willow

the year: 1988

the genre: fantasy


the cast: Val Kilmer (Madmartigan); Joanne Whalley (Sorsha); Warwick Davis (Willow Ufgood); Jean Marsh (Queen Bavmorda)


the plot: Willow, a small farmer and apprentice magician, meets Madmartigan, a great swordsman, and together they journey through a war-torn land of magic and monsters, to save a baby princess from death at the hands of an evil queen.


don't miss: the Brownies.



listen for: "You are drunk, and when you are drunk you forget that I am in charge!"



did you know: Ron Howard said that the part of the two-headed dragon "Eborsisk" was modeled after Clint Howard, his brother. He said that since Clint has had many cameo appearances in his films, and Ron couldn't find a part for him in this one, he modeled the dragon after him.



extra bonus points: if you know who lost the role of Madmartigan to Val Kilmer. (It's probably a good thing - although a great actor, he's not the first one I think of when picturing someone sword fighting.)


also listen for: ""I dwell in darkness without you" and it *went away*?!"

the fantastic four

the year: 2005

the genre: action


the cast: Ioan Gruffudd (Reed Richards); Jessica Alba (Sue Storm); Chris Evans (Johnny Storm); michael Chiklis (Ben Grimm); Julian McMahone (Victor von Doom)

the plot: A group of astronauts gain superpowers after a cosmic radiation exposure and must use them to oppose the plans of their enemy, Doctor Victor Von Doom.


did you know: For most of the shoot, Michael Chiklis was terribly uncomfortable in the hot Thing suit. The final street battle, however, was filmed in Vancouver in December, leaving him as the only comfortable one of the four (the rest were in the skintight blue uniforms).


listen for: "Oh yeah Ben, few days in space, it'll be great, what's the worst that could happen?"


did you also know: Ioan Gruffudd was very excited about showing his Welsh parents that he was working on a major Hollywood production. Unfortunately, the day they came to visit him on set, he was filming an elevator scene.


extra bonus points: if you know how Michael Chiklis got used to the prosthetic teeth used in his costume for The Thing.


also listen for: "Ladies, I'm gonna need to borrow your car." "The transmission sticks." "Not gonna be a problem."

bedtime stories

the year: 2008

the genre: fantasy


the cast:Adam Sandler (Skeeter Bronson); Keri Russell (Jill); Guy Pearce (Kendall); Russell Brand (Mickey); Lucy Lawless (Aspen); Courtney Cox (Wendy)


the plot: hotel handyman Skeeter Bronson's life is changed forever when the bedtime stories he tells his niece and nephew start to mysteriously come true. He attempts to take advantage of the phenomenon, incorporating his own aspirations into one outlandish tale after another, but it's the kids' unexpected contributions that turn Skeeter's life upside down.


don't miss: the "Hybrid Mules For Sale" (ha-ha!) on the tree, just before Skeeter is offered the Ferrari horse in the western story.


listen for: "What do ya got here, anyways? "Rainbow Alligator Saves the Wetlands"? Uh, no. "The Organic Squirrel Gets a Bike Helmet"? I'm not reading these Communist books to you guys!"


did you know: the bulldog shown in the movie is Adam Sandler's beloved pet, Motzaball.


also listen for: "By the way, um... I am, uh, legally obliged to tell you that I suffer from... sleep panic disorder."


extra bonus points: if you know how many movies Adam Sandler and Rob Schneider have been in together.


count: how many hamburgers Bugsy eats in one sitting.

darby o'gill and the little people

the year: 1959

the genre: fantasy


the cast: Albert Sharpe (Darby O'Gill); Janet Munro (Katie O'Gill); Sean Connery (Michael McBride); Jimmy O'Dea (King Brian)


the plot: Darby O'Gill seems to be as full of blarney as any old codger in Ireland, but the stories of leprechauns he tells at the pub are true. In fact, he and the tiny King Brian, ruler of the little people, are friendly adversaries, continually out-foxing each other. Darby needs a bit of magical help from the wily king when Lord Fitzpatrick replaces him as caretaker with the handsome, strapping young Michael from Dublin. Michael falls in love with Darby's beautiful daughter, Katie, which is all right with Darby; but the lad has a rival in a local ruffian, the son of a devious widow who wants her boy to be the caretaker. King Brian's supernatural assistance is necessary to make everything come out all right, but the sneaky leprechaun won't play matchmaker without a fight. Real trouble comes in the form of the Banshee, and Darby will need all his quick wits to save his daughter from the wicked spirit.


don't miss: Sean Connery singing! "My Pretty Irish Girl" sung by Sean Connery and Janet Munro was released as a single about the same time as the debut of the movie. Sean Connery said the singing was the one aspect of the role he wasn't too fond of.


listen for: "Agh! And him a Dublin man!"


did you know: the lighting used to make sure the actors were kept in proper perspective without seeming false used up so much electricity it blew out a substation in Burbank when the lights were turned on without warning.


extra bonus points: if you know why this film was important to Sean Connery's film career.


