rejected all the books concerning the Nutcracker but he was interested in reading this one!  He also did enjoy tremendously the Russian animated movie!  

What is your favorite Nutcracker book and movie?

Anne of Green Gables

When I was a little girl, my best friend and I were very much in love with the story of Anne of Green Gables, written by Lucy Maud Montgomery.  Just like Anne and her friend Diana, we promised ourselves to remain friends no matter what.  (And you know, after all those years, even if we now live in different countries, we still keep in touch).

The novel is about a little orphan girl who lived in the early 20th Century on Prince Edward Island in Canada.  Her character was so touching that I didn't want the novel to end!  Thank goodness that there are sequels to the first book! The Anne of Green Gables Complete Set is totally worth reading as we follow Anne into adulthood.

The book was eventually adapted into a movie starring Megan Follows.  Me and my friend adored the movie and we wished we had an Anne Shirley doll to play with back then.

Well many years later, this doll came to life as a Pullip Anne Shirley. But I found out too late and the doll was discontinued until 2012 when a Pullip Regeneration Anne was released.  I very much wished she could be mine but I have other dolls that I want even more so I decided to skip this one (for now)!

But I didn't give up entirely as I tried finding her mini version, the Little Pullip Anne, because she is much cheaper and much smaller but she was really and truly discontinued and I couldn't even find her as a second-hand model... until last month:D

I can't describe the feeling when I found out that a Mint-in-Box Little Pullip Anne was available for sale, at a cost that was even lower than her original price.  I just couldn't believe it and so to avoid getting jinxed, I waited until she was in my hands to blog about her.

Well I must have had a sixth sense about this because for a few weeks her parcel got lost.  I sent an email to the post office and waited and waited, and finally they found her again and she finally arrived at my house today.

Isn't she just darling?  Her face, hair, dress and hat are very good miniature of the full-size doll!  She didn't come with her iconic carpet bag though so I gave her one from my Playmobil collection.

Lalaloopsy Movie : The Search for Pillow

Did you know there was a Lalaloopsy movie?  The little dolls are apparently featured in cartoons on TV during daytime but I didn't know they had a movie until I saw the Adventures in Lalaloopsy Land: Search for Pillow on Amazon.  As shown in the title, the movie is about the Lalaloopsy dolls searching for their friend Pillow who suddenly disappeared. 

I watched it yesterday with the kids.  It was beyond cute! I think the voices are very childish and appropriate for kids.  No high pitch screaming or fake "chipmunk" voices (which really annoy me).  The personality of each doll is easily recognizable in the movie and they are played out well.  No contrived actions or impossible scenarios.  It's all  very innocent, sweet and funny as well with many jokes.  Not the type of jokes that make you split in half with uncontrollable laughter but rather sweet little jokes that make you smile or go "Aaaawww!".  I actually went "Aaaawww!" quite a lot while watching this movie :P

I especially live the Little Sisters who were too adorable for words.   Their interaction with the older sisters is fun to watch and they have the cutest voice!!!  The majority of the other main dolls are accompanied by their Little Sister as well so you have plenty of cuteness overload from this movie.

I have a bias for Sprinkle Spice Cookie, who is the little sister of Crumbs Sugar Cookie.  I wished I could buy the big dolls but I only have the Mini Dolls version.  She is seen eating all the time (maybe that's why I like her so much, hehehe).

The DVD has a bunch of extras.  They are short stories (called Webisodes) and it's really nice to be able to have them on a DVD now, especially if you can't catch them on TV.  The children loved the movie and watched it from start to end, including all the extras.

Here is the list of webisodes features in the DVD:

1. Jewel Sparkles'Un-Birthday Party
2. Mittens Fluff' N' Stuff Want a Snow Day
3. Peanut Big Top Learns to Ride the Unicycle
4. Pillow FeatherBed Up all Night
5. Bea and the Pet Talent Show

And there is one more extra : Sing-Along Song

You can watch those webisodes on youtube as well because the Lalaloopsy has their own Official Youtube channel.  I think most of the webisodes are available online but I prefer to see them on my big screen so it was nice that the DVD included a few of them.

Here below is some examples of webisodes: the first one to be aired (Jewel's Un-Birthday Party) and my favorite one (Holly Sleighbells : It's a Wrap).

