Great summer movies continue to roll on.  On the heels of Toy Story 3 and Train Your Dragon, I went to the opening day of Despicable Me with my son.  Despicable Me is an animated feature with voices from Steve Carrell as Gru, the evil villian main character, Russell Brand as the mad scientist Dr. Nefario, and Jason Segal as Vector, the new bad guy in town.  The cartoon is rated PG because of some fart jokes and sly one liners, but nothing I couldn’t take my 5 year old to.

The general gist of the story is Gru, a master villian, is getting on in years and he may not be the top villian in the world anymore.  When he hears that someone stole one of the pyramids (Vector) of Egypt he gets fired up and wants to pull the greatest caper in the world. That caper is his life long dream of stealing (or at least going to) the moon.  To help him out is Dr. Nefario, the crazy mad scientist who is a little hard of hearing and his minions; both of whom live in his basement.  The minions may be the best part of the story.  They are little oval, weeble shaped creatures who have one eye, don’t speak English but just squeak at each other, and slap each other around when they do things wrong.  Every scene with these sparks giggles.

Stealing the moon has its challenges though. First, its expensive.  So you have to get a loan from the Evil Bank.  The Evil Bank is really into Gru’s plan but integral to that plan is a shrink ray gun that will allow him to carry the moon like a bowling ball.  The loan is his if he can produce the shrink ray gun.  The heist for the shrink ray gun goes flawlessly until Vector comes in and steals the gun from him.  No gun, no loan.

So Gru must steal the gun back, and of course, the best way to do that is to adopt three girls who will sell cookies to Vector which will allow his cookie robots to steal the gun back.  This plan goes well and the shrink ray is his but the bank still refuses him the loan.  Which is where the real story comes in.  The girls donate their cookie money and the minions donate their salaries to build a rocket and finance the project.

The movie is really about how these girls soften Gru and confuse him on which is more important, the girls or being evil.  There are great scenes where the girls ask for kisses goodnight (”No kisses for anyone”), want him to read them a book (”This book about kittens is horrible”), or tuck them in.  No matter how nasty he is to them, they refuse to give up on him and keep being nice to him.  He starts to enjoy cooking them breakfast, seeing them dance, and teaching them things.  He is very disturbed when the heist for the moon is on the same day as their dance recital.  When he tries to make the recital after the heist, he sees a note from Vector that they have been kidnapped.

Despicable Me is really a dark comedy for kids and they pull it off.  The one liners are funny, Gru is shaped ridiculously (huge chest and head with tiny legs).  They do some standard fart jokes, but there are a lot of slapstick with the minions, and the scenes with the girls keep getting funnier.  The ending scene of Gru dancing to the Bee Gees is a perfect ending and he actually writes his own kids book so the kids can get used to real literature.  Steve Carrel speaks in some sort of eastern European accent which caused the kids some difficulty at first, but it doesn’t last long.  Escape the heat or at the first sign of rain, go see Despicable Me.

Over the last several years, debate has raged at our house if the best Toy Story was Number 1 or Number 2.  Mom and Son consistently argue that Toy Story 2 is the best while I believe 1 was the most creative and interesting.  Now that we have seen 3, the debate rages on as a family is split three ways.  Of course, my son feels like Toy Story 3 is the best one but that could be just because it is shiny and new.  However, no matter which one is your favorite, the consensus is definitely that Toy Story 3 is an excellent movie for the entire family.  If you looked around the audience that we saw it with, there were families, people on dates, senior citizens, and teenagers.  But if you have kids, Toy Story 3 is a must see.

The whole cast is back and this time the issue is that Andy is leaving for college.  And like all of us had to do, Mom is demanding that he cleans out his room before he goes.  That includes the toys.  They need to go into the attic, donated to the pre-school, or off to college with him.  Both Andy and the toys are anxious about the final decision.

After some typical comedic hijinks, the decision is that Woody will go to college but the rest of the toys accidently wind up being donated to the pre-school.  The head toy of the pre-school is Lotso and paints a picture of Sunnyside Pre-School as the utopia for toys:  they have a repair shop, extra batteries, and tons of kids want to play with you.  But the best part is that kids keep coming to the school so you are never left alone without a kid to play with.  For our heroes, this is music to their ears because Andy hasn’t played with them in years.

Woody won’t stand for it though, he is not going to leave Andy’s side and he heads back to Andy’s house.  Of course, Sunnsyside isn’t all it seems.  The toys are put in the toddler’s classroom who don’t play gentle, Lotso doesn’t allow them to roam around the rest of the classrooms, and all of the sudden Sunnyside is a prison and not a vacation spot.  The movie centers around a fantastic escape by the toys, led by Woody who comes back from them.  And it ends with Andy making hard decisions about his toys that left more than one person in the theatre in tears.

