Cinema, DVDs and theatre Archives | Page 4 of 8

Marianne Weekes February 28, 2015

Fairytale: Story of the Seven Dwarves – BRILLIANT!

Fairytale: Story of the Seven Dwarves

We’ve been sent two films to review for Mari’s World and judging by the amount of times Story of the Seven Dwarves has been played I’d say it is a massive hit with the twins.

It’s an animated film that is basically a mash up of all your favourite fairytales. There’s a romance between Sleeping Beauty and Jack, from Jack and the Beanstalk.

There’s a baddie, the Snow Queen who puts a wicked spell on Sleeping Beauty and there are the heros, in this case the seven dwarves who actually cause the mishap in the first place by accidentally pricking Sleeping Beauty with a needle and sending the entire kingdom to sleep. The dwarves now have to find Sleeping Beauty’s One True Love in order to undo the wicked spell and that my friends is where the adventure starts.

One of my favourite scenes has to be the tap dancing dragon which is just hilarious.

Watch out for Fairytale: Story of the Seven Dwarves in cinemas now and on DVD too.

Verdict: Buy it, the twins LOVE this and are currently watching it on repeat.

Fairytale: A True Story

This film is loosely based on the real events of the Cottingley fairies. It tells the story of the sensation caused across England in 1917 when young cousins Elsie and Frances take photographs of fairies they have ‘discovered’ in a nearby meadow.

The public love the story and the girls are thrown into celebrity status with support from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Harry Houdini. With the supporters who refuse to concede and the cynics determined to flush out their lies the girls are under enormous scrutiny.

We have already watched this film on TV a while back and are pleased it is coming out on DVD 23rd March as it’s always a good story to go back to. It will also be played at selected cinemas from March 13th.

Verdict: Liked the film and enjoyed it but not on the scale of the one above. Will most likely watch it again sometime

Marianne Weekes January 16, 2015

Disney On ice – Magical Ice Festival – NEW DATES!

We have become Disney fanatics in this house – especially Frozen ones but our recent trip to Disney on Ice was the perfect occasion to reintroduce some of our favourite and forgotten characters to playtime, like Pinocchio, Lion King and Aladdin where the genie remains my firm favourite. Even if Sebastian does come a very close second, here he is in the new line up of Magical Ice Festival this spring.

I was really excited to hear that Disney on Ice returns to the UK with the Magical Ice Festival with another fabulous line up, Ariel, Rapunzel, Belle, Aurora and for the first time EVER Anna and Elsa from the blockbuster Frozen.

The Frozen sisters will be accompanied on a journey up North Mountain by Olaf, Kristoff and Sven and their journey will be one with action, adventure, magic and unforgettable characters.

Feld Entertainment have been producing Disney on Ice shows for over 30 years and they know how to get an audience on its feet with singing, dancing and cheering on their favourite Disney Characters

Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse guide fans through an enchanting wonderland where they encounter Sebastian and the Daughters of Triton from Disney’s The Little Mermaid, the rowdy pub thugs from Disney’s Tangled and the loyal enchanted servants from Disney’s Beauty and the Beast.

Disney On Ice presents Magical Ice Festival eye-opening facts and figures:

Hours it takes to set up the production – 12-15
Number of male performers in the production – 21
Number of female performers in the production – 22
Number of costumes in the show – 180
Number of yards of fabric used to make the costumes – Over 350 thousand Total number of props in the show – 183
Number of different paint colours used on the props – 85

Disney on Ice

New dates available

If you haven’t been lucky enough to secure tickets yet the performances below go on sale TODAY

CLICK HERE

BIRMINGHAM: Wednesday, April 1st, 7pm, performance

LONDON: Wednesday, April 22, 7pm performance

CARDIFF: Friday, May 1, 11am performance

Marianne Weekes January 6, 2015

The Snowman at the Peacock Theatre London

‘If I had known how wonderful it was I’d have booked sooner.’

Last weekend we travelled up to London to attend the live performance of The Snowman, one of our favourite stories. It was dad’s Christmas treat to us as a family and he’d booked it back in late November.

I read in the brochure that this is the 17th consecutive performance and is based on the classic children’s book by Raymond Briggs and having seen it I am sure it will continue for many years to come.

You may be wondering how The Snowman would adapt to the stage as it is a silent film with the exception of ‘Walking in the air’ song and this is one of the very reasons I loved this performance as it is told through mime and dance.

In today’s world where we are bombarded by noise from every angle it was a complete wonder to sit back and watch the story unfold silently before us. Of course there is music and lyrics by Howard Blake which accompanies the tale perfectly. I found it very refreshing to sit back and soak in the beauty of the set and the emotion the music gives. I also noted the girls were completely gripped too and had no trouble following one of their favourite stories.

The theatre was packed with families with young children and although there wasn’t complete silence, how could you expect little ones to not ask questions, it worked extremely well, all except the one grandmother sat behind me and took it upon herself to carry out a running commentary on the entire performance. It really wasn’t necessary, let the children discover the beauty of mime and dance, they’ll get it. They’ll see what the dancers want to show us.