did you also know: the leprechaun effects look very high tech and complicated, but most of them were achieved very simply by placing the "normal sized" actors closer to the camera than the "tiny" ones, and lining them up on the same horizontal plane through the lens so the distance between them could not be detected.


also listen for: "What ails him?" "Oh nothin' at all, but he retired about five years ago and didn't tell me about it."

mr. magorium's wonder emporium

the year: 2007

the genre: fantasy


the cast: Dustin Hoffman (Mr. Edward Magorium, Avid Shoe-Wearer); Natalie Portman (Molly Mahoney, Composer); Zach Mills (Eric Applebaum, Hat Collector); Jason Bateman (Henry "Mutant" Weston)


the plot: Molly Mahoney is the manager of Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium, the awesome toy store owned by Mr. Edward Magorium. Molly was a promising composer and piano player when she was a girl, and now she is a twenty-three year-old insecure woman that feels stuck in her job. Among the costumers of the Emporium is the lonely hat collector, Eric Applebaum, who has only Molly and Mr. Magorium for friends. When the last pair of shoes that Mr. Magorium bought in Toscana is worn, he hires the accountant, Henry Weston to adjust the accounts of the Emporium. Furthermore, he claims that he is two hundred and forty-three years old and his time to go has come; he gives a block of wood called Congreve cube to Molly and asks Henry to transfer the Emporium to her name. Molly tries to convince Mr. Magorium to stay in his magical toy store instead of "going".


don't miss: Eric's skill in building with Lincoln Logs.


listen for:"Mortimer, fetch!" "Stupid zebra."


also listen for: "Your life is an occasion. Rise to it."


extra bonus points: Mahoney and Mr. Magorium choose to start jumping on the mattresses in the mattress store on the count of "triscadecaphobia." What is triscadecaphobia?

ella enchanted

the year: 2004

the genre: fantasy


the cast: Anne Hathaway (Ella); Hugh Dancy (Char); Cary Elwes (Edgar); Aidan McArdle (Slannen); Minnie Driver (Mandy); Eric Idle (Narrator); Vivica A. Fox (Lucinda)


the plot: This is the story of Ella, a young woman who was given a "gift" of obedience by a fairy named Lucinda. Anything anyone tells her to do, she must obey. When her mother passes away, Ella is cared for by her thoughtless and greedy father who remarries a loathsome woman with two treacherous daughters. This modern-day, fantasy Cinderella features fairies, ogres and elves...as well as a hero in the guise of Prince Charmont, whom Ella falls in love with. Unlike Cinderella though, Ella must depend on herself and her intelligence to get her through her troubles and find Lucinda in order for her "curse" to be broken.


did you know: Lamia, where Prince Char lives, is modeled after downtown Manhattan, with castles in place of skyscrapers - check out the skyline.


listen for: "You shouldn't believe everything you read in Medieval Teen."


watch for: the prince's fan club.

charlie and the chocolate factory

the year: 2005

the genre: fantasy


the cast: Johnny Depp (Willy Wonka); Freddie Highmore (Charlie Bucket); David Kelly (Grandapa Joe); Helena Bonham Carter (Mrs. Bucket); Noah Taylor (Mr. Bucket); Missi Pule (Mrs. Beauregarde); James Fox (Mr. Salt)


the plot: A young boy wins a tour through the most magnificent chocolate factory in the world, led by the world's most unusual candy maker.



don't miss: the Puppet Hospital and Burn Center. It's relatively new.


listen for: (Everybody sing!) "Willy Wonka, Willy Wonka, the amazing chocolatier weeeeee / Willy Wonka, Willy Wonka, everybody give a cheer / He's modest, clever, and so smart, he barely can restrain it / With so much generosity, there is no way to contain it, to contain it, to contain... to contain... to contain... Hooray! / Willy Wonka, Willy Wonka, he's the one that you're about to meet / Willy Wonka, Willy Wonka, he's the genius who just can't be beat / The magician and the chocolate whiz / The best darn guy who ever lived / Willy Wonka, here he is!"



did you know: many of the chocolate things such as trees, flowers etc featured in the movie were created by chocolate shop Choccywoccydoodah in Brighton, UK. The shop displayed and sold some of the creations in the shop after the release of the film.



extra bonus points: if you know which parent also played a big role in Thoroughly Modern Millie.



did you also know: Some of the buttons in the Glass Elevator include: - Incompetent Fools - T-Bone Steak Jell-O - Secretarial Poodles - Cocoa Cats - Mechanical Clouds - Stars in their Pies - Nice Plums - Up And Out - Fragile Egos - Black Box of Frogs - Weird Lollipops - Mighty Jam Monitor - Creative Dog Flip - Elastic Forest - Leaky Canes - Dessert Island - People Poo - Pie Cream - Spewed Vegetables - Naffy Taffy - Lickety Split Peas - Honeycombs and Brushes - Old Sneezes and Smells Dept. - Spewed Dumplings - Television Room - Whizzdoodles - Chocolate Lip Rookies - Blackberry Sausages - Yankee- Doodles - Orange Egg Flip - Root Beer Goggles - Pastry Room - Heart Shaped Lungs - Projection Room