BATMAN DAY 2021

Holy Coloring Pages and Activity Sheets Batman! It's Batman Day! Enjoy this Caped Crusader themed activity kit courtesy of DC Comics to have a super fun time today:

 

Learn How To Draw Zootopia Characters Like A Disney Animator

My kids are wild with excitement that we're going on a family outing this weekend to see Walt Disney Studio's newest animated feature film, ZOOTOPIA, at the movie theater. ZOOTOPIA arrived at theaters across the United States today and my kids have been wanting to see this movie since we began seeing trailers featuring a catchy theme song by Shakira while at the movies last year. It looks to be a funny, upbeat story that parents and children can equally appreciate. I'm sure all of us adults can appreciate the sloths working at the department of motor vehicles though kids under 16 may not get the humor. With a cute bunny as its star, comedic moments, and an energetic musical score this looks to be a perfect movie for families with young children to go see.



Have you ever wondered what it takes to bring the illustrated characters in a Walt Disney animated movie to life? Think you have the artistic talent to do it yourself? Check out these two videos from the production team of ZOOTOPIA showing how to draw the movie's characters Judy (Bunny) and Flash (Sloth). Have some fun giving it a shot trying to draw these two ZOOTOPIA characters yourself just like a Disney movie studio animator.



My wife and son are really talented when it comes to drawing, me not so much. For those of us who prefer leaving the drawing to those with a more artistic touch, we can still create our own Flash and Judy masterpieces by printing out and decorating these ZOOTOPIA coloring sheets A GEEK DADDY was provided courtesy of Walt Disney Studios. Go wild coloring Judy Hopps, Flash, Nick Wilde, Mr. Big and other characters from the world of ZOOTOPIA!



The modern mammal metropolis of Zootopia which is the backdrop for this new family friendly animated adventure from Walt Disney Studios is a city like no other. Comprised of habitat neighborhoods like ritzy Sahara Square and frigid Tundratown, it's a melting pot where animals from every environment live together -- a place where no matter what you are, from the biggest elephant to the smallest shrew, you can be anything. But when rookie police officer Judy Hopps (voiced by Ginnifer Goodwin) arrives, she discovers that being the first bunny on a force of big tough animals isn't so easy. Determined to prove herself, she jumps at the opportunity to crack a case, even if it means partnering with fast talking, scam artist fox Nick Wilde (voiced by Jason Bateman) to solve the mystery.

#ZOOTOPIA

THE GOOD DINOSAUR

My little girl and I enjoyed an enjoyable daddy-daughter night out going to see THE GOOD DINOSAUR, the newest PIXAR theatrical movie release from Walt Disney Studios. This really is an excellent film to go see for a family outing to the movie theater, especially if you have elementary aged children, though there are some scenes in the film that may be too intense and scary for some preschoolers.  The Good Dinosaur arrived at movie theaters Thanksgiving Weekend, is rated PG, and is a 100 minutes in length.



The movie begins with the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs on our planet 65 million years ago narrowly missing instead providing the premise for the story that dinosaurs could have been roaming the Earth at the same time humans were beginning to emerge onto the landscape.  This animated film has a Wild West theme with an Apple Dumpling Gang vibe to it combined with cartoonish dinosaurs in the roles of cowboys, farmers, Indians, rustlers, and outlaws obviously inspired from classic Hollywood western movies.  The central character of the movie is Arlo (voiced by Raymond Ochoa), the smallest dinosaur in a family of Apatosaurus.  Arlo is afraid of everything which is beginning to make him a nuisance on the family farm and aggravation to his Poppa (Jeffrey Wright), Momma (Frances McDormand), and two-siblings Buck (Marcus Scribner) and Libby (Maleah Nipay-Padilla).

To help Arlo get over his fears and "make his mark" in contributing to the family, Poppa assigns him the task of capturing and killing the "Critter" that has been sneaking into the farm's corn silo and eating their winter supply of food.  Arlo discovers that the thief is an orphaned human caveboy and can't bring himself to kill the "Critter" when he has it trapped.  When Poppa discovers that Arlo let the caveboy go, the elder dinosaur becomes enraged and drags off Arlo to go with him to look for it and finish the job.