I can't wait for them to release another movie!

Les Malheurs de Sophie - The Movie

I am so excited to blog about this topic!  I am a big fan of the stories written by La Comtesse de Ségur.  I have read them when I was a kid and I still re-read them today.

Her most famous novel is probably Les Malheurs de Sophie which was published in 1859 and is about the story of a mischievious little girl named Sophie de Réan and her life with her cousin Paul and her two friends, Camille and Madeleine (who are featured in the book Les Petites Filles Modèles).  However, Sophie is far from perfect and the accounts of her adventures were sometimes funny, sometimes sad, but always very touching and memorable.

The success of the novel is such that there have been many editions and re-editions.  I am particularly fond of the Casterman collection of novels from the Comtesse de Ségur.  There have been 2 movies based on the book : a 1946 black and white movie and a 1979 in color. 

The latter one is the one I watched as a kid when it aired on TV. I can't tell you how much I loved that movie!   It was produced by the late Jean-Claude Brialy, who was also a famous French actor.  He first became well known for his acting in the French New Wave films and with many more movies afterward.  I have been looking everywhere for that movie but could not find anything.... until it was finally issued in DVD format in 2011!!!

Les Malheurs de Sophie - 1979 movie by Jean-Claude Brialy

I clicked on that purchase button quicker than you can say Yippee!  I remember fondly the movie theme song by Chanta Goya and the video below shows a few scenes from the movie as well.

I have viewed it a few times now and I must say it has not lost its charm.  I still love seeing the characters come to life, the beautiful costumes (HOW CAN YOU NOT LOVE THOSE DRESSES!) and the darling little actors playing Sophie and Paul. 

The movie follows closely the book story but out of the 21 chapters of the book, only 9 are acted out in the movie.  I don't mind so much because the movie would be much too long otherwise. But it would have been nice to see a sequel to feature the remaining chapters!

The image quality is not super crisp compared to what we are used to nowadays but it is not awful either.  The sound not so-so. I had to crank up the volume to hear the conversation.  It is especially annoying since there are no option for subtitles or dubbing. It is very unfortunate because I wished I could show this movie to the non-French-speaking children.  They still liked to watch it and were curious about the costumes and laughed at Sophie's mischiefs.
 

But I have one major complaint: they CUT OUT SOME SCENES! And it wasn't just any scenes but one important one : the argument Sophie had with Madeleine and Camille that lead her to wet her hair.  The DVD only shows the scene when Sophie got all wet which made no sense at all!   A few other scenes were cut as well such as the part preceding the picnic at the end, which was really annoying because once again the story made no sense when they cut out scenes like that!

So I am irked by this major flaw but I still love the movie and after years of waiting I would still recommend people to buy it because no other movies are like this one! The details in the costumes, castle life, servants interaction and everything else made it worth to watch over again and again.

There is also a cartoon version of Sophie's adventures but they are in French as well.

If you want to find out about what happens to Sophie, I recommend reading the books which I will write about in the next post.

Heidi

Photo Credit: Heidi's Land

When I was a little girl (that seems like eons ago now) I used to watch Heidi, a Swiss TV serie based on the novel HEIDI by Swiss writer Johanna Spyri. Oh how I waited impatiently for each episode and nearly cried when the story ended! Mrs. Spyri created very friendly characters and you couldn't help but fall in love with them!

Photo Credit : Renaud Bray

I have ready the French Version only but I would like to read the English version as well and this one seems to have great watercolor illustrations from Maja Dusikova!

Photo Credit : Austria Forum

Her illustrated book is available in English, French and German as well.

Photo Credit : North South

Edit: Leanne who has a website dedicated to Vintage Books for the VeryYoung has blogged about two vintage picture books about Heidi.  Thanks Leanne for letting me know! :)

The story is about Heidi, an orphan girl who lives with her Grandfather in the Alps. Heidi loves her life up in the mountain with her Grandfather, her friend Peter the goat herder and his blind Grandmother. They also become very attached to her.  But her aunt wants her to have a better education so she takes her to Frankfurt to be the friend to a rich but lonely and paralyzed young girl, Clara Sesemann.   The story is very heart-warming and the TV adaptation did a really great job in showcasing all the details that made this story so wonderful.

