Yes you read that right. As predicted the Canes sucked ass big time in the first two days of free agency. I will admit it wasn’t a very deep FA pool and I wasn’t expecting Brad Richards or anything but what I WAS expecting was for Jim Rutherford to take this time of year seriously. He obviously isn’t.

So yes, we can all be depressed that Erik Cole is gone. He’s a Canadian now. I am a tad upset. And I was a bit wrong that no one would give him a chance, since everyone knows he can’t play anywhere other then Carolina. BUT what I didn’t factor in was that his season last year was SO damn good. And that the FA pool is a bit too weak. So this signing shouldn’t surprise me. Yet, he managed to cash in BIG TIME. MTL coughed up 4 years and 18 million for Cole. That’s 4.5 million a season (avg.) and also WAY too much for him. That being said you wait a year and a half and the Habs will be unloading him back to the Canes at the deadline or before the next season after that. So don’t worry Canes fans Cole will be back.

And now the real depressing part. July 1st marked the start of the annual free agency frenzy. I wasn’t expecting much from the Canes but they have a ton of holes up front to fill and were planning to sign a veteran backup goalie so there had to be something to come.

What we ended up with over the 2 days is 3 underwhelming forwards and a capable back up.

Alexei Ponikarovsky 6’4″ 31 YO. –> An underwhelming, underachieving power forward who cannot find any consistency to put the puck in the net. He will likely have a few stretches of hot play and then disappear for 2 months. A typical “he sucked everywhere else but maybe HERE he can be good” signing by Rutherford. VERDICT–> No gooda. If he can stay in front of the net on the PP and somehow manages a plus rating and 25-30 goals I will say it’s a success… but I am not too optimistic.

Anthony Stewart 6’2″ 26 YO –> Rutherford claims he’s a 20 goal scorer. But, he’s not. We have enough guys who can’t put the puck in the net and cannot play defense up front. I think this is more for his grit, and hoping he hustles enough to contribute on the 4th line.  I see him possibly shuffling between Charlotte and Raleigh if he doesn’t get off to a strong start. Initially I wasn’t too upset about this but the Canes have enough of these guys. Only saving grace is he’s making less then 1 million a year so we will let it slide a bit for organizational depth. Verdict–> I will stay neutral on this one. Wouldn’t seem so bad if they had signed SOMEONE who excited me. Right now it’s just another guy who might be too good for the minors and not good enough for the pros. Look for him to play 60-80 games and 10-12 goals.

Tim Brent 6’0″ 26 YO –> A speedy defensive forward who is real good on the PK. I wouldn’t care about this signing if the Canes didn’t just re-sign LaRose, Dwyer and Jokinen. With all those guys plus a Sutter, they don’t need any PK players. But again he was real cheap so for depth not so bad. Just not a splash signing either. Another one like above who if they signed one player who was a blue chipper then this one would be stomach able. Right now it’s just another blegh signing. Verdict–>He’s the type of player I generally like on a team. A real hard worker who plays great defensively and on the PK. However, as I said above, the Canes have (or should have) those type guys. Whether or not they play like they should is another story. Good player bad fit right now. Look for him do do about the same as last year. 10 goals maybe 1-2 SHG and if he hustles and hits hard enough might be come something of a fan favorite. Of course those fans won’t realize by signing this many “role-players” the team will continue to lose 4-2 every night.

Brian Boucher G –> This year there was a ton of goalies on the free agent market. I wasn’t too worried that the Canes would nab a decent one b/c there was a ton of guys I would considder adequate backups. Boucher is no different. He’s a very usable back up and hopefully, will cause them to use him more then they used Peters. Ward needs to only be in net roughly 60-65 games a season to be fresh enough for the playoffs. Boucher in the last few years has averages roughly in the upper 20s which works well. He also has had a Goals Against Average twice in the .917 range which is perfect for a backup. His only real fault as a goalie is he is SUPER streaky. He’s the type of guy who gives up 1 goal for 5 straight games and then goes in the crapper for 10. Verdict–> I am fine with this signing for the canes. He’s a capable goalie and as long as he keeps his mouth shut and keeps happy to be a backup he will be great. This was the only signing of the 4 total that I felt was a good signing.

