Are you excited about THE SECRET LIFE OF PETS arriving at movie theaters on July 8, 2016?! My kids have been drooling to see this movie since the trailers started popping up at theaters and on television last year. Of course we're going to go see it!
While waiting for the theatrical release have some fun with ILLUMINATION'S The Secret Life of Pets petMOJI character creator. Visit this special website where you can create a custom cartoon of your favorite pet. Also keep an eye out for an app coming out soon for iOS and Android devices that will feature sticker packs and a custom keyboard. For more information, visit www.mypetmoji.com/
THE SECRET LIFE OF PETS story revolves around a Manhattan apartment building where a dog named Max has his life as a favorite
pet turned upside down when his owner brings home a sloppy mongrel
named Duke. Max and Duke have to put their quarrels behind them though when they find out
that an adorable white bunny named Snowball is building an army of
abandoned pets determined to take revenge on all the happy-owned pets and
their owners in their building.
Comedy superstars Louis C.K., Eric Stonestreet and Kevin Hart make their
animated feature-film debuts in The Secret Life of Pets, which co-stars
Jenny Slate, Ellie Kemper, Lake Bell, Dana Carvey, Hannibal Buress,
Bobby Moynihan, Steve Coogan and Albert Brooks. Illumination founder
and CEO Chris Meledandri and his longtime collaborator Janet Healy
produce the film directed by Chris Renaud (Despicable Me, Despicable Me
2), co-directed by Yarrow Cheney and written by Cinco Paul & Ken
Daurio and Brian Lynch.
** A Geek Daddy was provided the featured product for free **
Hope everyone had a safe and fun Halloween this year. Halloween is always such a fantastic time for our family with all the spooky fun that it involves but it also has us having to be very cautious with all the treats that are passed around because our children suffer from life threatening food allergies to peanuts and tree nuts. We didn't want to exclude our kids from the thrill of trick-or-treating, especially with that being an exciting event that all their classmates participate in, but did set some important ground rules. No touching or eating their candy until they return home and my wife or I have screened what they've been given. Since 80% of the candy they normally receive is dangerous because of ingredient or production contamination issues, we have an annual tradition of our kids trading in their trick-or-treat candy for a special toy surprise they have been wanting. This year's Halloween special surprise was a WowWee MiPosaur - a robotic pet dinosaur kids can dance with, that will play fetch with them, and can be taken for walks with an electronic leash.
The MiPosaur is equipped with GestureSense™ Technology that allows you to control the movements of your pet robot with the swipe of a hand. Your MiPosaur will respond to 10 different hand commands ranging from moving right or left following your gestures to acting frightened if you cover its eyes. Yank its tail though and you'll see an aggressive side as it rolls around to chase you down. Push your hands toward it and the MiPosuar will sit back and the clap of your hands will have it pop back up on its feet.
There is also an app that you can download for free as part of your purchase price of this toy. The app will let you drive the MiPosaur around like a remote control car, play BattleMode games where you can challenge another MiPosaur or a WowWee MiP robot in gladiatorial combat, or feed your dinosaur different variations of food to alter its mood. The MiPosaur's mood will change in relationship to how you interact with it either being curious, excited, and annoyed. It will react differently to commands from gestures, the app and the included TrackBall depending on what it's mood is. Here's a tip, Fetch likes to be petted and given snacks after it follows a command or does a trick to keep it curious and excited.
My kids favorite way to interact with their MiPosaur, which they have names "Fetch" is to use the TrackBall. Your robotic dinosaur will follow commands from how you move the TrackBall around and which of its 6 mode settings it is set on. My children really like to play fetch with their MiPosaur which is "Ball Mode"-- roll the TrackBall around a room and the robotic dinosaur will chase after it. "Leash Mode" is also really fun which when activated will have your MiPosaur follow you around as if you were taking it for a walk on a leash.
My daughter just loves though more than anything else dancing with Fetch in "Dance Mode". MiPosaur really has some great speakers projecting sound effects and music. The music my daughter and Fetch are dancing to in this video is being emitted from the toy.
Other play modes you can set on the TrackBall include "TeddyBear Mode" where the ball becomes the robot's favorite toy, "Food Mode" where you can reward your MiPosaur with a treat to keep it in a positive mood, and "BeatBox Mode" where when it gets close to the TrackBall the dinosaur will begin to beat box. To change the modes on the TrackBall you just spin this dial on it around to the corresponding labels to activate.
My kids have really enjoyed playing with Fetch so this toy absolutely gets A Geek Daddy nod of approval because of its fun factor and also because we haven't had any technical difficulties with it. Every parent knows electronic toys can really be hit or miss on how well they work and hold up to child play. MiPosaur has performed extraordinarily well from our family's experience.
The only knock on the product is that it requires 4 AA batteries for the robotic dinosaur and 4 AAA batteries for the TrackBall which needed to be replaced after a couple days of intensive play. A nice feature though is that the app does show you a power meter for your batteries so you know exactly how much of a charge you have left with the toy's batteries. Before buying you should also know this is an "indoor only" toy not because of durability but rather due to the sensor technology used by the toy. The impressive interaction abilities and treats that WowWee's sensors provide though more than makes up for the lack of being able to play outside with this toy. We also found that MiPosaur worked equally well on carpet, tile and hard wood floors.
Programming on Nickelodeon is going to the dogs, and I'm not talking about the Pups of PAW Patrol which my kids adore, with the addition of a brand new television series in which will feature Cesar Millan, star of Nat Geo WILD's Cesar 911 and former star of Dog Whisperer, and his son Calvin interacting with a cast of real dogs and puppets at a canine school called Mutt & Stuff. This series, also called Mutt & Stuff, will balance teaching puppies to behave and perform tricks with lessons for children to help with identifying and managing their emotions, building interpersonal awareness, and developing social skills. Additionally the show will carry a message promoting pet adoptions and responsible pet ownership based upon Cesar Millan's philosophies.
Mutt & Stuff will premiere on Friday, July 10, 2015 at 10 am (ET/PT), joining Nickelodeon's regular weekly morning preschool lineup of content that includes the popular shows PAW Patrol and Blaze and the Monster Machines. Sid and Marty Krofft, the creators of two of my favorite TV shows when I was a youngster H.R. Pufnstufand Land of the Lost, are serving as executive producers along with Cesar Millan on bringing this show to life on Nickelodeon.
The focus of the show will be on following 16 year old Calvin Millan and his best friend Stuff, a larger-than-life dog with a personality to match as they take viewers inside the doors of Mutt & Stuff. Each episode will feature fun tricks, training lessons, and some doggy humor with the help of 15 playful puppies and some charismatic puppets. Cesar will join in on showing Calvin and Stuff how dogs should be guided and highlighting the benefits that the friendship and loyalty of puppies can bring to a family.
Calvin began working with his father at the age of eight when he appeared on the Dog Whisperer helping to train small dogs. In 2012, he toured Asia and Canada with his dad appearing in the show CESAR MILLAN LIVE. Cesar of course is well known for his time as the host of the Dog Whisperer television series and more recently as the star of Nat Geo WILD's Cesar 911. He is also a best-selling author, frequent public speaker, and a pet care product designer.
In addition to Mutt & Stuff being broadcast on Nickelodeon and Nick Jr cable networks, NickJr.com and the Nick Jr. App will feature Mutt & Stuff content and clips. The series premiere episode will also be available to view via NickJr.com, the Nick Jr. App and on Nick Video On Demand beginning July 11.
CLICK HERE for more information about this new Nickelodeon television series.
