Family Movie Night: Anastasia

** As a Fox Home Entertainment Insiders blogger, A Geek Daddy received a complimentary Digital HD download for #AnastasiaMovieNight **

Join my family and other Fox Home Entertainment Insiders bloggers from across the country as we enjoy a fun movie night on Friday, September 25, 2015 watching the classic 1997 animated film ANASTASIA, which will be available as a digital download at a special discounted rate only on that day via the Fox Movie of the Day app. Pop some popcorn, click this link to download the app to get the featured flash sale film of the day, and enjoy your Friday evening with a family movie night.

Anastasia mixes adventure, comedy, romance, and music in this animated tale of a lost Russian princess and her quest to find her true identity.  When the shadow of revolution falls across Russia, the royal family's youngest daughter barely escapes with her life.  Years later, Anastasia and a band of heroic companions must battle the evil Rasputin, his sidekick Bartok the bat and a host of ghostly minions in a headlong race to reach Paris, reclaim Anastasia's rightful destiny, and solve one of the greatest mysteries of the 20th century.  Anastasia was nominated for an Oscar in the category of "Best Original Musical Score" and features the vocal talents of Meg Ryan, John Cusack, Kelsey Grammer, Christopher Lloyd, Hank Azaria, Bernadette Peters, Kirsten Dunst, and Angela Lansbury voicing the characters in this animated film.

Anastasia will be available exclusively for a special discounted price on Friday, September 25, 2015 through Fox Home Entertainment's Movie of the Day app for iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch which allows people to purchase their favorite Twentieth Century Fox films via Digital HD downloads through daily flash sales.  The Movie of the Day app's user friendly interface gives consumers a 24-hour window to buy a brand new movie each and every day at a discounted price of up to 70% off and add it to their iTunes library.  The Movie of the Day app is available only on the App Store.



A Geek Daddy is part of the Fox Home Entertainment Insiders program, an exclusive, members-only ambassador group that has a real passion for film and TV that works to promote Fox Home Entertainment Blu-ray, DVD, and Digital HD releases.  Fox Home Entertainment Insiders are provided with exclusive access to Fox releases and unique and exciting opportunities to interact with Fox Home Entertainment in engaging ways.

Little Girls will be Thrilled - Disney bringing Live Action Cinderella Movie to the Silver Screen in March of 2015

Ever since my daughter watched Disney's classic animated movie Cinderella for the first time, she has been totally enamored with this fairy tale princess.  She tells everyone the highlight of her life (all five years of it so far) has been being able to meet Cinderella at DisneyLand.  In fact, when she had the chance to meet Cinderella she proudly showed off the t-shirt she was wearing with the character's portrait vibrantly displayed on it and exclaimed "I'm your biggest fan!"  So you know she's going to be excited when a brand new Cinderella movie sashays into theaters on March 13, 2015.

Cinderella will be directed by Academy Award nominee Kenneth Branagh (THOR, HAMLET) and star Lily James (DOWNTOWN ABBEY) as Cinderella, Academy Award winner Cate Blanchett (BLUE JASMINE, ELIZABETH) as the evil stepmother, Richard Madden (GAME OF THRONES) as Prince Charming and Academy Award nominee Helena Bonham Carter (THE KINGS SPEECH, ALICE IN WONDERLAND) as the fairy godmother.  The movie's producers are promising this live action feature film will bring to life the timeless images from Disney's 1950 animated masterpiece as fully-realized characters in a visually dazzling spectacle for a whole new generation.

Check out this trailer from the upcoming movie:

You know I'd be the worst dad in the world if I didn't take my little princess to see this new adaption of Cinderella.  After watching the animated Disney version of this fairy tale with my daughter more times then I can count, something new that she'll enjoy is definitely going to be appreciated in our household.  Fortunately from the looks of the trailer this movie appears to be actually a decent film to watch for both the princesses and the parents in the audience.

So the question is will my son want to go along to see the new #Cinderella movie theater?  I'm not sure though he does appear to be plotting something with Anastasia, Drisella and Lady Tremaine?

For more information about the movie, visit movies.disney.com/cinderella/

It was the Impromptu Moments that made our trip to Disney World Magical

You'd think with the high-tech rides, elaborate shows, incredible firework displays & ornate parades those would be the highlights of a visit to Disney World, but since we returned home from a recent trip I've found it has been simpler things we experienced that have made the most significant memories for my family.  When telling people about our adventures, my wife, kids and I have all focused on the impromptu moments we experienced that left us with great memories of our stay at the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando Florida.  A kiss from Cinderella's evil step-sister, painting the streets with a custodial worker, playing the part of a horse in the story of Beauty and the Beast were all thrills that my children enjoyed on their first trip to the Magic Kingdom.

Many of the costumed characters at Disney are now in staged areas where you need to pay an exorbitant amount of money to eat a meal with them, or to see them for free you need to make advance reservations ( aka FastPass) or wait in long lines to see them.  For example to see the sisters from FROZEN the FastPass reservations were sold out weeks in advance of our trip and there was a 420 minute wait to see them in the standby line [People were amazingly waiting in the standby line - we just never mentioned to our daughter that they were there to meet].  We waited in a few lines when they weren't too long so the kids could hug some of their favorite characters and used a few FastPasses to meet Mickey Mouse, Belle, and Cinderella.

On our first day at the Magic Kingdom though as we were wandering through Fantasyland we just randomly came across Cinderella's step-sisters Anastasia and Drizella, along with their mother Lady Tremaine.  We have all three Cinderella movies on DVD and my kids instantly recognized the ladies and ran over to them.  My wife and I thought they'd say a few words to our kids and we'd take a picture, but Anastasia and Drizella engaged in a really in-depth back and forth conversation with my children that lasted about 10 minutes.  As a crowd started to gather, I thought they would wrap things up but the actresses stayed in role and they initiated keeping the conversation going with our kids.  Just as I'd thought the encounter was done and we were starting to walk away (I'd put my camera away) Anastasia called my son by his name to come back to her for a minute and than gave him a kiss on the cheek.  He turned bright red, but had a huge smile on his face.  Oh I wish I'd acted fast enough to get my camera back out!  My kids were talking about their conversation with Cinderella's sisters during our whole stay plus throughout the two day drive back to Michigan on the way home.

On the next day of our visit, while waiting for a parade to start one of the custodian workers cleaning up the route stopped and started chatting with my children.  Than she asked them if they'd like to help her with a special project and let them come out onto the parade route with her.  They began drawing a mickey mouse face in the middle of the street...it was pretty cool (and I couldn't get a good angle for a picture of it before the parade started).  I guess this bucket art by janitors (mostly college workers for the summer) is a new fad at the park where they paint some great images using their sweeping brooms and water.  Check out this article about it by Yahoo News.  My kids were thrilled to be street artists!

 

 

On another day while walking through FrontierLand in the Magic Kingdom our kids were swept up into a whirlwind square dance party with Disney characters and staffers.

 

My son loves horses so he was really excited to be picked to act out the part of Phillipe during the Belle Princess encounter.  While he is normally somewhat reserved in public he really came out of his shell and had fun during his role and while meeting Belle.  He enjoyed the experience more than his twin sister who loves Disney Princesses!

 

The kids didn't let anything slip by them during our visit and quickly pointed out to me there were Star Wars props hidden away in the Hollywood Studios tour.

So remember despite all the things going on during a trip to Disney World don't forget to enjoy those special impromptu moments during your visit...those most likely will be some of your most memorable long term memories!