For me though, the charm and fun of these movies is how they creatively bring the toys to life.  In the beginning, the green army men go AWOL as they don’t want to go the attic.  They parachute out of the window like the green army men you get at Chuck E Cheese that have the wrapped up parachute.  The portrayal of Ken (voiced by Michael Keaton) was absolutely fantastic.  Whether it was the Ken dream house, his obsession with clothes (there is a scene where he just changes clothes from disco to kung fu, and another scene where he is tortured by Barbie ripping his clothes until he gives up some secrets), or the other toys ribbing him that he is a girls toy, Ken steals a lot of the show.  They even throw in a love interest for Rex by way of another dinosaur.

Toy Story 3 was a long wait and worth the wait.  My kid is already asking when he can have the DVD.

COUPON ALERT: Mention that you saw this article when you visit Kids Club FunLand and receive 8 free tokens when you visit. Thanks FunLand for the special deal for Crazy Kids members.

Fathers day…Only number two for me. My wife asked me if I’d like to have a little “me” time when I awoke that morning. I thought, “what a silly question… today is about fatherhood…” I was so looking forward to taking my little guy out to the park, or a lake, or a pool, or some sunny summer venue…. when “BOOM!!!!!!!!!!!!”…. Thunder with a side of lightning. My brave cats nearly killed me when they scaled my back trying to reach higher ground.

Short of sporting rain gear and thick rubber soled shoes, my itinerary was not going to go as planned.

A quick Google search, 10 minutes in the car, and $10 later my wife, son, and I were at the Kids Club FunLand in Norwood, MA.

Here’s the down and dirty - If you’re looking for an amazing video arcade, there’s probably better to be found. If you’re looking for fun carnival type games, there are also probably better venues.

With the bad out of the way, here’s the good… The playground is ridiculous!!! And I mean that in the best way possible. The pics on their website don’t do it justice, I’ve attached my own that give a better feel.

Funny thing about getting pics at this place - it’s too big to get the whole playground… I would have to pull off the roof and get an aerial-cam shot.

I went into the maze with my little guy. He was besides himself. He had never been in a ball pit. He loved it. So many mazes to slip and slide through. I think there were three two story slides. I can’t be sure. I’d say kids 2-10 would have a blast. This big kid enjoyed it himself. It was just a little rough on his knees crawling around (couldn’t be because he’s skipped the gym for 5 months)

There’s a small gaming area outside of the playground with enough entertainment to keep a couple of teenagers occupied - allowing younger brothers and sisters to explore the playground.

There’s several packages for general admission. Some offer more tokens or food (basic Chuck e Cheese type snacks)… Though I was contemplating sneaking out next door to the Mexican restaurant for a quick Margaritta…. Maybe next time.

They offer birthday packages ranging from basic to all inclusive soup to nuts (translation: pizza to pinatas). Their themed parties include Barbie, Cinderella, My Little Pony, Dora the Explorer, Scooby Doo, SpongeBob, Baseball, Football, Soccer, Basketball, Nascar, Yu-Gi-Oh, Butterflies, Batman, Dinosaur, Thomas the Tank, Star Wars, Spiderman, Bratz, Army, Hello Kitty, Pirates, Disney Princess, Elmo and more.

This is a great cold, rainy, snowy day destination. Pricing is very fair and the playground area is a hoot! Nice contained area for those youngsters who always seem to get into trouble.

Even more - the folks at Kids Club added an incentive for Crazy Kids members - 8 additional tokens with admission.

The Chocolate Bar is one of Boston’s tastiest activities, yet many still do not know of its existence. The elegant Café Fleuri in the Langham Hotel hosts this annual event, which is celebrating its 21st season. You can choose whether to get dressed up for the occasion or not; you will see a mix of dresses and jeans throughout the establishment. Either way, the wait staff will treat you like royalty. How often will your kids get to eat all the chocolate they want while drinking milk out of a stemmed glass and wiping their mouths with a linen napkin?

The season runs from September through June every year and the theme changes, making this an ideal event to do annually with the family. This year’s theme is “Boston’s Chocolate Trail” and celebrates some of Boston’s famous neighborhoods: Chinatown, the North End, Faneuil Hall, Back Bay, Beacon Hill, the South End, and Fenway Park. The bar is split up by neighborhood and has gourmet desserts appropriate to each area. For instance, Fenway Park showcases homemade crackerjacks, chocolate covered peanuts, ice cream sandwiches, and cotton candy, just to name a few. Some of the desserts return every year, and some of them are new. The crepe bar has been around for a few years as well as the chocolate croissant bread pudding and the famous chocolate fountain. More desserts are listed online.

