Search Results for: pets love those pets in movies

Muppets Movie Trailers

The start of summer saw the release of four Muppet movie trailers. The tone of those trailers, though they contained many of the same scenes, taught us a lot what the new Muppet movie will feel like. Isn’t that any diehard Muppets fan’s biggest complaint: that most of the Muppet movies released in the 1990s didn’t feel like Muppet movies? Something about them didn’t contain that unique Jim Henson sense of humor. It’s not that we expect they could, since Henson’s passing. That raises the question, however, of whether Muppet movies should continue if they couldn’t remain true to their … Continue reading →

Not a Fan of Pet Movies, Pt. 2

Last time I talked about why I can’t watch the most common form of animal movies: the tearjerker. It seems that the most popular animal movies, even ones made by Disney (I still cannot watch “Bambi,” “Fox and the Hound,” or “The Lion King,” they’re just way too depressing), were written with the intention of causing the audience to burst into tears every 10 minutes. Two other primary forms of animal movies exist, and unfortunately, I don’t like watching those either. The first are ones for kids, and here I do have to make a caveat. Not all Disney animal … Continue reading →

Not a Fan of Pet Movies, Pt. 1

A short while ago I mentioned animal adventure movies, a type I find best exemplified by the likes of “Homeward Bound,” “Milo and Otis,” or “Babe.” Not many movies belong to this subgenre of pet films, but that shouldn’t matter because as a pet lover I ought to revel in all animal films, right? Wrong. Pet adventure movies are just about the only animal films I can take. I find most other pet films soppy or overly sentimental. I don’t mean to insult those who love them, I just can’t watch them. I think it’s because many other pet movies … Continue reading →

Muppets Debut at Magic Kingdom Today

They’re characters who feel like an integral part of childhood for generations of kids growing up since the 60s. Some members of their extended family living on Sesame Street still hold a dear place in children’s hearts today, teaching them about reading, counting, and neighborly spirit every day on PBS. But overall, kids today don’t care as much about The Muppets. Disney’s finally starting to change that. The House of Mouse added a new wing for The Muppets in 2004, but has done little with the beloved characters since then. They’ve made a few television and direct-to-video appearances in the … Continue reading →

Kunekunes Come to the Animal Kingdom

I’m not a huge fan of zoos. I’ve been to enough in my lifetime that I’ve seen many small local ones, where a poor bored black bear ambles restlessly on a barred cement slab the size of my bedroom. If a zoo doesn’t take proper care of animals I can’t stand to visit it (as shouldn’t be surprising to anyone who reads my articles on the families.com Pets Blog), and as I make few trips into cities that narrows down my list. But when a zoo is done right, then I love it. My husband and I love nature documentaries … Continue reading →

The Caboodle Ranch for Cats

Our society has the teasingly cruel image of a “cat lady,” an older women, usually considered a little off-balanced, who lives alone save for the many cats with which she surrounds herself. The idea is mean and contains a worrying message about the role we still consider relationships ought to play in a woman’s life. It also seems to imply that only a woman would like cats enough to want to own many. In fact, I think society still has a common assumption that cats are for women and dogs are for men; sure, we can think of plenty of … Continue reading →

The Dangers of Pet Fads

When I saw “101 Dalmatians” for the first time as a kid, I loved it so much I just had to redecorate accordingly. I had two separate designs of “101 Dalmatians” bed sheets, a huge poster, a table lamp, and stuffed toys adorning my bed. But the one thing I didn’t have was an actual Dalmatian dog. No matter how much I begged my parents for one, they didn’t give in. They didn’t want to take care of a dog, so they weren’t going to bend to my whim. Unfortunately, many other parents did, either to that of their children … Continue reading →

Jackie Chan Says Chinese People Need to be Controlled

In another case of open mouth, insert foot, another celebrity has said something controversial this week. First, there was Hulk Hogan admitting that he “totally understood” O.J. Simpson. Now, Jackie Chan, who was born in Hong Kong, stated that the Chinese people “need to be controlled.” I knew this one was not going to go away without an uproar, but maybe Hulk should thank him for taking a bit of the heat off of him! Chan was at a business forum in Hainan, a southern Chinese province, when he made his remarks. He said that he felt perhaps a free … Continue reading →

Starry Nights, Spooky Blog Tours, and Dachshunds: An Interview with Author Christine Verstraete

This next interviewee’s name may look familiar to you since I’ve interviewed Christine Verstraete before. Last time it was about her miniature doll hobby and the dogs she often includes in her displays. This time around I asked if she’d be interested in talking about Petey, the dachshund who stars in her new book, Searching For A Starry Night, A Miniature Art Mystery. She again graciously agreed, and added something fun just in time for Halloween: details on her spooky blog tour and how you can enter to win a set of Halloween minis or a copy of her e-book, … Continue reading →