** Spoilers Ahead **

Unfortunately, while searching for the "Critter", a storm arrives and a flash flood wipes through the canyon with Arlo only being able to survive drowning by his Poppa sacrificing himself to save the son.  The story fast forwards to the next year's harvest with the family struggling to get by without Poppa.  Arlo discovers that the "Critter" also survived the flood and is back stealing the family's corn again.  He chases after the caveboy seeking revenge for his Poppa's death, but ends up getting swept away in a river ending up far, far away from the family farm.

Lost, scared, and alone things are looking pretty grim for the young Apatosaurus until the "Critter" finds Arlo and begins looking out for him.  Witnessing the odd interaction between Arlo and the "Critter", a Styracosaurus called the Pet Collector (Peter Sohn) approaches them in one of the more comedic scenes of the film.  This dinosaur, whose traits resemble a native American chief from a Wild West film has gathered a collection of forest creatures to protect him and wants to add the "Critter" to his ensemble.  Arlo and the Pet Collector agree that whoever shouts out a name first that the "Critter" responds to gets to keep it.  Arlo wins out and the caveboy gets the name "Spot" in a scene which really begins the friendship between the dinosaur and his human sidekick.  Thus the duo begins an adventure across a harsh landscape in a journey back to Arlo's family farm.  During this trek, Arlo learns the power of confronting his fears and what he is truly capable of.



Arlo and Spot next encounter a pack of pterodactyls they initially believe will help them get home but instead find out this group of bandits is only really out to eat them.  Fortunately the youngsters are saved by some cowboys, in the guise of three T-Rexs - Butch (Sam Elliot), Ramsey (Anna Paquin) and Nash (AJ Buckley) - who are herding buffalo in a cattle herd.  To earn the help of the Tyrannosaurus, Arlo and Spot must help stop a trio of Raptors from rustling the buffalo.  You'll have to watch The Good Dinosaur to find out what happens next.

The scenes with Poppa dying, the T-Rex roaring, the raptors rustling and the pterodactyls attacking can be a bit intense, scary and violent for younger viewers though my six year old herself didn't have any issues at all with this film.  My daughter though was somewhat freaked out by the PIXAR short called "Sanjay's Super Team" that ran before the feature film.  It is the story of an Indian-American boy fantasizing about the similarities between his favorite TV superheroes and his father's Hindu gods.  It features a fast-paced action sequence with the boy tackling an antagonistic monster which had my daughter covering her eyes with her hands til it was over.  The short was creative, very original, and  I found it very enjoyable bringing to mind memories of my watching Tron as a kid, but a bit too intense for my little girl.  Just a heads up fellow parents!

The Good Dinosaur is filled with great landscapes and natural backdrops that really are stunning at times.  I'm not normally a fan of 3-D but it worked really well in this film enhancing the life like natural settings in the movie.  In particular there is a scene where Arlo runs through a flock of birds and the 3-D really enhances your viewing dimension provided to the setting placing you into the moment as if these gulls were flying about around you.  There are quite a few moments where the 3-D really provides extra dimension improving the context of a scene for your viewing enjoyment.  The 3-D really expands upon the great animation in the film and I would recommend viewing it in this format if you can.

The downside of The Good Dinosaur is that while the movie's focus is on Arlo's struggles and adventures, the main character (even if you watch the movie in 3D ) is rather flat and just not that interesting and likable.  It is the supporting characters that really stand out in the film with Spot stealing the show.  Some of the scenes also can be pretty unoriginal with Poppa's death scene seeming as if it came right out of the stampede scene from A Lion King and some of Spot and Arlo's could resemble the unlikely friendship and buddy-story interactions from A Fox & A Hound.  Also the wonderful big-sky horizons and the incredibly detailed water and forest scenes at times really dwarf the characters and when we are talking about characters we're talking about dinosaurs here.  I'm not sure if it is a good thing when you are enjoying taking in the background of a movie rather than being absorbed into the plot of its story.