The Chocolate Bar is open from 11 am to 3 pm on Saturdays and reservations are recommended. Adults are $38, children 12 and under are $25, and children 4 and under are free. We’ve seen baby showers and birthday parties there, too, so call about your special event. The season ends on Saturday, June 26.

Some may say it is on the expensive side, but that depends on how much you like chocolate! One suggestion: wear loose fitting clothing.

The Chocolate Bar

Café Fleuri

250 Franklin St., Boston

Disclaimer:  I have not seen either Shrek 2 or Shrek 3, so I cannot say anything about the continuing storyline in the series.  However, as a stand alone movie I will say that Shrek 4 is very funny.  I cannot recall the last time a children’s movie made me laugh as hard as this one did. It was well written, had a great soundtrack and can be enjoyed by young and old alike.

Shrek (Mike Myers) has settled into a life of domesticity with Fiona (Cameron Diaz) and has grown weary of the day to day routine.  He longs to be an ogre and instill fear in people as he used to.  Meanwhile, Rumpelstiltskin (Walt Dohrn) is still upset that Shrek rescued Fiona before he was able to trick her parents in to signing over Far, Far Away to him.Rumpelstiltskin plays on Shrek’s vulnerability and tricks him into signing a contract that exchanges a day from Shrek’s past so that he can have one day to do as he wishes.

Unfortunately for Shrek, Rumpelstiltskin chooses to take the day Shrek was born so it’s as though Shrek never existed.  Although he starts out enjoying his day by scaring everyone as he used to, he soon realizes that he has been duped.  None of his friends Donkey (Eddie Murphy) Puss in Boots (Antonio Banderas), who has grown fat and lazy and, more importantly, Fiona remember him.  In the alternate version of Far, Far AwayRumpelstiltskin is now king and Fiona is the leader of a group of warring ogres who have been forced to hide underground because they are constantly hunted by a group of witches working for Rumpelstiltskin .

The only way for Shrek to void the contract is to share “True Love’s Kiss” with his true love.  He must convince Fiona that she loves him.  Along the way Rumpelstiltskin does his best to keep them apart by using his witches to battle them. Of course true love always prevails in the end.

Rumpelstiltskin was my favorite character - the perfect combination of greed and buffoonery.  He had different wigs for different situations, such as when he called to his lackeys, “Bring me my angry wig.”

I definitely recommend the movie. It was enjoyable enough that I imagine we will have a repeat viewing at the theater before it’s gone.

The show was a musical adventure starring four of Nick Jr.’s top television shows and was hosted by Moose and Zee. First was “Ni Hao, Kai-lan,” followed by “The Backyardigans,” “The Wonder Pets,” and “Dora the Explorer.” Each of the featured shows had their own story which lasted about 20-25 minutes and there was a 20 minute intermission between Acts 2 and 3.

Kai Lan and all of her friends meet and sing with their favorite superhero, The Monkey King, and they help bring all the Pandas to his castle for a celebration!

The Backyardigans are forced to take part in Filthyham’s “Festival of Dirt” by Mayor Stinkypants and it’s up to “Robinhood the Clean” to free them of this dirty dictator. For kids who have seen this episode this one will be very familiar.

The Wonder Pets adventure was quite cool as well and I felt they had the best looking costumes. They tied in an “Alice in Wonderland” theme with their adventure as the WP’s used teamwork to gather the Mad Hatter, the Chesire Cat, and the Queen of Hearts to Ollie’s party.

The last act, and featured performer, was Dora the Explorer. She was easily the crowd favorite and had, what we thought, was the best performance of all. Boots was put under a sleeping spell and Dora had to become a Princess to save him.

All of the acts came out for the closing performance and sang a great version of “You make me wanna Shout.” They did a great job of engaging the crowd all night long, evidenced by very happy kiddos in the crowd throughout.

Having enjoyed Iron Man 1 immensely, we just had to go see Iron Man 2 in the first weekend.  With over $100 million in the first weekend, we weren’t the only ones who thought about it.  Some of the the cast is back including Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper, Jon Favreau as the body guard, and Robert Downey, Jr as Tony Stark/Iron Man.  They ditched Terrance Howard as Rhodey for Don Cheadle, brought in Scarlett Johansson as the Black Widow, Samuel Jackson as Nick Fury, and Mickey Rourke as the bad guy.

