Review - Kingdom Keepers: Disney After Dark

When I first heard about this book, I was totally stoked and knew I must eventually read it. I've been a Disney fan for as long as I can remember and I absolutely LOVE the Disney parks. The idea of an adventure book set in Walt Disney World with some crazy technological/sci-fi style elements…I was hooked.

The high level concept of the story is this. Disney has partnered with a "Holographic Imaging" company to create perfect holographic representations of Disney Hosts to show guests around the Magic Kingdom. To add to the appeal of these virtual hosts, Disney selected 5 kids (~tweens/early teens) to be the first Disney Hosts. Well…it turns out there was an ulterior motive for the selection and development of these Hosts.

It seems there is a dark secret brewing in the Magic Kingdom. The various "evil" characters created over the years (Maleficent, Pirates, etc) are in fact living beings. Generally speaking, they exist in a sort of limbo world and can't interact with our world. However, they've been growing stronger and now Disney Imagineers (specifically one Imagineer) needs help to stop them. The 5 hosts were specifically chosen as most likely to be able to stop the evil forces. And so, a side effect was added to the Holographic technology which allows the hosts to "Cross Over" from their physical identity into their holographic identity but only while their physical self is sleeping. Thus we have the story…at nighttime, these five kids (in holographic form, but able to touch and interact with physical elements) are sent into the Magic Kingdom to unravel a riddle left by Walt Disney himself and figure out how to stop the Overtakers led by Maleficent. In some regards this book has interesting similarities to the recently released video game Epic Mickey...except in that game you play the role of Mickey running through the parks trying to fix up things that the bad imagination is breaking down. Still, it's an interesting parallel.

This is definitely a kid's book (or at least a "middle reader") so many of the plot elements and character interactions are less developed than I would have liked. Still, the story itself is intriguing and there is fun to be had. Some of the descriptions, especially of the technology, science and other things, I suspect may go over the heads of younger readers and bog them down, but generally I'm sure this would be very accessible to readers in their 'pre-tweens'. I'm hoping my 9 year old and 12 year old will read it and let me know what they think.

From a high level, I really enjoyed the book. The concept was intriguing and the way the mystery-adventure played out was interesting. The story was fun and had a good balance of action and investigation and character interaction. And I loved that we were racing along through the Magic Kingdom. :)

One of my complaints is with the nature of adults. Now, in children's lit and even YA, adults are often portrayed as non-elements…ignorant, brash, non-helpful, etc. In this book, the same is true but it's made worse by the things that the "off screen" adults fail to do. It's one thing to accept that Finn's parents are oblivious to what's going on. It's another thing to have these holographic kids wandering around Magic Kingdom trying to avoid security cameras and other elements…but then have huge disastrous things happen that are SURELY to be noticed by security and have the Hosts on camera. Couple that with the ease in which the kids sneak into areas of Disney while they are in their physical/daylight forms and it becomes even more ludicrous. I'll acknowledge that a confident attitude and a good plan can help you get past many security elements into places you shouldn't be…but there are a few situations where I was left wondering just how inept Disney security is supposed to be.

My bigger complaints, however, are for those areas where plot elements were ambiguous, confusing or left undeveloped or underdeveloped. I hope to see some of these things play out more and be better developed in subsequent books.

For example, early on in the first couple of "crossing over" segments, Wayne (the Imagineer) is talking with Finn (the main Host) and Finn explains how he's seeing a number of the "good" characters (Chip and Dale, Goofy, etc). Wayne is VERY excited about this. However, as we continue into the adventure, the good characters never make a reappearance and are totally forgotten. It seems to me this is a huge lost opportunity to take those characters and turn them into allies.

Another element (which is problematic in many adventure books) was Maleficent's power. It's always a struggle to create a powerful enough enemy to be scary but weak enough to realistically be dealt with by an underdog hero. Maleficent should have been able to walk all over these Hosts…but she didn't. Even aided by armies of evil animatronics. Furthermore, her very nature and powers seemed to change over the course of the book. It wasn't just a matter of the Hosts suddenly understanding her abilities…it felt to me like her nature actually changed as the book figured out what she should be like. She just felt very transitory as a character.

I also foresee some troubles for the book as he tied some elements to some Disney elements that have already gone away...for example the Virtual Magic Kingdom online community. The Hosts use that community to interact with each other...which is great, except that the community was closed down a couple of years ago. I played on the site when it was up and it was quirky fun. But that's a risk in tying closely to marketing elements...they don't stick around. With that regard, I'm also worried at the potential for aspects of this book to turn into marketing for Disney. I'm fine with being marketed to, but if it's done in something like a book or a movie or whatever, I just hope the marketing takes a backseat to the story and the fun. Whatever the case here, I'm worried that some of the elements in the book may break down before the author finishes the series (which I've heard is supposed to take 7 books...but book 4 was only recently released).



