The Purple Wyrm

“Alice,” directed by czech Jan Svankmajer, a famous surrealist, is a version of the classic Alice in Wonderland story with some really bizarre modifications.

I’m a fan of surreal art, but some presumed deep meaning often eludes me. Were the thumbtacks in the jelly jar meaningful in some way? Were they some symbol of something? The sticky-sweet realm of childhood hides sharp unpleasantries ready to draw blood… or hang you up on the bulletin board of life until you age and yellow?

I don’t know. The movie was entertaining, sometimes disturbing (eek. the white rabbit’s tongue!) and occasionally boring (yes, I get that she is going down, down, down the rabbit hole already). One of the biggest issues I had with the movie was the recitation, complete with close-up of little Alice’s lips and teeth, of all the speech tags in the movie. My writerly self was aghast. “Said the white rabbit,” and “the white rabbit called,” and “Alice thought to herself.” (One thousand modern writers on internet message boards chorus, “Who else is she going to think to?”

The stop-motion animation was well-done: flying sock worms and a glut of bone animals creeping about. I like weird stuff, so the weird stuff was great. But I’m still left with some gnawing feeling … much like what the white rabbit must have been feeling as he shoveled sawdust between those awful teeth… that I didn’t ‘get it’… that I somehow missed what it was all about. Was it just weirdness on film? Was it just reality vs. fantasy in a child’s mindless boredom warring as it always does?

Cover of Barbie Fairytopia

Little girls, and some boys, like beautiful fairies flitting over flowers and granting magical wishes. There are whole toy lines, such as Barbie Fairytopia and the Disney Tinkerbell and Friends thing, dedicated to fairies and magic.

Free fairy coloring pages can give your little girl enjoyment and end up being attractive pictures to hang on the fridge or walls.  Free coloring pages can be found tons of places on the web, but we’ve found some of the best for fairy pictures you can print out for your child to color.

Fairy Coloring Pages – several free fairy coloring pages for the intermediate color skills set

Fairies and Mythical Beasts – free coloring pages feature fairies as well as other mythical creatures like centaurs and elves.

Coloring Pages – fairy coloring pages for the younger crowd. Simpler pictures for fun.

Advanced Fairy Pics – for the older set who still loves to color, or those who wish to make truly beautiful artistic images of fairies.

Also consider some fairy coloring books for your fairy fan.

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This seems to be a serious trend in movies for kids. Fantasy movies I think they call them, though they aren’t that fantastic once you see them.

So, Melanie brings home this movie, “Spiderwick Chronicles,” which is a take-off on a book. I haven’t read the book. It’s hard to turn pages with huge, gleaming claws after all.

We watch this movie and then she turns to me and asks the question, “What did you think?”

What did I think?

I think they should stop making movies about bratty kids (my gosh, do any kids actually get along with their siblings? And what was with that Mom, blaming the youngest one for everything that went wrong? That’s what they call emotional abuse if I’m not mistaken.), magic books, and goblins. I have to admit though, that the goblins in this movie looked pretty realistic. A bit too much like frogs, but pretty good. The leader was ridiculous. No goblin is going to dress up like a wanna-be Jack Sparrow.

And it is true that hob-goblins like birds, though they didn’t get the nose quite right. And those sprites. They do swarm around like big white clouds like that too. In the summer, it gets so bad I have to let off some protective fire bursts just to see a foot in front of my face.

So, my vote is 3 stars out of 5. Decent story (though its been done 5.23 billion times already), pretty good portrayal of goblins, and the do-it-yourself magic-mushroom ring was cool.