Photo Credit : Heidi's Land

There have been many cartoons and movies inspired by this novel and one of the most famous being the 1937 Heidi version with Shirley Temple.  There are other versions that I viewed but they did not really make a lasting impression on me.  Some were enjoyable but none gave me the same feeling I had with that TV serie from my childhood memories .

I longed to watch it again and I searched for a DVD version which I soon found on Amazon UK and Amazon FR!  I have seen the French version so I decided to get the Heidi French 12-DVD Complete Pack but because my nephews/nieces cannot speak French, I also bought the English dubbed version which is available in a two volume package : Heidi - Part 1 (with two DVDs) and Heidi - Part 2 (also with two DVDs).

Edit : To clarify about the English DVDs.

The entire TV serie are contained in those two DVD package. Each DVD has 2 discs containing 13 episodes for a total of 26 episodes and they are exactly like the TV format which means at the start of each episode you will see the opening sequence and at the end you will see the end credit.  Here below are the title of each episodes.

Volume 1:

1. The Village
2. Ohi of the Alps
3. Peter the Goat Herder
4. The Grandmother
5. Winter
6. The Departure
7. Arrival in Frankfurt
8. The Sesemann House
9. A Trip
10. Unrest in the Sesemann House
11. A Cabinet Full of Rolls
12. Herr Sesemann
13. The Granmamma

Volume 2:

1. Homesick
2. The Ghost
3. The Journey Home
4. At Home Again
5. Surprises
6. The Reconciliation
7. The Old Doctor
8. A Visit From Frankfurt
9. In the Winter House
10. Clara Arrives
11. The Wheelchair
12. The Telegram
13. Happy Ending

I don't have any complaints about the quality of the image although it is a bit grainy but taking into consideration that this was made in 1978 (No, I didn't watch it in 1978!), I think it is quite acceptable.  The English dubbing however is not my favorite.  The dubbing voices were good but they were difficult to understand at times and the voice volume too low compared to the background volume.  For example, you could hear very well the door creaking but their voices were hardly audible.  If you watched it in a house full of activity (like mine always is) then you might miss out on a lot.  Only if the house is very quiet can you hear clearly the conversation.

I showed the DVDs to the children and they did like it. It was a good occasion to teach them about how people lived back then, without a sink for the bathroom, without cars, etc.  I also had to explain a great deal about the german language because the characters would address to each other by saying "Herr", "Fräu" and "Fräulein"and say "Auf Wiedersehen", etc.

If you want to find out more about the TV serie, there is this wonderful website Heidi's Land which has tons of pictures (check out the MAKING OF section!), information and interesting biography concerning the actors.  The website is only in French though.

I wished more children could watch this because it is such a charming story and also because it makes them think about their own very comfortable life filled with materialistic belongings and they inevitably realize that true happiness does not lie in the amount of toys one has but rather in the strong bonds and relationships between your loved ones.

Brambly Hedge

I started reading the Brambly Hedge Jill Barklem this year only.  I had never heard of them before and accidentally found them while browsing for children's books.  Oh what a discovery it was for me!  I totally fell in love with her exquisite drawings and charming stories about little field mice living in hollow trees.  It was almost like entering a magical world and not wanting to leave once the story ends.

I bought the The Complete Brambly Hedge book (available at the UK Amazon online store) which contains the 8 Brambly Hedge books collection :

1. Spring Story
2. Summer Story
3. Autumn Story
4. Winter Story
5. Poppy’s Babies
6. Sea Story
7. The High Hills
8. The Secret Staircase

The stories are about a community of field mice living in Brambly Hedge.  The main characters are Primrose, a strong-willed little mouse and her best friend, Wilfred, who is always looking for adventures!  The stories are sweet and funny and all the characters are so lovable! 

What is really amazing about these books are the detailed illustrations.  The books are filled with color pictures, all incredibly beautiful and full of very small details showcasing the life of the mice in their homes or outdoors.  My favorite drawings are the ones from the kitchen.  Tons and tons of objects are shown and they are so well drawn that they resemble miniature toys (or so one could wished!).  Don't judge by my low-resolution photos though because they don't do the real illustrations any justice.  