That being said there were some very original, touching moments that were pure PIXAR magic in The Good Dinosaur.  There is a scene that Spot and Arlo disclose to one another they both have had parents die.  Since the two don't speak the same language they have to communicate by drawing symbols and moving sticks in the dirt.  It is a pure heart-breaking moment when the audience is enveloped into the story when these two characters understand they both share a profound grief for lost parents.  This is an especially touching moment that is nice to be able to share with your own loved ones sitting by your side.  While it doesn't have the best storyline, this film is full of the special touches PIXAR is know for combined with plenty of comedic moments and great animation which makes A Good Dinosaur a fun and enjoyable movie.

Coloring Pages

The Good Dinosaur gets A Geek Daddy nod of approval because it is a light-hearted movie that a parent can depend on for providing a fun and entertaining time on a family outing to the movies.

Recreate your family's favorite scenes from The Good Dinosaur or create your own adventures with this fun Dino-O-Rama featuring Arlo, Spot, Butch, Ramsey, Nash and the Pet Collector from the movie.

#GoodDino

Walt Disney Studios Kicks off the Summer with the Live Action Family Movie TOMORROWLAND

We are planning on taking a family outing to the movies over Memorial Day weekend to see the new SciFi themed movie #Tomorrowland which hits theaters in the United States on Friday, May 23, 2015.  This movie is aimed to be family viewing experience with a PG rating that is being marketed as a story that will entertain both kids from 6 to 16 plus the parents that take them to the show.  From viewing the trailers, the movie seems very much in the same vein as Back to the Future, E.T., Flight of the Navigator,  National Treasure, and The Karate Kid which were all fun live action adventures that parents could feel comfortable taking their children together for an entertaining time out for the whole family.  Hopefully Tomorrowland will live up to this billing and be a hit with our family.

Taking a cue from the Pirate of the Caribbean movies, Tomorrowland is loosely themed on a Disney theme park attraction but that is more inspiration than actually incorporated into the movie.  It is the story of a brilliant but disillusioned teen named Casey who has been stirring up trouble over her angst about the down-sizing of NASA and the closing of the installation her father worked at.  Her actions lead her to getting arrested and when she is released from a police department holding cell, Casey finds a mysterious pin included in her possession that when she touches it cause her to have visions of a futuristic world.

Casey wonders if these visions are a "real place" someplace in time or space and begins a search to find out more.  This leads her to a former boy genius named Frank who is all grown up now and played by George Clooney.  It appears as a youth, Frank was invited to Tomorrowland but did something to get himself kicked out and access to the wonderland by others from Earth shut down.  Now fearing Clooney's character will return and cause havoc the leader of Tomorrowland begins hunting down Casey and Frank with his robotic henchmen.  Where is Tomorrowland, will Casey and Frank get there, and what will they find there? We'll all have to go see the movie to find out!

Walt Disney Studios provided A Geek Daddy blog with some amusing Tomorrowland activity sheets to share with our readers that could be put to good use over the summer as a distraction during a lazy summer day or while traveling for a family vacation.  We have some activities, mazes and coloring sheets you can scroll through to select, download and print out.

These paper fortune teller games bring back memories of third and fourth grade when everyone in my class would screw around and waste time in class - so maybe summer is just the right time to play around with these.



Who is ready for a jet pack balloon race?



I enjoy doing mazes like these almost as much as my kids do.  My wife and children often tease me for looking forward to completing them on the kids' restaurant place mats when we go out to eat.

Enjoy these free coloring pages!  We post a lot of these on various posts for A GEEK DADDY blog make sure to come back and keep an eye out for them if that is something you are interested in.



If you are looking for an intellectual stimulating movie that will be a contender for Best Picture at the Oscars than Tomorrowland most likely won't be your cup of tea, but if you are looking for a movie that your whole family can just sit back and enjoy a fun adventure while scarfing down some popcorn I have a pretty good feeling this will be a good movie to enjoy during your kids' summer break.