I am well aware that it’s only day 2 of free agency, but the writing is on the wall. The Canes aren’t interested in signing anyone who can actually help them. There might be one or two more signings from them to come, but they are likely to be the minor league journeyman types. The writing is on the wall. No good signings means a reliance on the minor league types, and young guys. Some reliance is ok but they seem to have this overlying reliance each year. I am not sure what JR and Karmanos expect to do with this same old same old cheapo strategy. It’s not working and it won’t. You should build a team you feel can win the Cup. Not to try and finish in 8th place and squeak into the playoffs. I am starting to get real frustrated with this team. I am not sure when will be the ultimate breaking point that I will break down and stop the season tickets but it’s not quite yet. But I am not the only one. The blind season ticket holder base is getting smaller and smaller. People don’t want to come and see a loser. You keep putting a crap product on the ice, and people are going to sit home and watch UNC play East Tennessee state on a wed night instead of coming out to catch a home Hurricanes Game.  Tread lightly Karmanos, fans are watching. We don’t care about millionaire owners who cry poverty. We want a product on the ice to be proud of. You need a team to get fans not the other way around. Spend some money and we will come out in thousands. Don’t, and we will stay home. It’s your choice.

Canes/JR, you have a decent amount of decent FA’s left. Do yourselves and the fans a favor. Sign someone in the next few days/weeks we can be proud of. Get some more talent on the team so we can have some excitement when we are leaving to come to the rink. I want to have my kids be happy about the team. I want to be happy about the team. Right now we are not there. It’s the same old same old right now. Step it up…. Please….

–GJ

So not two days ago I made a couple of predicitons for this week leading up to free agency.

I then predict he’s going to throw 4 mil a piece at Pitkanen and Jokinen, and 2.5 at Cole and 1.0 at LaRose… then throwing no more then 750k at Joslin (RFA)

So I knew POS Pitkanen would make 4 mill and he ended up with 4.5 x 3 years, and LaRose gets 1.7 cap hit over two. Sure I will take the hit for being a bit conservative on the money but honestly, who the hell gives Pitkanen 4.5 million!!! WTF! The other money for LaRose no biggie. He’s not worth that much right now (he can certainly convince me otherwise this year and I surely hope he does), but I do like him. Yet this signing, and possibly the extra money in the Joni signing is their attempt at bringing themselves closer to that salary floor. Which is a bad sign for the loyal Caniacs out there.The other Signing was Patrick Dwyer for 625K x 2 years. In no way is this a bad signing. The guy skates hard he surprises you at times. Like I said in my grading of him, I would like to see him put in 12-15 goals a year. Will he do it? Prolly not but at 625K I can live with him.

What this now brings about is a bad situation for Hurricanes fans. We stare in the face another off season where all they do is try and re-sign their own guys and then look at old Canes retreads 1st and then see what’s left over for the rest of the lineup. It hasn’t worked in the last few years and it won’t work now. The other thing that is starting to alarm me is the sheer volume at which the cap has been increasing the last few years. It’s now up to 64.3 million with a floor at 48 million. That’s a floor just a tick below what the CAP was when we came back from the lock out. I don’t like this trend and I don’t like what it means for the mid and small market teams. I have said many time that any owner with a team in the NHL should be able to and should try to put a team on the ice that has 54-58 mil for this cap structure at VERY least. No one else is going to compete at the upper levels. Sure there may be a team scraping by the cap that will show life but they won’t be in that upper echelon. Also, while I make that number value, it also has to be done smartly. Which of course deletes you Rangers from this talk, b/c you NEVER spend money intelligently.

We very well could be headed for disaster in the NHL and here in Carolina. The floor goes up and people like Karmanos and GM Rutherford will cry poverty that they have no money. That’s bullshit and we all know it. Spend the money and you will get the attendance. Don’t spend it and don’t get anyone else in here who can score goals and your attendance will continue to go down. Sure I loved you brought us a cup. But your cushion of patience is out with me. I want to be EXCITED by someone you are bringing in. I don’t want to see Stephane Yelle types in here again. It’s cheap and it’s old. Show me the players and I will show you I am happy, with my dollar. Give it another half ass attempt at a roster this year and I will seriously re-think those 4 full season tickets I have been buying for 10 years now.

Free agency starts Friday… EASILY my favorite time for hockey. Right up there with the trade deadline. Will the Canes be active on the first weekend? Likely not. Look for 1 signing on Friday and it will be one of the guys we already have. I would say at most we re-sign a guy from this years team and sign one new player. Any more then that and I will be surprised as hell.

I know the season is over and I know the draft just ended but I am now going to finish up the review of the season for the Canes. This was an easy one to push off until now b/c I wanted to wait and see how the Canes did in the draft, if they made any moves, and if any of the RFA’s would be signed by now. So off we go!