First, the plot, well, the plot is kind of all over the place.  The movie has about 6 sub plots:  the energy that keeps Tony Stark alive is also poisoning him; Mickey Rourke wants revenge from the Stark family because they stole his father’s inventions; Hamme (Sam Rockwell) is trying to take over Stark Industries as the number 1 weapons supplier; the government wants Stark to turn over Iron Man to the government; Pepper is taking over as CEO of Stark Enterprises; and Nick Fury wants Iron Man to join Shield.  None of these stories actually fit together really well and the movie bounces back and forth between the different story lines.  Jon Favreau (director) said in an interview he was confused as why they had Tony Stark admit he was Iron Man at the end of the first movie.  The confusion continues in Iron Man 2.

However, this is an entertaining movie.  Robert Downey is great as the wise cracking Stark who doesn’t seem to take anything seriously.  His dialogue is very funny and keeps the audience laughing.  Definitely the best non-action scene, is Tony Stark being grilled by a Senate committe about Iron Man.  The Committee leader is Gary Shandling and the back and forth between Downey and Shandling is hysterical.  The action is of course great.

I always think that if they can’t put together a plot, just go crazy on action.  This is not wall to wall action unfortunately, but the fights against Mickey Rourke, Whiplash, are very cool.  And in another scene Don Cheadle, War Machine, fights Iron Man (Iron against Iron) and the hand to hand combat between the two iron men is really cool.  Scarlett’s Black Widow action scene is really cool but fleeting.  Mickey Rourke is just a gross bad guy who plays the part well.  He wields an energy whip that cuts through everything but Iron Man’s suite so the fights are pretty intense, repulsor blasts against laser whips.

So I was really confused walking out of the theater.  I was definitely entertained but really can’t call this a great movie like the first one.  It was definitely not as bad as a flop as the second James Bond with Daniel Craig but they missed an important opportunity.  It is PG-13 but it was really just comic book violence, no swearing, and not a difficult story to follow.  You should see this in the theater with really great sound because of the flying and explosions are immense.  And if you are really into the comic book, Marvel is doing some really cool things getting the Avengers together and tying the Hulk (Robert Downey was at the end of the last Hulk), Spiderman, Iron Man, and the soon to be Thor and Captain America movies together.

As an avid Jim Henson fan, I was quite excited to hear about the National Heritage Museum’s current exhibit titled “Jim Henson’s Fantastic World,” a traveling exhibit organized by the Jim Henson Legacy and funded by The Biography Channel. Touted as featuring “100 original artworks, including drawings, cartoons and storyboards that illustrate Henson’s talent as a storyteller and visionary” as well as “puppets and television and movie props, photographs of Henson and his collaborators at work and original video productions, including excerpts from Henson’s early career and experimental films,” the exhibit seemed like a Henson devotee’s dream come true. Having some free time over April vacation, I grabbed a fellow enthusiast and checked it out.

The National Heritage Museum is a modern, beautifully kept site founded and supported by a grant from the Scottish Rite Masons.  There are tables outside for sitting and relaxing or enjoying food from the museum’s small cafe. The bright main atrium features a small gift shop and the cafe, as well as additional tables and chairs.  The young lady who greeted us was friendly, helpful, and knowledgeable, directing us to the various exhibits currently on display. We first took a walk through “Treasured Lands: The Fifty-Eight U.S. National Parks in Focus,” which featured gorgeous landscape photography by Quang-Tuan Luong, who traveled across the U.S. capturing our national parks on film. The photographs were beautiful and interesting enough to hold the attention of older children. The exhibit leaves you feeling the need to either pack and tent and hop on a plane or grab your camera and start snapping your surroundings. It was well worth the 15 minutes it took to stroll through.

Having read Dan Brown’s The Lost Symbol mostly for the interesting historical (and pseudo-historical) tidbits he dispenses, as well as the mythology he builds around the Masons, I was excited to check out “The Initiated Eye: Secrets, Symbols, Freemasonry and the Architecture of Washington, D.C.” The exhibit is described as exploring “the Masonic ideals and symbols made manifest in our nation’s capital city.” It features Masonic artifacts, as well as “oil paintings by artist Peter Waddell based on the architecture of Washington, D.C., and the role that our founding fathers and prominent citizens—many of whom were Freemasons—played in establishing the layout, design and construction of the city.” While the exhibit does indeed feature those things, it failed to hold my attention - the colorful modern paintings divulged very few secrets, and I found myself wishing for a Brown-like guide to the exhibit which would point out the details of symbolism in a way the plaques next to the paintings did not. Having no connections to Freemasonry myself, the exhibit failed to deliver any sense of excitement, other than mild interest at recognizing certain places from recent trips to D.C.