We were very pleasantly surprised by the reasonable prices at the bar too, not something you often find in London.

The dancer who plays the part of James, The Boy is excellent. He has a huge role and the brochure confirms that the boys who cover James are aged between 10 and 12. All of the dancers take on more than one character and the entire show ran perfectly on stage.

A massive round of applause from us as we really enjoyed the show and would thoroughly recommend it.

Marianne Weekes December 28, 2014

Disney on Ice – 100 Years of Magic

This year saw us return to the O2 in Greenwich to watch the latest Disney on Ice – 100 Years of Magic and we were not disappointed, not one tiny bit.

The girls were delighted to wear their brand new Disney costumes from their favourite princesses, Belle for Bessie and Jasmine for Alice and I would recommend allowing your children to do this as it’s the perfect occasion to wear them, it added to the ‘importance’ of having a Disney on Ice ticket.

The show opens with Mickey and Minnie and they introduce us to some of their favourite stories, the show kicks off with one of my favourites, the Genie from Aladdin and a spectacular dance on ice.

We move on to Finding Nemo and the girls loved the effect of the bubbles falling over the ice to make believe we are under the sea.

The next part of the show is named ‘A Rose is a Rose’ and begins with the most important fairy tale rose, the Beast’s. We watch as Belle meets the Beast, falls in love and thinks he’s dead, only her true love can save him. The show runs seemlessly into ‘So this is love’ and a spectacular skate with six princesses and their princes including Belle and the Beast, Cinderella, Pocahontas, Ariel, Snow White and Jasmine.

Toy Story perform To Infinity and Beyond with a fantastic green army, Buzz lightyear and Woody and then Act One ends with ‘It’s a Small World.’ Beautiful, colourful and the costumes will take your breath away. We really enjoyed It’s a Small World as it reminded us of the ride we enjoyed so much at Disneyland Paris this summer.

A vintage selection of Disney that is performed by some of the world’s best skaters coming from Russia, USA, Canada and Japan.

Act Two includes Pinocchio, Mulan, the Incredibles and the Lion King with an amazing Grand Finale which always disappoints as you realise the show is over and you’d want to sit there so much longer.

Oh Mummy, I don’t want it to be the end, I want more! Alice aged 6

By reminding us of the older less watched films the girls in the car on the way home chatted about finding their Pinocchio DVD, re-watching Lion King that hasn’t been aired for some time and maybe buying The Incredibles which we haven’t seen before.

The costumes are beautiful and the faces on our twins were in awe of the magic being created in front of us. A real must for all and if you have any luck getting Disney On Ice tickets for the Spring performance do let me know as they are sold out and Get Me In are asking ridiculous amounts right now.

Disclosure: We were given tickets to attend the performance for the purpose of this review, we loved it and all opinions are our own.

Marianne Weekes December 16, 2014

Beauty and the Beast by Polka Dot Pantomimes

Last weekend saw us travel down to Thanet to attend the Beauty and the Beast performance by Polka Dot Pantomimes at the Theatre Royal Margate.

With Ricky Groves of Eastenders and Strictly Come Dancing fame as Muddles and Robert Rawles, a West End Star as Dame Dotty Doughnut I was sure it would be an interesting show.

Interesting? It was so much more. It was brilliant.

Bessie on car journey to Margate – Mummy what language do they speak in Margate?

The story is the classic Beauty and the Beast panto, a good fairy, a nasty witch, Beauty, her father, the prince, and of course the couple that kept us laughing all the way through, Dame Dotty Doughnut and Muddles who looked after the palace and the prince.

This show offers something for everyone, I caught dad laughing at many of the gags and they were hilarious. I love to watch the girls faces as they follow the story as I can see their expressions, they couldn’t take their eyes off the stage.

I was incredibly impressed with the music used throughout the show, so many of my favourite tunes that can be heard regularly at this time of year so even though way before the twins time they still recognised some of them. It gave the show a real party atmosphere.

The usual pantomime interaction with the audience is there, ‘He’s behind you!’ “Oh yes you did!’ and a LOT of hissing and booing at Grimalkin the evil witch. One of my favourite parts of pantomime to be honest as the girls were getting really into the show on stage and joining in.

A word must be said for the costumes too as they are gorgeous. You can clearly see a lot of detail and work has gone into making them and Dame Doughnut has a very enviable wardrobe *ahem*

Which was your favourite costume Alice? The pink one. (Always pink!)

One last mention to the dancers on stage who did a very good job, I can only imagine they are from a local school as some were quite young, well done girls, beautiful representation.

Verdict: 10/10 funny, entertaining, wonderful pantomime but if you are in the Stalls make sure you’re not in seat I-15 (restricted view) as your view will be like this, I had a crick in the neck by the interval.

Disclosure: We were invited to the show by Polka dot Pantomimes for the purpose of this review.

Fairytale: Story of the Seven Dwarves

Fairytale: A True Story

Disney On Ice presents Magical Ice Festival eye-opening facts and figures:

New dates available

Beauty and the Beast showing at the Theatre Royal Margate from 13th – 28th December 2014 Box office 01843 292795 or online