GOALIES

#30 Cam Ward

It’s no secret that Cam Ward was amazing for the Hurricanes last season. He just played in too many games and saw too much rubber. He saw more then 200 more shots and made over 200 more saves then the # 2 guys in the league in those categories. This simply cannot happen again. The Canes need to do a better job in their own end to not give up as many shot and possibly his GAA will come down leading to more Wins for him and the team. He’s in his prime now and needs to be at the top of his game for this team to go far (we all know they won’t spend money so it’s go with what we got now, and what we got is Cam Ward). It’s also no secret that if they get to the playoffs, Cam will bring them far. He is one of the best playoff goalies in the league and when he’s there he shines! Problem is the Cane suck at getting him there.

Grade- A This was a no brainer. He did everything they asked him to do. He played a league high 74 games. He was tied for fifth in save % (.923) and was tied for second in the league for Wins. The big problem is he still gave up too many goals. He was 19th in the league in GAA which is why he’s not at A+. Yes, I 1000% blame the coaching for this but I only took a slight bit away from him for it. Great season by Cam whom I think was truely the Canes MVP this year, even with the great years by Skinner, Cole and Staal.

Outlook–> I am hoping for more of the same. All around. With their first pick being an offense only D man this screams to how the coaching is moving with their defense. And with the BAD BAD news that Pitkanen may in fact, be back with the team it further shows they will be playing VERY little defense on the blue line. This is bad news for not only Cam but us as fans as well. The worse this D is , the more shots Cam faces, and the more goals they will let up. And with them unwilling to sign or trade for another sniper they are in NO position for high scoring games. I would really rather see Cam only start 65-68 game this year, which is his sweet spot. NOT NOT NOT over 70 games. I don’t care how old or how durable we think he is. Bad thing happen when you start a goalie too much, especially if that goalie happens to get into the playoffs, where he will undoubtedly be tired.

#60 Justin Peters

Peters was given the backup job outright last season and I was all for it as well. He has earned the promotion and was good enough in his outings in ’09-’10 to prove to me he was ready. This is however, assuming the team used him right, which they did not. Peters only started 8 games this year and that is piss poor coaching by Maurice and the staff. As a younger goalie you simply cannot get into any sort of groove and get momentum to fill in effectively and his stats showed it.

Grade- C+ I only give this high of a grade to him b/c I do not think he is to blame at all for his performance. I will site this as under usage. Maurice started Peters all of 3!!!! times in 2011. And that’s 2 times in January. His next start was in March in a 2nd night of a back to back game on the road against a surging Chicago team. That was a lose-lose start in which the team was definately going to play like garbage and he got shelled. The way Paul Marice used the goalies this season is the #1 reason the Canes missed the playoffs. More rest for Cam in the middle of the year means more stamina he has in March and April and better he would have been. Let’s not forget they only needed 1 more win to get in. I blame you Maurice…

Outlook–> Well, it’s kinda bleak this season for Peters. Rutherford is throwing Peters under the bus for his performance last year and has openly said already they will be signing a veteran back up to play some games this year. Which is fine if they get one good enough to start 15 games for the Canes and get Ward back to that sweet spot of 67 or so games started. So look for Peters to dominate in Charlotte in the AHL and come up any time someone gets any injuries with the big club.

Draft and Free Agency

Jim Rutherford did a masterful job a month ago at giving the Canes fans some hope for the future. I say masterful b/c he got some buzz going for the whole month of no Canes hockey and the days leading up to the draft. He originally said that Jokinen and Pitkanen would likely not be back, and that they were looking to sign a big name D man to replace Pitkanen and trade or sign a sniper (or two) in his prime to fill out the forwards better.  Now that they have had a pretty good draft he has again taken our hopes, thrown them on the ground, spit on them and stepped on them with spike covered boots. How? With that crappy little announcement at the draft. JR announce that they are in fact closer then they thought to a deal with Pitkanen and Jokinen and possibly even Cole. He furthermore said they would only likely be spending “a few million above the 48 million salary floor. So let’s call this a cool 50 million payroll (14 million below the cap), with them currently sitting at 33$ mil according to Capgeek.  I then predict he’s going to thro 4 mil a piece at Pitkanen and Jokinen, and 2.5 at Cole and 1.0 at LaRose (I still think he stays here) then throwing no more then 750k at Joslin (RFA). So call that 12.25 mil more to bring them to 45.25 mil. Thats 3 under the “floor” and about 5 under what I think their self imposed cap will be. This will leave them about 3 forwards short of what I want, and 1 D man but they won’t go after any D b/c they love the kids in AHL and will get by with what they have right now. So for that money they have left under the real cap they can absolutely afford a big time FA at 4-5 mil and get 1-2 defensive depth forwards at 1-2 each. Will, they? Hell, no. We will see them do what I predicted above and then sign 2-3 journeyman POS forwards to round out the lineup and rely again on Drayson Bowman, Zach Boychuk and Zac Dalpe to play big minutes on the 3rd/4th line. Of those guys I onlly think Dalpe has any chance of being a real NHL player. Bowman and Boychuk have shown me nothing to lead me to belive they will be useful long term.