Overall, I enjoyed this book. I have to look at it as a kid's book and realize that as a children's book it will be less intricate and potentially less "tight" than an adult novel. That said, I've recently read a number of very well constructed children's and YA novels that were light enough to be read and enjoyed by children but also had very intricate and well constructed plots. I just felt like this one needed a bit of tightening up. As a Disney fan, I rate this a little higher than I normally would and I have a lot of optimistic hope that the plot/writing tightens up in the rest of the series….because I do plan to continue reading the series. :)

If you're a Disney fan or if this kid's adventure sounds fun for you, check it out. I'd be interested to hear if I'm off-base on my complaints. I'm also eager to hear thoughts from a kid's perspective…I'm off to get my kids to read this. :)


3 out of 5 stars

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Hoppy Easter

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

Enjoy some JibJab video silliness.

From my family to yours. :)

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Road Trip & Arizona Wedding!

So last weekend, the family and I packed up into the van and drove to Mesa Arizona. Back when we were dating and first married, my wife and I used to do "suicide trips" like this quite a lot…drive 10-15 hours to go to an event and then drive 10-15 hours home immediately afterwards.

Since we're a bit older now and because we have young kids, we decided to rent a hotel room in between rather than driving straight through. We also brought along Lynette's sister to help with the kids on the ride as well as to watch them during the wedding itself. The hotel room was a good idea…but I think a better idea would have been to fly. I'd forgotten how cramped a body gets after 26 hours in a car.

In spite of the sore, tired muscles and the cramped quarters, it was a fun trip.

We got up and hit the road at ~4 AM on Saturday. I don't think anybody actually slept those first few hours like we hoped, but some at least got a little rest. The wedding started at 6 and we had dinner reservations for the kids at 5:30, so we didn't make many "extra-curricular" stops on the way down. We had a quick pit stop for breakfast around 7:30 and crossed the Arizona border a couple of hours later.

Unfortunately, we hadn't planned our lunchtime stop well and we ended up literally in the middle of nowhere by the time everybody started getting hungry. We stopped in a little 1 hotel/shop roadside stop around 2 but sadly found that the restaurant was only open during "core" meal hours and were closed now for the break between lunch and dinner. We continued a little farther, hoping to find something, but with no luck so we settled for some Gas Station food (which filled the bellies but wasn't a big hit by any of the passengers).

Thanks to Arizona's reluctance to adopt Daylight Saving's Time, we actually gained an extra hour and checked into our hotel at about 4:30, giving us nearly an hour to stretch our legs, relax on a soft bed and generally freshen up before heading to the dinner/wedding.

The wedding (and the kid's dinner) was at the Rockin' R Ranch in Mesa. I'd checked out the website a little bit but still wasn't entirely sure what to expect. I was pleasantly surprised at the depth of theme that the Ranch had. After crossing over a bridge and through a rock cave, we emerged into an Old West Town. An old timer was tending his dutch ovens busily cooking up some biscuits for dinner. He paused to give us the low down on what to expect and the timing of things both for the dinner show (for Karla & the kids) and the wedding.

We wandered around the Wild West for the next little bit having fun with the various activities and taking fun pictures. A collection of clothes and accessories was set out for the kids to dress up. There was a spot for kids to pan for gold. Julia tried her hand at roping a cow. Jason and Julia took turns shooting an old Colt .45 (and they both did pretty good).

Lynette and I then went to join the wedding party and left the kids to have fun with other activities and prepping for the dinner show. The wedding was nice. We were set up in a back area of the ranch with an old time church and some other buildings to set the atmosphere. The outdoor ceremony was very nice and all of the family was very kind to us (the non-family out of towers). I was glad we could make it down.

After a couple of hours, we sent a message to check on the kids (after all, they'd been awake far longer than they're used to) and all gathered together to share some wedding cake and watch a quick gunfight at the end of the dinner show before heading back to the hotel.


The next day, we slept in to a more reasonable hour but were still on the road by 9. Knowing we'd be getting to bed late anyway, we did make a couple of brief pit stops along the road at some interesting scenic locations. Probably the most interesting was a little placed called "Cliff Dwellers." The area is just off of the freeway in an area littered with giant red boulders. Now, these aren't the "cliff dwellings" of ancient native american tribes (Anasazi and such), but something a little different.

The history is that in the ~1930s a woman was stranded in the area and built herself a kind of lean-to around and beneath one of the boulders. Over time, she bought the property and built actual houses, shacks, cabins, dugouts, etc around a number of the boulders in the area. It was pretty cool to see these 20th century primitive dwellings. And it was a nice break from the car ride…the kids liked running around and crawling in the various makeshift homes.

From there, we made a couple more stops for gas and dinner as we slowly made our way home. There were some gorgeous vistas as we crossed over the mountains and wound through valleys. We managed to pull into our driveway just before 12:30. After a bit of necessary unpacking, we crashed and slept the weekend away.

