musings on this profound journey called motherhood + everything else in between
The little one was smitten with Baymax ever since we saw the trailer of the film the last time we were at the cinema watching Disney Planes Fire And Rescue. He cannot wait to see it and was actually wondering why it took quite a while for this film to be shown in the local cinemas.
We finally managed to catch it recently, which is just in time, too, as we have just recently got the little one’s report card and he did good and nailed his 2nd Quarter exams, too. 🙂
Big Hero 6 in a nutshell
Our little man is simply fascinated by superheroes like Captain America and his favorite Iron Man, that is why it is no surprise that he wanted to see the sequel to the first Spider-Man film we saw a few years ago. So for our pre-Mother’s Day celebration, we went on to have lunch at the local mall and saw the new film afterwards.
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 in a nutshell
The sequel basically picks up from where the first film left off and shows Peter Parker graduating from high school with his girlfriend Gwen Stacy and entering college. He was feeling so guilty about continuing to be close with Gwen even when he promised her deceased father that he’d leave his daughter out of all the mess he might get into. So on the night of their graduation, instead of celebrating over dinner at a Chinese restaurant with Gwen and her family, Peter broke up with her instead.
His alter ego Spider-Man, on the other hand, has since evolved into becoming the well-loved Manhattan superhero arriving at the right time at the right place to thwart thugs and crooks from disturbing New York City’s peace and order. He has successfully harnessed his newly-acquired super powers and went on to become a very famous masked hero in the city. And it is in one of those criminal-chasing adventures that he came across OsCorp Industries employee, Max Dillon.
Meanwhile, Peter’s childhood bestfriend Harry was back in town to visit his father, OsCorps CEO Norman Osborn, who was terminally ill. He told Harry that his illness is hereditary and that Harry is in the age when the symptoms of the strange disease is starting to manifest. He left a usb drive of sorts to Harry, explaining that it holds his lifetime’s worth of work trying to overcome his illness and keeping it at bay. Norman passed away the next day living Harry in charge of his company.
Unbeknownst to everyone, Max met a very unfortunate accident at OsCorp that led to him falling onto this tank filled with huge electric eels used to power the OsCorp building. He fortunately survived the fatal accident but it has transformed him into something else, thus Electro was born followed by the havoc he wreaked at downtown New York City.
Bothered by his recent break up with Gwen, Peter was also plagued by the memories of his parents and the puzzle about their mysterious disappearance. One day he discovered clues to finding out the truth about his parent while he was sorting through his father’s old leather bag and other effects. It lead him to an old and abandoned secret train station that housed a secret lab once owned by his dad. There he was able to see the final message his father left before the plane he was riding with his wife to flee the bad guys chasing them, dove down from the sky and exploded.
Peter and Gwen managed to sort things out and Peter agreed to go to England together. All is well that ends well until Electro arrived to orchestrate his plan to seek revenge with Spider-Man. Although Spider-Man was able to defeat him, he was caught unawares of Harry’s plan to continue where Electro left off. It was at this time when Gwen met a fatal accident and plunged to her death.
Peter was devastated with the sudden passing of Gwen and cannot find the energy and strength to wear his mask again and help those who ae in need. A video of Gwen’s graduation speech awoken him from his reverie and inspired him to continue doing his good deed and help the people of Manhattan. Which is rather timely, as it was in that very moment when one of the old criminals he once caught and put to jail decided to appear clad in a mechanically-ironed suit and started destroying anything in its path.
Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone reprised their roles as Spider-Man/Peter Parker and Gwen Stacy, respectively, while Jamie Foxx played the role of Electro.
Mum’s two cents
The little man had been wanting to see this new Disney movie, Planes, since he first saw the trailer on youtube. That is why on his very special day, we decided to go to Manila and watched the film as part of our celebration. After a hearty lunch at Aristocrat and a short visit to the toy store, where the little man got a complete set of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles action figures, plus another new Cars diecast, as his birthday gifts, we then trooped to the cinema to finally see the film.
The characters in this movie are rather familiar as it was made by the same guys who created our favorite Cars film and this was a spin-off of our beloved Lightning McQueen adventures.
The film is all about Dusty Crophopper and his dream to be a high-flying air racer someday. The problem is as his name suggests, Dusty is not built for high-flying and racing as he is a simple crop duster plane. Even his mechanic friend, Dottie, advise him against it. But this will not dishearten Dusty, together with his friend, Chug, they practiced hard through the night so he can join the qualifiers for the upcoming race, Wings Across the World. Come race time, he wowed the audience and the contestants alike with his well-maneuvered moves and his bold flying. Unfortunately he came in 6th in the race where the first 5 qualified. But a sudden turn of events led a representative of the qualifier to Dusty’s town bearing the good news that he is now in 5th place as the original 5th placer was disqualified due to illegal activities. Dusty then set out to train with navy war plane, Skipper, and worked on his speed and agility in preparation for the contest.
During the race, Dusty made friends with the eccentric Mexican race-plane El Chupacabra and fell in love with another race plane, Ishani. He also bumped into fellow racers, Ripslinger, who is the crowd favorite, as well as the beautiful French-Canadian racer, Rochelle.
The race brought Dusty and his fellow racers to different parts of the world, from New York to Iceland, to Germany, to Agra in India where they visited the Taj Mahal, to Nepal, to Shanghai, from Pacific Ocean to Mexico, and finally, back to New York for the finish. At the beginning of the race, Dusty started slow and always ended up last. Although, he slowly gained popularity among the racers and the spectators with his commendable show of sportsmanship and concern to his fellow racers. Towards the middle of the race, Dusty slowly gained speed and started placing in the race. And even when Ripslingers’ sidekicks, Ned and Zed tried to thwart him too often, he managed to land top spot in the race.
Dane Cook gives his voice to Dustry Crophopper while other popular celebrities also lend their talent to give life to the other characters, including Teri Hatcher {Dottie}, Cedric the Entertainer {Leadbottom}, Val Kilmer {Bravo} and Anthony Edwards {Echo}.
Everybody loves the underdog so I bet everyone will love Dusty Crophopper and his adventures, the little man + I did! His story is one that inspires anyone to persevere and to work hard to be successful in the end. Also, apart from showing an all-too-familiar landscape and with the tractors making a cameo, Planes is very much like the movie Cars and Cars2, you’d expect Lightning McQueen and his friends showing up at any given time. The friendly yet fierce mechanic Dottie also reminds us of the lovable Guido. 😀 The little man also enjoyed the lovely songs played throughout the film.
Go watch it with your little ones, if you haven’t already! 🙂
You cannot copy content of this page ~ @ Mumwrites, 2021