Red One

Red One (2024)

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I'll admit I haven't used my Prime account very often for movies as most things we're interested in watching we have on Fandango at Home (previously Vudu). In this case though, Red One is currently exclusively on Amazon or in theaters, so why not take advantage of the Prime benefits we're already paying for and stream the movie from the comfort of our own home. Online reviews aren't very kind to this one, but more than a few call out that critics may a bit off on their ratings as those who give it a chance seem to genuinely enjoy the film. While there's a fair amount of action and monsters, it's done in fair humor and played up to be different and yet a lot of fun. This is a very different take on your more traditional Christmas movies, even those that focus on Santa himself. Here Santa (aka "Red One") is kidnapped on Christmas Eve. Now it's up to ELF (Enforcement, Logistics, and Fortification) and MORA (Mythological Oversight and Restoration Authority) to find Nicholas and restore order in the North Pole in time for Christmas. While most of the myths we see come to life are understandably from winter lore, including Krampus and Gryla, we do see other creatures and hear about a few others along the way as well. Especially with this being live action and the amount of material out there, it's rather impressive how they managed to create something entirely unique and fun. Even the acronyms are right on the nose, lending to more than a few one-liners that earn a chuckle along the way.

Disney Princess: A Fairy-Tale Fall

Disney Princess: A Fairy-Tale Fall by Apple Jordan

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This is a very short book about what many of the princesses do for Halloween/fall celebrations. The princesses highlighted include Snow White, Belle, Aurora, Jasmine, Ariel, Tiana, and Cinderella.

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Perfect Princess Christmas

Perfect Princess Christmas by Walt Disney Company

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is a collection of 4 short stories for the holidays featuring different Disney princesses for each one. The majority of each page is actually artwork with very small pieces of the story to move along.

1. The Little Mermaid: The Holiday Treasure Hunt

2. Sleeping Beauty: Aurora's Homemade Holiday

3. Cinderella: A Perfect Party

4. The Princess & the Frog: One Magical Feast

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5-Minute Spooky Stories

5-Minute Spooky Stories by Walt Disney Company

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This is a collection of Halloween/spooky stories in the common 5 minute collection format.

Toy Story: Toys That Go Bump in the Night
Tangled: Marmalade Moon Night
Finding Nemo: A Fishy Terror
Winnie the Pooh: Boo to You, Winnie the Pooh
Sleeping Beauty: Maleficent Returns
Monsters, Inc.: Parade Day Dash
Peter Pan: Captain Hook's Shadow
Mickey & Friends: Haunted Halloween
Aladdin: Get in the Spirit
Cars: Mater & the Ghost Light
Beauty & the Beast: The Haunted Castle
Wreck-It Ralph: Tricky Treats

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5-Minute Easter Stories

5-Minute Easter Stories by Walt Disney Company

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This is a collection of easter/egg/spring stories from various Disney tales, including the following:

Disney Bunnies: Thumper & the Eggs
Snow White: The Wishing Well
Zootopia: The Case of the Disappearing Easter Eggs
Cars: Mater & the Easter Buggy
Winnie the Pooh: The Easter Egg Hunt
Cinderella: The Surprise Ballet
Toy Story: Who's Afraid of the Easter Bunny
Frozen: The Spring Parade
Bambi: The Spring Adventure
Mickey & Friends: The Search for 5 Easter Eggs
Monsters, Inc.: Basket of Trouble
101 Dalmatians: The Great Egg Hunt

The table of contents will list some of these under the Disney Princess general title when really they are tied to a specific princess movie. Similarly, "Disney Bunnies" is really just about Thumper's family from Bambi.

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The Twelve Dogs of Christmas

The Twelve Dogs of Christmas by Alison Ritchie

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This is an interesting rendition of the twelve days of Christmas - puppy style. It doesn't repeat the count like the song does, but it's still familiar and follows the pattern counting up from 1 to 12 for the holiday.

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Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer by Robert L. May

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


The art is adorable and the story is a classic. Any child would love this addition to their library as the classic story for Christmas. Rudolph is a staple for the holiday, after all.

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Halloween Adventures!

Halloween Adventures! by Random House

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Blaze & the Monster Machines: Truck or Treat
Even though my kids like trucks, oddly, they haven't really been drawn into Blaze or his friend's stories. Still, it's cute how shadows are shown and described in this story, which is a good segue into shadow figures or puppets, which can be a lot of fun. As most often, these are

Paw Patrol: The Spooky Cabin
This one rather closely follows the TV episode with the same story, including Rubble's fright and the Paw Patrol finding out just what was causing the cabin to seem so spooky in the first place. While some people are also scared of mice, Rubble and the pups are not on that list.

Shimmer & Shine: Monster Magic
This probably is really cute if it's a TV series, however, as a story it's a little harder to follow with the genies and their wishes. Let alone how everything either seems to go wrong outright even if they hit the correct theme for the holidays, or be all sweetness. Guess that's why they're names are Shimmer and Shine if they make everything seem prettier.

Paw Patrol: Howl for Halloween
Sometimes the best laid planes don't go exactly as expected. The party may be planned on a ship, but the ship wasn't supposed to be going anywhere. Fortunately, there was still a captain at the helm, even if it wasn't the usual one. The second ship at the end though.... short of a projector hiding somewhere that isn't identified, there doesn't seem to be an explanation for the last shock to end both this story and the whole Halloween book.

