Family > A Family > Walt Disney Home Video > up to 5 GBP

Advantages: Some watchable comedy, reasobnable performances
Disadvantages: Ridiculous storyboard

...but is watchably comic enoughof the time to avoid the need to grip the sick bucket all the way through. My three year old daughter also enjoyed it in passing, though she couldn't concentrate all the way through. The film was mde in 2001, and there is now a sequel. The main character, Mia, opens the film as a bright but gawky schoolgirl in San Francisco who is uncool in the high school environment and so nervous of speaking in public she throws ...
...country. Her grandmother the Queen (Julie Andrews) devotes time and effort to coaching her to take the throne so she herself can abdicate, and she gradually changes into an A list princess who attracts media attention and all the A list boys she can handle. Julie Andrews does a competent job of being regal, despite the ludicrous premise that she didn't even tell her grandaughter of her heritage until she was 15. Some cute and touching scenes develop ... Read review

Advantages: If you child likes Buzz they will love his adventures at Star Command.
Disadvantages: Cartoon animation - but who cares!

...is Toy Story and especially Buzz Lightyear mad. This is full length animated cartoon - length 67 minutes. In widescreen format. Zurg and his henchmen have invaded the Little Green Mens Planet to take over the universe and Buzz and the Space Ranger cadets try and save the day. The voice of Buzz is the 'Toy Story' original Tim Allen. Any fan would love the cartoon and has spend hours in space with Buzz - All a parent really needs for a bit of peace. ... Read review

Advantages: It was funny and entertaining
Disadvantages: Quite unrealistic

I have three of the Princess Diaries books by Meg Cabot. I must say that the books were duller than ever, set in a diary format that didn't interest me in the slightest but since I was given them as birthday presents I read them. When The Princess Diaries 1 came out I found it on offer in Woolworths and I thought it was worth a try, and when I watched it I was pleasantly surprised! So when the second film came out we got it on DVD and I was just ...
...WHO HAVENT SEEN IT The original Princess Diaries is a bout a 15 year old girl named Mia Thermopolis, whose life turns upside down when she discovers that she is the only heir to the Genovian throne. Her grandma, the queen of Genovia, comes to visit to tell her that she is actually a princess, and when she turns 16 she must decide whether she wants to pursue her grandmother's wishes and take the role as the upcoming queen of Genovia. Of course, there ... Read review

Advantages: rich in Irish folklore, great cast
Disadvantages: only the R1 release has the original voices and soundtrack intact

...Herminie T. Kavanagh's two books Darby O'Gill and the Good People and Ashes of Old Wishes and Other Darby O' Gill Tales. Darby O' Gill is the groundskeeper for a local estate who spends a lot more time at the pub spinning yarns about his adventures with the Little people than he does doing his actual job. This is not due to his being merely shiftless however, for Darby is actually getting on in years and so the decision is made by his employer to ...
...Darby is aghast, not thinking himself ready to be put out to pasture, and so tells his daughter that the young man is seasonal help. Quite how he expected her to believe that when his retirement would also mean losing the tied cottage, I don't think even Darby knew. What Darby also did not realise, is that his tales about the Little People were not as fanciful as he and everyone else thought. For King Brian of the leprechauns has familiarised himself ... Read review

Advantages: Pretty good special effects, supporting cast rescue the film with great performances
Disadvantages: Teen actors are rubbish, the dialogue is awful, miss out alot of the book

...novel of the same name, Harry and co are back in this story of magic and the importance of friends and family. In Goblet of Fire Harry (Daniel Radcliffe), Ron (Rupert Grint - he was in Thunderpants!!! - hint the sarcasm of the three exclamation marks) and Hermione (Emma Watson) are off again to unwittingly cause anarchy at Hogwarts and piss off the staff as well as the undeveloped dark lord, Lord Voldermort. They start off at the Quidditch World ...
...along with the three competitors, Harry is also chosen to compete, causing uproar among the staff and students alike. As Harry battles his way through the challenges and a Prom, he discovers the real reason he's competing in the Tournament, and once again comes face-to-face with Lord Voldermort in a battle of supreme, all-powerful dark lord against some hormonal schoolboy.....??? OK, so somehow they managed to cram 636 pages into 2 and a half hours, ... Read review