Heavy Rotation

One of the, er, perqs of being trapped at home with Katherine is getting to share in her non-stop video/DVD frenzy (cut into only by Mommy and Daddy unfairly insisting that they want to watch news about the blizzard, or Iraq, or other trivial things like that).

Sure, she also watches Nick, Jr., and Disney, and PBS Kids, and other such “live” TV, but it’s the movies she runs to when she gets bored.

Some of the items in pretty heavy rotation these days.

A Bug’s Life
Review: Great story, great animation, humor on a lot of levels, and some cool lessons about honesty, bravery, and ingenuity.
Kitten Rewatchability: She loves it, and is willing to watch it constantly.
Dave Rewatchability: Me, too.
Heroes’ Fate: The good guys live a new life of high self-esteem and prosperity.
Villains’ Fate: The bad guys run away, get co-opted by the heroes, or (in the case of the head villain) gets eaten (ick) by birds.

Jay-Jay the Jet Plane: Soaring Sky High
Review: Jay-Jay and his various flying friends learn all sorts lessons about life. Ho-hum. It’s three episodes in 40 minutes, and that’s about the pith of it. Animation of the Thomas the Tank Engine style, only not as engaging.
Kitten Rewatchability: Airplanes are fun. Talking airplanes are more fun. She’d watch this non-stop, if we’d let her.
Dave Rewatchability: I can ignore the screen for 40 minutes. Let me show you …
Heroes’ Fate: Lessons learned, now time for fun.
Villains’ Fate: What villains?

Lady and the Tramp
Review: Spoiled pet Lady gets turned out in the cold through unfortunately circumstances, only to find true love with the scampish Tramp. the animation is decent, even if it is just too cutesy at times for words.
Kitten Rewatchability: Kitten occasionally wants to watch “the doggy movie,” but it’s not a regular.
Dave Rewatchability: Serious ho-hum, except for serious irk at the Siamese Cats. And how come we have to dance around Mother having a baby, but the fact that Lady gets knocked up by Tramp is an element of humor?
Heroes’ Fate: Lady has puppies, Tramp has to turn from his wastral life to become a Daddy.
Villains’ Fate: Whatever does happen to Si and Am? And why is the dog catcher a bad guy?

Blue’s Clues: Blue’s Big Musical Movie
Review: Blue and her buds put on a show. Various players struggle to find a part in the big production, learning lessons about being sensitive to others. Jeff doesn’t come off very well in this case.
Kitten Rewatchability: Katherine actually seems to becoming tired of Blue. It only comes up rarely any more. But she enjoys it when she watches it.
Dave Rewatchability: Mildly entertaining, and ignorable.
Heroes’ Fate: The show goes on, everyone gets to play a role, everyone learns not to give up.
Villains’ Fate: Villains?

The Jungle Book
Review: A pale retelling of Kipling’s story. It not only is horribly dated in its stereotypes, there really aren’t any characters worth a dime: the wolves are cowardly, Mowgli is a brat, Balloo is an irresponsible bumbler, Bagheera has a stick up his ass, King Louie is on drugs, Colonel Hathi is a silly tyrant, Ka is a sociopath, Shere Khan is a lazy, cowardly bully, and the girl at the end is a treacherous vamp.
Kitten Rewatchability: She likes all the talking animals and the slapstick action. She really likes the elephants.
Dave Rewatchability: I wouldn’t mind giving this a pass for, oh, a few decades.
Heroes’ Fate: Mowgli gets taken over by his hormones, and Balloo and Bagheera go off arm in arm until the next time they get into a bickering match.
Villains’ Fate: King Louie gets buried in rubble, I guess. Ka slinks off. Shere Khan gets chased off by a burning branch tied to his tail (and there’s behavior for all those little kids to emulate).

The Wiggles
Review: The Australian kids music group actually have a couple of videos out, of which we have some.
Kitten Rewatchability: Occasional interest in watching short bursts.
Dave Rewatchability: Individual musical numbers are slightly tolerable, but the shows as a whole are mind-numbingly stupid.
Heroes’ Fate: Um, everyone is surreally happy, I guess.
Villains’ Fate: Villains?

Monsters, Inc.
Review: Incredibly imaginative, a visual treat, a grand story, wildly heartwarming.
Kitten Rewatchability: She likes it. A lot. Especially “Sully-Bear.”
Dave Rewatchability: Me, too.
Heroes’ Fate: A better way of life, prosperity, and (at the end) emotional fulfillment.
Villains’ Fate: Banishment and/or prison.

Dora the Explorer
Review: Computer games turned into a kiddy show, Dora and her friends go through highly formulaic quests. There are multiple tapes out, each with three eps. We have several.
Kitten Rewatchability: Katherine likes Dora. She likes the songs, she likes the “interactive” questions, she likes the characters, she likes the predictability.
Dave Rewatchability: It’s mindless enough that it’s actually kind of catchy. Until you reach the third or fourth episode in a row.
Heroes’ Fate: Dora and her friends always prevail in their quests, and get to celebrate at the end of each episode.
Villains’ Fate: Swiper the Fox sometimes fails, sometimes succeeds, never gets punished. Unpleasant folks who are the cause of the quest always end up reforming and becoming nice.

The Little Mermaid
Review: The first of the Modern Silver Age of Disney. The animation is a mix of realism and high cartooniness. On the other hand, the basic story of a bratty little girl who endangers everyone by ignoring her parents is … disturbing at times.
Kitten Rewatchability: Fish! Funny fish! And a little girl! And fish! Though Ursula gets kind of scary.
Dave Rewatchability: I love the music, and the animation is imaginative. As long as I don’t pay attention to the story, I’m fine.
Heroes’ Fate: Ariel gets to sail off as a jail-bait bride, forever severed from life with her family and friends. But she’s happy, so who cares?
Villains’ Fate: Evil Eels get blown apart. Ursula gets skewered by a ship and, perhaps, is destroyed.