To complement the book, I purchased the DVD as well : Brambly Hedge - The Classic Collection which is priced very reasonably and is available unfortunately only at UK Amazon for now. Be careful though because the DVD is coded for the UK so it may not play on your DVD player if you live in another country.  It only plays with one of  my old DVD player but no all of them.  This DVD includes the 4 stories listed below:

1. Poppy’s Babies
2. Sea Story
3. The High Hills
4. The Secret Staircase

I can't tell you how lovely it was to see the story come alive in these stop-frame animation episodes.  I wished there was a DVD for the 4 other stories as well. One could purchase used VHS (Remember them? Those big bulky tapes?) but I don't own a VHS player .  However, I was able to find the download of those 4 missing episodes on youtube  :)  

The children love those stories and movies.  They ask to watch them again and again. I really wished they could make a line of toys based on the Brambly Hedge stories and characters.  I surfed online for figurines or dollhouses and came across this extraordinary hand-made Miniature Tree House by Maddie Chambers inspired from Brambly Hedge's Crabby Cottage in Spring story.

The picture below is from her Website and you must must must go there to take a look because you will then see each room in detail and see how she built some of the miniature items from scratch!  I am absolutely floored by her creation: so much beauty, patience, and passion went into this Tree House that one can't helped but be amazed at her creativity and sheer talent!

The Gruffalo & The Gruffalo's Child

It was supposed to rain but not a single drop fell from the sky so instead we had muggy hot weather aka a typical Texan summer day.  It probably felt even hotter now that my 24th week belly is getting quite heavy. Heavy and hot.  Thank goodness I work in a perfectly air conditioned office so I can't complain at all.  I don't like to be outside at times like these though so I went home right after work and stayed indoors for the remainder of the day.

Well it was just a great time to stay home because a lovely package was waiting for me!  Two new books and two new DVDs that I had ordered from amazon.com last week!

The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson and The Gruffalo movie as well.

The sequel: The Gruffalo's Child and of course the movie The Gruffalo's Child in DVD too.

We saw the Gruffalo's movie for the first time last year and my boy and all his cousins were in awe and wanted to watch it over and over again.  So after I learned there was a sequel called the Gruffalo's Child, I decided to go ahead and buy the books and both the DVDs too.  Not regretting one bit as the kids once again fell in love with the short animated cartoons and they can now read the books as well.

If you are not familiar with the story, here is a quick recap.  A little mouse scares away a fox, an owl and a snake by telling them about a monster he calls a Gruffalo.  But when the mouse really meets such a monster and is about to get eaten, he does not lose his cool and tricks the Gruffalo as well.  A very clever mouse he is!

The sequel is about what the title says: The Gruffalo's child.  The daddy Gruffalo tells his little one to not wander in the woods alone because of the Big Bad Mouse.  The little Gruffalo goes out in the woods anyway to find this Big Bad Mouse.  This story is hilarious and charming as well but I think the first story was better.

Julia Donaldson's rhymes are fun to read and the pictures by Alex Scheffler are more funny than they are scary.  Even my little 2 year-old nephew laughs and enjoys looking at the pictures and hearing us read the story.

I do prefer to watch the movies though because they are so well made. The voices, the flow, the music, everything is just perfect and the kids can't watch them enough.  A warning though, the first movie does show quite a lot of animals eating other animals so it may seem gruesome at first and some explaining will be needed for the little ones.

Malheureusement, la version française des dessins animés n'exite pas encore.

Il existe cependant une version française de ces livres intitulés Gruffalo et Petit Gruffalo mais comme je n'ai pas lu ces versions, je ne peux vous donner une opinion quant à la traduction.

Tea, ginger snaps and Beatrix Potter

I went to school today to meet my boy's teacher.  She is so friendly and sweet. The kid loved her instantly and wanted to start school right away!  He won't have to wait for long; next Monday is the first day of school and I am glad he is so enthusiastic about it.

The weather is as hot as ever and standing so long outside for the school's doors to open and then for the ride home was a bit too much and I came home with a bad headache.  After some time in bed, I finally got up, took a hot shower (the cure for some headaches) and indulged with hot tea (that too, is a cure for some headaches) and Anna's ginger snaps (which do not cure anything but they sure are delicious).

