Pinocchio : DVD Review and Giveaway

I'm feeling a little bit soap-boxish today.  I'm feeling that itch and twitch that means I am in desperate need of some serious venting (or sedation).

Today's rant is bought to you by cartoons.  To be specific, modern day cartoons.  In fact, to go back to generalising (might as well offend many, as opposed to a select few), any program aimed at kids under the age of 8.  Which is all of my kids, and often myself since my humour and maturity dips to that level on a regular basis.

The twins and Miss5 watch Ben 10 obliterate giant monsters.  They then try and obliterate each other.  There's nothing sweet, cute, nice, or educational about it.  While I'm not critiquing the content or merits of the cartoon itself, the 10 minute coffee break is the most positive aspect, in my opinion.

Miss5 has been a mega Dora The Explorer fan for some time.  I applaud the counting and educational content, the storylines with a meaning/moral - only Miss5 is now trying to speak in Spanish.  Poorly.  Making up words, claiming they are Dora-esque.  Particularly when being questioned about suspicious stains emitting a distinct nail polish aroma.  She mumbles something barely audible that includes a hola and an amigo and finishes with a vaminos! before dashing off to avoid sentencing for her crimes against fabric (and fashion - if you'd seen the colour of polish she was painting over her skirt...a total clash of colour schemes).

This got me to thinking.  Modern day cartoons are, for the most part, about killing aliens or monsters or robots or monster alien robots.  For the girls, there seems to be a push towards animated tween figures, in tight jeans and midriff bearing tops, talking about makeup and clothes and nothing of substance or relevance to a CHILD and not a TEEN.

There's not a lot that is nice, friendly, happy, innocent.  And with so much on TV doing absolutely nothing to promote kids being kids, it made me think about what I watched as a kid.

Y'know...just a few wee years ago...

I'm talking back in the days of big heavy box style TV's - none of this PLASMA, LCD, 3D stuff.

As you know, I'm a big subscriber to the parenting-via-technology method.  I go into total meltdown if we have a power blackout.  The house instantly turns into an episode of Survivor as we all get antsy and feral and scared over the lack of television and Wifi.  Until we bale out and head to Macca's.

Recently, I took Miss5 to see Tangled.  Great movie.  Kiddy-friendly, and a decent amount of humour for adults.  Not a midriff in sight, no laser emitting robots or blowing stuff up.

Winnie the Pooh - It can stop the twins dead in their tracks, mid civil war, and instill a sense of peace and calm for 40 minutes of DVD viewing silence and serenity.

I can recite much of the Toy Story series, on account of how they play in our house more than the daily News.

What do these preferred animated movies all have in common?  Disney.  They are all Disney movies.

Insert seamless segue from ranty soapbox moment into DVD review and giveaway....



Pinocchio

The story of a toy who wants to be a real boy, with an underlying moral lesson about telling lies.  Totally pertinent to me as a child, since I religiously bluffed my way through "Show and Tell" each week as a 6yr old, with grand tales of the elephant my parents hired to get me around for the weekend, since the chain had come off my bike.  A bit of a stretch on the credibility-factor, when you live in a small town of around 400 people, and your teacher is your sister who lives 3 doors down from you.  God love her sisterly loyalty for never calling Bullshit on me.  Perhaps she should've since it did get a wee bit out of hand when I created an epic fib to get out of Sports one Friday, by telling the teacher I was too upset to play netball since my parents were getting a divorce (I'd just learnt that word).  Imagine how quick that one spreads around a town of 400....oops.

Anyway....moving on to the upside of my ranty soap box moment



Each year the Disney Vault opens to release Walt Disney Classics on DVD and Blu-ray.  We're talking digitally updating the old-school VHS cassette to sharper images, better sound quality, and instant rewind (because how much does it shit you that a VCR cassette takes FOREVER to rewind?).

Bet you can't guess which two Disney classics are being digitally remastered and released as we speak?

Go on, try....

Yep, that's right - for a short time only - live, to your living room

Pinocchio (celebrating it's 70th Anniversary - can you believe it was first released SEVENTY years ago?  That's a true classic when it's still around and being re-released today)

and

Snow White (a lady never tells her true age, so we'll just say she's around 25, like me...)

The best part?

Thanks to Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment and Porter Novelli, I happen to have a copy of each to give away.

It's taking all my willpower to do this - as they make awesome presents, and I have a number of birthday parties coming up.

Note: Snow White DVD Review and Giveaway will be posted next week.  This competition is solely for Pinocchio.

How do you win your own piece of timeless Disney Classic history?

1.  Follow this blog (because if I'm super nice they may give me other cool stuff to give away)
2.  Follow me on Twitter or Facebook (because I make an excellent twit...)
3.  Comment below confirming you're following
     AND tell me the best white lie you've heard or told

Entries close midnight (WST) Tuesday 26 April
   

T&C
Entry is open to Australian residents only
Winner drawn by random.org
Entry closes midnight (WST) Tuesday 26 April.  Winners announced Wednesday 27 April.


Good luck!

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Disclosure: I received a complimentary review copy of this DVD courtesy of Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment via Aussie Mummy Bloggers. No financial payment was offered nor accepted for this post. All opinions expressed are purely my own.