A Taste of: ALEXANDER and the Terrible, Horrible, NO GOOD, VERY BAD DAY

I was going to skip seeing Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, thinking I wasn’t in the mood for a tween type flick. But after seeing the trailer several times, I had to admit the energy seemed crazy and fast paced, so I was curious to see if it lived up to the hype – it did, but not as I’d anticipated.

The pacing is good (Directed by Miguel Arteta
/ Screenplay by Rob Lieber), but it’s not really a zany movie – even though, a series of No Good, Very Bad things do happen to the Cooper family, on one, incredibly long, very full day. Each member has an important life changing event taking place – Dad (Steve Carell) who’s been out of work for several months, has a job interview with a young tech company. Mom (Jennifer Garner) works for a book publisher with an important new children’s book launch. Sister (Kerris Dorsey) has the lead in Peter Pan. Brother (Dylan Minnette) is both taking his drivers test and one of the hottest girls in school to Junior Prom. It’s Alexander’s (Ed Oxenbould) 12th birthday and he’s invited his class over for a birthday celebration. And baby Trevor is along for the ride. You can imagine the comedy of errors which takes place to thwart all of their paramount plans.

Chaos upon chaos could get tedious if it weren’t for the fact that you become invested in this family unit very quickly. Their camaraderie is infectious. Sure there’s bickering, frustrations, guilt and annoying little brother jabs, but when the chips are truly down, the Cooper family pulls together each one sharing in the other’s misfortune and eventually finding the silver lining, Disney style, and it works! – Le Anne Lindsay, Editor

T &T’s LAMB Score: 3.5 outta 5

Around the Web

I was born and raised in Virginia, which means that until recently my closest brush with fame was meeting Santa at the mall. And then I moved to Los Angeles to work for Disney.com.

Transitioning from a peaceful suburb to the heart of show business has been jarring, to say the least! I still get gleeful when I see the Hollywood sign… When I got this job offer, it didn’t occur to me that in a few weeks’ time I would be trading beauty tips with Disney stars or getting love advice from Jennifer Coolidge on the red carpet… READ MORE Emily Disney intern

While my friends who still find time to read grown-up books argue over the merits of the film version of Gone Girl (see T&T post), I’ve been worried about a completely different page-to-screen adaptation: Disney’s live-action take on Judith Viorst’s 1972 kids’ classic “Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day”. I know from experience that sweet and slim picture books often become stale and bloated family movies…READ MORERaven Snook Mommie Poppins

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