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The 12 Trains of Christmas

The 12 Trains of Christmas by Chrissy Bozik

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


This follows the 12 Days of Christmas tune, except with trains as the descriptors and prizes for each day on the countdown.... or count up perhaps as it the numbers increase rather than decrease. It doesn't flow as well as the original or some of the other adaptations that we've read along the way, but it's decent if you have a child that loves trains or cars as an alternative.

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Mouse Loves Love

Mouse Loves Love by Lauren Thompson

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


This is a very simple story about a mouse searching for materials to make a valentine for little mouse who is watching all along the way. Not sure why they call it "paste" instead of just "glue" either, but it does the job. Not one for the favorite list, but it's a simple valentine's story for an early reader.

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Happy Easter, Mouse!

Happy Easter, Mouse! by Laura Joffe Numeroff

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

There's not the usual theme of giving the mouse something in this version of the story, other than a bunch of eggs. If anything, this one highlights a lot of simple colors for small readers as Mouse finds all of the eggs in his search for who is hiding all of the colorful goodies. As a board book, it also lasts longer with small reader hands as the pages are less likely to tear, which matches with the simplicity of the story for the child's most likely age ranges to really enjoy this book.

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Pete the Cat: Five Little Pumpkins

Pete the Cat: Five Little Pumpkins by James Dean

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Another counting book feature Pete the Cat. This one doesn't start off with either subtraction or addition, though. Instead, this one merely states that there are 5 pumpkins and then counts up to the total 5 as it goes through the story for each of the pumpkins and their addition leading up to Trick or Treat for Halloween. 

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Pete the Cat: 12 Groovy Days of Christmas

Pete the Cat: 12 Groovy Days of Christmas by Kimberly Dean

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Another cute retake on a classic children's story, this one to the 12 Days of Christmas. It doesn't flow as smoothly as some of the other rhyme adaptions have in the past, but it is still a cute idea and something that kids who are a fan of the Pete the Cat series will enjoy regardless. There was a lot of added laughter trying to fit the new rhymes to the original song and story.

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Pete the Cat: Big Easter Adventure

Pete the Cat: Big Easter Adventure by Kimberly Dean

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This is a cute story of how Pete wakes up looking forward to some treats for a holiday and ends up helping out the Easter Bunny to save the holiday for everyone else instead. He makes an amusing picture as an Easter cat-bunny as he gathers his costume and the pieces he needs to make and hide a bunch of decorated eggs.

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Christmas in the Heartland

Christmas in the Heartland (2017)

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Somewhat reminiscent of The Parent Trap, where two characters swap lives for a period of time. In this case, there is no ulterior motive to get their families back together, though it seems they may just have that same effect by the end of the story. Neither is particularly thrilled about being sent "home" to relatives they don't really know for the holidays when they meet on a plane and realize they're heading to the same place for the same reason.... only they like the sound of the other person's holiday much better than their own. Some chaos always joins the mix with a switch up like this, and while the resolution may not be perfect, it seems the majority end up with more than they could ever have hoped for.

White Christmas

White Christmas (1954)

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This is one of the old classic Christmas movies that has really aged well for its time. The story still is well done, especially for the time period in which it is supposed to take place, as well as the music still being engaging and fitting for the rest of the story. There are more than a few mix ups and misunderstandings in the mix of the entire thing, but in the end of course, it all works out for a wonderful Christmas.

Santa Paws 2: The Santa Pups

Santa Paws 2: The Santa Pups (2012)

My rating: 2.5 of 5 stars

We never do learn where Santa Paws' partner comes from and other than maybe two scenes in the entire movie, we never see her. Santa Paws is a well known fixture both from this movie, but also the original Santa Paws and Santa Buddies, which also begs the question, where is Puppy Paws? Or is he a younger sibling to this bunch, and these original pups are the ones who are missing? Regardless, these pups have to learn some hard and fast lessons when their greed for magic causes them to erase Christmas spirit in an entire town, echoing out across the world and causing problems all the way back home in the North Pole. As usual, Eli and Eddy are deployed to track down the wayward Pole residents and fix whatever has gone very wrong.

Santa Paws 1: The Search for Santa Paws

Santa Paws 1: The Search for Santa Paws (2010)

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is a cute Disney film where Santa is in part grieving over a lost friend, but finds a new one in a toy gifted to him brought to life. Turns out losing the magic crystals from the North Pole is even worse than anticipated. A lot of people learn a great deal about Christmas spirit and find their places in the world.... a few others get some unwelcome surprises when they're ways are brought to light and maybe they aren't as good as they pretend to be.

Llama Llama: Jingle Bells

Llama Llama: Jingle Bells by Anna Dewdney

My rating: 0 of 5 stars


Like most of the holiday books, it is about a holiday, but it is vague about it. This one never actually names the holiday, so you could likely take your pick of the winter festivals. Like other books, it uses imagery mostly to tell the story more than words.

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Llama Llama: Trick or Treat

Llama Llama: Trick or Treat by Anna Dewdney

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This was my daughter's favorite out of the collection we got this month. Short and cute rhyming descriptions showcase different parts of Halloween, ending with the lasts line of the title: "trick or treat!" The holiday is never actually mentioned by name, but it's still a cute children's book for the occasion.

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