Verdict—> My pre-free agency predictions being above paired with no coaching change yet I am going to predict a bad start for the team with a coaching change in December. Depending on who they get and how they react to that will decide how their playoff hopes ride. I say they miss the playoffs again. Why? B/c they are now going to the CHEAP CHEAP CHEAP spending model. You will not win anything again if you continue to spend pennies to try and buy gold. I don’t want them to spend 64 mil at the cap but I want to see 55-57 million spent on a respectable product on the ice. So go ahead JR prove me wrong and have a good free agent crop. Please please —- PROVE ME WRONG.

(I will update this post today or tomorrow if and when he announces those RFA signings)

It’s a moment we have been waiting to get going and published for quite some time… but the time is NOW!

The Geek Allstars Podcast is now live and you can get the first episode right here !!! It should be popping up on iTunes for you to subscribe to shortly.  I will likely have some links posted here on the side for the ease of getting the most recent episodes.

What is The Geek Allstars podcast?

Good question…. Just like this blog, it’s a podcast about Movies, Gaming (both video and board) , and a whole lot more! Basically whatever the three of us knuckleheads can think of to talk about or want to talk about we will.

Don’t forget that if you have anything you want to ask us or want us to talk about.. or if you just want to congradulate us on a kick ass podcast please mail us or hit us up on twitter.

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Thanks to all of our listeners and welcome aboard the crazy train!

Battle Los Angeles (2011- 116 mins) A. Eckhart, M. Rodriguez

Battle LA is a movie about an alien invasion of earth. Think of “Skyline” without all the suckage. It’s a pretty grand invasion with surprise on the alien’s side and strength in numbers and technology. On our side we have a bunch of seemingly inept marines. All except all American marine Sgt. Nantz (Eckhart). He’s been through thick and thin in his tours of duty and a bit of a checkered past. But one thing is for sure, he’s a natural leader who knows his stuff about battle and is cool under pressure. The movie isn’t centered around the whole war and how to defeat the aliens on a grand scale. Instead, we get focused on one small group of marines and their objective of getting a group of civilians to the forward operating base from inside the war zone. I think it’s this scaling down of the war which helps keep the action a bit more frantic. The director also goes for the hand held cam views to keep us on our toes and viewing as if we were in the fight with the company.

By no means is this a perfect movie and no means is the writing of the whole invasion perfect either. Yet, I thought it was good none the less. It keeps you on your toes, and on the edge of your seat. It gets us to like the company and to want to follow Nantz into battle ourselves. Sure it’s also a bit long but it’s a glorified war movie with a TON of ups and downs and that’s kinda how they go. So don’t rent this unless you are aware its about its 2 hour run time. It’s meant in part to be a “realistic” take on alien invasions, including the surprise involved and also the response and chaos that would ensue. And for it’s part it captures this pretty well, but it then goes away from trying to show the realism and goes more into a war story capacity. Again it’s a good movie in my opinion but there still will be plenty of people who will poo-poo the movie as unrealistic, or choppy or silly. To them I say, well, it’s a movie about an alien invasion told from a marine’s point of view so you get what’s advertised.

Verdict–> A shaky, up and down alien invasion war movie. It’s got some heart deep down but it’s more of a “Saving Private Ryan” meets “Close Encounters”. Running with camera shots and a lot of bullets and bodies blown up. But a good escapist movie none the less. If you like your sci-fi with no thinking involved and a lot of things blowing up, then this is the movie for you. If you are turned off by 2 hour alien war movies then turn the other way. I liked it though. A good recommendation if you fit into those parameters, so get it to make the guy happy you just forced to watch that chick flick.

Yes, I love the Muppets. If you do not share the love … Get your sorry arse off my blog now!!!

Thanks to Topless Robot for the scoop.