Instead of reading books tonight, I let my boy watch some of the cartoons from The Complete Beatrix Potter Collection which is a 2-pack DVD.  It is a very sweet and slow-paced cartoon which captures perfectly the spirit of Beatrix Potter's charming stories.

There are 9 episodes in total and they last 26 minutes each.  Each episode is preceded with a short scene with real actors playing Beatrix Potter in her house, painting, or going to the market.  It's very well made and my boy enjoys both the cartoon and the live scenes.  But he is always a bit scared when the rats were trying to eat the little cat in The Roly-Poly Pudding and he did not like the dark setting in The Tale of Pigling Bland.

I was surprised he would actually like watching these episodes for they are so slow compared to the usual cartoons he likes such as Spiderman, Batman, etc.  His favorite episode remains the Tailor of Gloucester which makes him automatically ask me to read him the story afterward.  He also likes the live sequence with actors because it's Christmas and Beatrix Potter listens to a choir of children singing Christmas carols. It's my favorite scene too!   

Here below are the episode titles:

Disc One:

1. The Tale of Peter Rabbit and Benjamin Bunny
2. The Tale of Mr. Tod
3. The Tale of Two Bad Mice and Johnny Town-Mouse
4. The Tale of Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle and Mr. Jeremy Fisher
5. The Tailor of Gloucester

Disc Two:

1. The Tale of Samuel Whiskers or The Roly-Poly Pudding
2. The Tale of Tom Kitten and Jemima Puddle-Duck
3. The Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies and Mrs. Tittlemouse
4. The Tale of Pigling Bland

There is apparently a French DVD coming out on October 9, 2012 Beatrix Potter : les contes de Pierre Lapin et ses amis but I don't know yet if this is the French version of the 9 episodes in English. We'll see!

Je suis allée à l’école aujourd’hui pour rencontrer la maîtresse de mon garçon.  Elle est très gentille et le petit l’a adoré tout de suite et voulait commencer les classes immédiatement.  Il n’aura pas à attendre longtemps car les classes recommencent le lundi prochain et je suis bien heureuse qu’il soit aussi enthousiaste.

Il faisait toujours aussi chaud et après avoir longuement attendu pour que les portes de l’école ouvrent et pour le trajet du retour, je me suis retrouvée avec une migraine une fois revenue à la maison.  Après un peu de repos au lit et une douche chaude (qui guérit parfois les maux de tête), j’ai bu un bon thé chaud (ça aussi, ça guérit un mal de tête) et un goûter de biscuits suédois au gingembre (qui ne guérissent rien du tout mais qui, parcontre, demeurent délicieux).

Au lieu de lire un livre à bébé, je l’ai laissé regarder un des films animés de The Complete Beatrix Potter Collection qui contient 2 DVD. C’est un film animé adorable au rythme lent qui saisi parfaitement l’atmosphère des charmantes histoires de Beatrix Potter.

Il y a 9 épisodes en tout et ils sont de 26 minutes chacune.  Chaque épisode est précédée d’un court-métrage avec de vrais acteur jouant les rôles de Beatrix Potter et les gens de son entourage.  On la voit dans sa maison, en train de peindre des aquarelles, ou allant au marché.  C’est très bien fait et mon garçon aime les épisodes animées ainsi que les courts-métrage.   Il a cependant toujours un peu peur quand il voit les rats qui essaient de manger le chaton dans The Roly-Poly Pudding et il n’aime pas l’histoire sinistre du Tale of Pigling Bland.

Je suis étonnée qu’il veuille regarder cette série animée car l’action y est si lente comparée aux films animés tel que Spiderman, Batment etc.  Son épisode préféré demeure celui du Tailleur de Gloucester et il me demande toujours de lui lire l’histoire après avoir regardé le film.  Il aime aussi la scène avec les vrais acteurs car c’est Noël et on peut y voir Beatrix Potter qui écoute des enfants chanter des chants de Noël.  C’est l’épisode que je préfère aussi!

Paraît-il qu’une version en français sera en vente le 9 octobre 2012!  Beatrix Potter : les contes de Pierre Lapin et ses amis.  Je ne sais pas encore si cette version reprendra les 9 épisodes de la version anglaise. On verra bien!