Since we grew up in Massachusetts and feel thoroughly versed in the state’s role in the American Revolution, we elected to skip “Sowing the Seeds of Liberty: Lexington and the American Revolution,” described as “the Museum’s new cornerstone exhibition on Lexington and the American Revolution” which is “designed to stimulate new ways of thinking about the battle at Lexington on April 19, 1775.” We did check out the 200-year-old 15-star flag, displayed in a beautiful conference room, but then hurried on to our main event.

It did not disappoint. The exhibit features everything it promises and more. Organized chronologically, it consists mainly of sketches, drawings, storyboards, pictures, sales pitches and other printed material from all stages of Henson’s life, but the real treasures are the glass cases containing actual puppets Henson worked with, including Kermit the Frog, Rowlf, Bert and Ernie, and Fraggles Gobo and Cantus. There is also a room with props from one of Henson’s most popular movies, The Dark Crystal. Several screens loop videos of his early work, such as talk show appearances, commercials, and some little-known experimental films, and a small room shows a longer biographical film. While “The Muppet Show”, “Sesame Street” and The Dark Crystal are featured, the focus seems to be on Henson’s earlier and lesser-known works.  Posters he created in high school, his commercial work, and his less-successful television and film attempts give Henson fans a fuller understanding of his body of work. It ends roughly where Henson’s life did (1990) and does not feature any of the later Muppet works done through Disney.

Children will be excited to see characters they know up close, but as photography is not permitted, and most of the exhibit’s interest lies in closely reading the materials, the exhibit is best for older children and those who are already fans or who want to know more about the fascinating man behind so many beloved characters and programs. I was most struck with the way every scrap of paper Henson touched seemed to have been preserved - doodles, ideas jotted on notepads, silly drawings, cartoons, early conceptions of well-known works - it all became fascinating in retrospect. How many of us think, when doodling in the margins of a notebook during a meeting, that our work could one day be displayed in a museum? Henson was truly a visionary, and the exhibit allows a full appreciation of his mind and work. More information on the touring exhibit can be found at http://sites.si.edu/henson/index.html.

The National Heritage Museum is located at 33 Marrett Road (At the intersection of Route 2A and Massachusetts Avenue), Lexington, MA and can be reached at (781) 861-6559. Admission to the museum and all exhibits is free, and hours are Tuesdays through Saturdays from 10 am to 4:30 pm, and Sundays from noon to 4:30 pm.  More information, including special events and group information, is found at http://www.nationalheritagemuseum.org/.  I would recommend both the museum and exhibit for ages 9 and up.

Friday is cartoon night at our house.  Both the Cartoon Network and Nicktoons provide a blazing lineup of cartoon action including Iron Man:  Armored Adventures, Wolverine and the X-Men, Star Wars: Clone Wars (part 1 of the season finale on Friday), Batman Brave and the Bold, Teen Titans, Johnny Test, and Speed Racer.  It is definitely a little testosterone heavy but combined with a D’Augustinos Pizza it is a great night.  This Friday, two new series are premiering on the Cartoon Network, Ben 10: Ultimate Alien, 7:00, and Generator Rex at 7:30

Ben 10 is one of our favorite cartoons, maybe our absolute favorite.  Ultimate Alien is the 3rd incarnation of this series.  Ben 10 was a young boy that found a watch (the Omnitrix) that can turn him into one of 10 different aliens (my favorite is a big red guy with four arms, called Four Arms.  Then as a teenager, there was Ben 10:  Alien Force.  He teams up with his sister Gwen (who is a sorceress) and his friend Kevin (turns into the material he touches).  His watch had new aliens like Humongasourus and Way Big.  Now, in Ultimate Alien, his watch is called the Ultimatrix.  There are new aliens and there are also Ultimate versions of old Aliens.

Ben 10 has great action, interesting stories, powerful alien characters, and great bad guys.  Ben 10 is also one of the funniest cartoons out there.  Ben’s bumbling faces criticism and sarcasm from Kevin and Gwen and there is quite a bit of name calling among friends.  Ben’s watch malfunctions constantly and he turns into the wrong alien at the wrong time.  If your kid is into superheroes, tune into Ben 10.

The makers of Ben 10 have a brand new series called Generator Rex.  Rex is a boy who can turn parts of his body into different weapons.  He has Smackhands that are huge fists to bully bad guys.  His arm can turn into a rocket launcher and jet packs come out of his back.  He can control other machines and actually cure evil machines as well, turn them into good guys.  Rex has lost all of his memories so this is sure to be recurring theme as he tries to figure out who he is, if he has a family, and even his real name.