Tags: Movie Trailers

True Grit (2010– 110mins) J. Bridges, M. Damon, H. Steinfeld

True Grit is the last of the Best Picture noms from this year that I had to watch. I had been really looking forward to seeing this one as not only was it supposed to be very good but also because Jeff Bridges has been on quite a run lately with movies. As you may or may not know it’s a remake of an old John Wayne movie in which Bridges plays the same part as the great Wayne played 40 years ago.

Bridges plays US Marshal Rooster Cogburn, who has been recruited by a headstrong teenage girl named Mattie Ross (Steinfeld), to track down the man who killed her father. While out on the trail they encounter Texas Ranger Laboeuf (Damon), a very self assure Ranger who is trying to catch the same killer for the bounty and revenge of a different murder. The movie is obviously a western but aside from a few scenes of gunfights and action, it’s more about the journey then the destination. Steinfeld plays the young lady with such strength and stubborn determination that you believe she will go out on her own regardless of help to catch the killer herself. There is no fear and nothing childlike about her. I was so impressed with her that I think I might have her equal to or better then Amy Adams for whom I thought should win the best supporting actress from last year. Just a totally 100% impressive job by the 14 year old actress. As for the guys, obviously Bridges is spectacular as the gruff hardass Marshal. He was great but he still falls a bit short of the king himself Colin Firth. Damon on the other hand, while good at the character, is directed to be such a baffoon of a role that it really took away from the part for me. I liked it just fine but I don’t know if Damon was right for this part. I couldn’t help but feel that  there is a better actor who could portray a Texan enough to come across as patriotic for the state but not so much as seemingly a parody of one. Which brings me to my one beef, even if minor, about the movie…

I thoroughly enjoyed this film but I can’t help but feel it had too much comedy to it. This should be a western drama with some smattered laughs, but instead it’s almost more of a comedy drama with equal parts of each. I have to admit I have never seen the original but I doubt the tone was the same. It was so farcy at times (especially Laboeuf) that I have to blame it on the Coen’s themselves. It brought what should have been a hard nosed western to the same tone as a “Fargo”, or a “Burn After Reading”, both which have their signature Comedy-Drama feel to them. There is a time and a place for their type of movie making but a remake of a John Wayne western IMO is not it. I can’t help but think that as good as this was it could have been a bit better if Clint Eastwood was directing it instead, and potentially a different actor was pegged for the Texas Ranger Laboeuf.

Verdict–> Don’t let my ramblings of a mad man about the inclusion of comedy fool you. This was a great great movie. The performances by Steinfeld and Bridges alone are more then worth the price of admission. It’s a very high recommendation and IMO is in the top 5 of last year. Pick it up this weekend for an enjoyable watch!

Just Go With It (2011–117 mins) A. Sandler, J. Aniston, B. Decker

I hate to call “Just Go With It” just another Sandler movie. There are so many reasons to do so, cept that this is a lot better then some of the movies he has been doing in the past few years. Other then “Grown Ups” and “Bedtime Stories”, which I loved, he has had a bunch of stinkers lately. It’s a fairly straightforward Sandler-esque story. Playboy dating machine and Plastic Surgeon Danny (Sandler), has gotten by on beautiful women by using the power of wearing a wedding ring although he is actually single. Once he meets the most beautiful girl he has ever seen and falls in love, he has to cover his tracks to prevent from being exposed and losing his perfect girl. In order to do so he has to bribe and use his office assistant (Anniston) and her kids as his future ex-wife and his own kids.

Yes, the premise is as ridiculous as it sounds, and who would in a million years think that it would actually work, but we don’t care the whole trip is funny as hell and the side stories are just as good. It’s a great movie, and everyone is funny in it. The kids are amazing especially Bailee Madison, who plays the aspiring actress daughter of Anniston’s, Katherine. She has a peppy,cocky gusto which keeps you in stitches and does an awful cockney accent that is so silly that makes it equally as comedic. The other standouts are Dave Matthews and Nichole Kidman who plays an old friend of Katherine’s who she is always competing with. Sandler has this knack of getting mainstream actors to be in his films you wouldn’t think would be, and then getting them to deliver performances that are funny and unexpected.

Verdict–> I loved this movie. It might be a slight bit longer then a typical rom-com at just under 2 hours, but it’s well worth it. The movie is one of the best rom-coms I have seen thus far this year and will likely find itself on my top 10 of the red box when the year is said and done. I highly recommend this from the redbox if even only to see the great chemistry between Aniston and Sandler, who make it seem like they have been best buds for 15 years.

I Am Number Four (2011–109 mins) A. Pettyfer, T. Olyphant 

There are nine special beings from another planet who are hiding out on Earth with guardians. They are future protectors of their species who have not yet grown into maturity enough to protect themselves. They have been sent here with protectors to keep them safe from another evil race from their planet sent to hunt and kill them. Three of these beings have been killed by the evildoers and they are coming for number four. In this movie we follow number four, named John (Pettyfer) and his protector Henri (Olyphant) as they travel from place to place trying to keep safe by creating new identities and staying out of the spotlight and blending in.

That’s the basic plot of this sci-fi actiony movie. It is decent as a whole but the way it goes about telling the story is a bit different from normal sci-fi movies we are used to. It is set up as a heavy sci-fi affair but delivers to us more of a mix of “Escape from Which Mountain” with “High School Musical” and something from the “SyFy” channel. What I mean by that is, first the movie does this little aside into the high school dynamic of living. Then it throws some action here and there but never goes all to heavy into the action or danger mode. Sure things blow up and people are killed here and there but the level never really hits eminent and evil danger. And then all of a sudden it throws some funky CG at us which brings us more to the level of SyFy channel then a major motion picture.

It sounds like I am bashing the flick, but to be quite honest, I enjoyed it. It’s a lighter Sci-fi affair. One where we don’t have to digest a thousand of different characters or rules or back story. This high school kid is special and people from his planet are trying to kill him. Nice and simple. Eh, sure I can care less who he will take to the prom and they kinda put us thru that sort of thing but I can live with it. It’s likely to get some play in the future on Nick, or teen-Disney/ Disney XD, but I still think it makes for a good movie night. Prob not even too bad for the family movie night either for those families with kids 10+.

Verdict–> Not an overly heavy sci-fi epic but definitely worth a watch. It’s a fairly fun movie with a decent story and likable characters. I think most any type of movie goer would like it, especially since the violence isn’t overly gruesome. Perfect for a single watch or a good double feature. I wouldn’t mind a sequel since the story is good enough, but I wouldn’t pay to see it in the theater rather waiting again for the red box rental. A good recommendation from me to pick it up if you see it.

Megamind (2010–95mins) W. Ferrell, T. Fey, J. Hill 

I think this might be a first for my blog. The first time I picked up an animated film to watch on our Red Box nights. It’s not so much surprising that I got one, it’s surprising that it took this long to get one. So many good animated films have come out in the last few years. Ones which are just as good for adults as they are for children. Megamind is no different. Megamind (Will Ferrell) is the big baddie of Metro City. Like most big bads he has his own nemesis in the form of Metro Man (Pitt). Metro Man is the local Superman and mr. Perfect. Any time Megamind has a great plan he is always foiled at every turn. That is until, one day that Megamind stumbles upon Metro Man’s weakness and is able to kill him. Yet, even when he has everything and rules all of Metro City, he realizes he has nothing. So he creates his own super-hero in an unsuspecting schlep who calls himself Titan. However, when Titan realizes evil is more fun, it leads Megamind to find that it’s much more fun to be loved as a hero then hated as the villain. Might sound like spoilers there but as many animated movies are, all this stuff is pretty common knowledge and even in the trailer. It’s the fluff, the witty dialog and how we get there that makes for a good movie.

It’s pretty rare these days for me to not like the big flashy new kids movies. They deliver great kids fun and manage to throw in enough funny bits for the adults, and relevant pop culture references that parents don’t mind letting the kiddies watch them 1000’s of times at home. I loved how all the actors were in the movie, and enjoyed the way they seemed to play off each other (kinda hard to say that since I am fairly sure they weren’t even in the same room ever to record like most animated movies). The only one who I think needs to avoid animation is Jonah Hill. It’s not that he’s bad, but at this stage in his career he does basically one type of character. Every like he delivers and every character he plays sounds EXACTLY the same from one movie to the next. He gets a pass here b/c he’s funny and b/c it’s a kids movie. Yet, I would still like to one day hear his voice and not know exactly what’s going to come out of his mouth before it does. Ferrell is so natural as this character and makes us believe in him and fall in love with him as well. I am not sure we have seen too many characters this natural since way back when Robin Williams played Genie years and years ago.

Verdict–> It’s no secret to everyone that it’s a good movie. Anyone’s kids will love it and all parents should enjoy watching it, at least the first 20 times the kids want to too. If you are looking for something good for the kids to watch in the car or to keep them busy at night go a head and pick this up. A great movie for sure.