Overall, it was a fun trip….but our bodies have been continuing to complain about being stuffed into the same basic position amid stale air and muffled smells for 2 days.

I'm a fan of road trips and I love being able to pull off and check out cool roadside attractions. But I think next time we do a road trip, I'll need more down time in between the driving times…in order to recover and feel a little less dead by the end.

I'm glad we could make it down for the wedding though. It was a fun trip and I would do it again…I'd just fly if given the choice. ;)

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Review - Oliver Twist

I've seen the musical play/movie of Oliver dozens of times since I was a kid and generally know the story backwards and forwards. I anticipated there would be some differences between the book and the movie/play but didn't expect to find many surprises. Thus, I wasn't shocked by the changes I encountered but I think perhaps my history with the story may have tainted my view a little bit. (I must also admit that I haven't seen the most recent movie updates put out in recent years so perhaps they are more true to the text)

For those unfamiliar with the story, we're taken on adventures with Oliver Twist…a boy who was born to an unknown woman in a poorhouse and spent his early life in poverty and obscurity. He leaves the poorhouse on an apprenticeship and later runs away to London where he encounters a band of thieves and ruffians and struggles to find his way in the world. That's the high level view of the story.

Being a Dickens novel, there is no shortage of characters or of vivid (sometimes overly lengthy) descriptions of people, places, things and events. In addition, there is frequent coincidental interactions between characters otherwise unrelated but linked through their acquaintance with our young hero. These coincidental meetings are believable at times and at other times Dickens stretches credibility to the limit by having these people's paths cross the way they do. I definitely acknowledge that "It's a Small World" and that karma and coincidental interactions are more frequent than we may admit, but the nature and degree that they happen in Dickens is sometimes comical.

Anyway, the arc of Oliver's life is a generally depressing one. He's scorned, imprisoned, tricked, beaten and wholly maltreated in spite of him being a very angelic and innocent young boy with no vices to speak of. In fact, Oliver's character may be too perfect…with his only flaws being flaws of circumstance rather than flaws of character and behavior.

As I mentioned, I knew the general plot progression from the movie/play, but I was somewhat surprised at a couple of significant differences. The first difference wasn't very striking (the introduction of a second wealthy family) and I could see why they left it out of the movie (it just adds additional levels of detail which is interesting and insightful but doesn't really progress the story in a vital way).

The second difference was much more important and was very interesting to me. (*slight spoiler, but I'll keep it high level*). In the movie/play, the thieves are primarily "led" by Fagin and Bill Sikes. The book actually includes a 3rd character kept even more in shadowy mystery until nearly the end of the book. And once again, this 3rd character is victim to Dickens's crazy circumstantial coincidence in that he has an intriguing tie to Oliver. I found this plot point intriguing and fun to unravel, but again, it wasn't wholly vital to the core of the story so I can see why it's excluded from modern productions. Still, it was a fun new angle for me.

On the whole, I enjoyed this book. It's definitely Dickens…true to his style in many regards. The language. The characters. The settings. All very Dickens. So if you're put off by Dickens, this isn't the story for you. Granted, it is a bit lighter than some of his other works but it is heavier than Christmas Carol or shorter stories and it's definitely not near as light as the treatment given in the play/movie. Furthermore, it's more depressing than the play/movie, so if you're looking for the lighthearted fun of Fagin and Dodger that you know from the modern production ("picking a pocket or two" and such), you may be disappointed.

Overall, it was an enjoyable read. It wasn't as strong to me as other Dickens work but it was still a very worthwhile read and I'm glad I read it.


3.5 out of 5 stars

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Review - Sucker Punch

When I first saw the trailer for Sucker Punch last year, I was definitely intrigued. As a guy, it definitely had appeal…in many regards, it looked like a stylized video game filled with crazy action sequences and sexy female protagonists….so as a guy, what's not to like, right?

The movie opens with gorgeous cinematography…the drawing back of some old style theatre curtains, grainy and cell-shaded imagery, eerie music played under an introductory narration. The opening scene continues with no other dialogue and presents us with the initial premise of the film through powerful and emotional actions.

And then, we go along with our main protagonist Baby Doll to the mental institution where the rest of the movie (sort of) takes place. From that point on, the movie just sort of fell apart…either from trying to do too much or not doing enough or in some cases both.

After our initial introduction to the asylum, we get thrown into Baby Doll's fantasy/escapist world. To an extent, it seems as though we (the audience) are supposed to try and determine what's real and what's fake. And yet, there isn't any real "playing" with reality-vs-fantasy…rather, everything is presented as reality, though it's obviously fantasy.

What was especially confusing (*note - this is a slight spoiler*) is that in Baby Doll's fantasy, she escapes from the mental asylum by imagining she's in a brothel that's set up like a prison? And in this brothel, all of the girls are prostituted out and spend the days strutting about in sexy little outfits. Now, I can see where there may have been some reality-vs-fantasy overlap there (perhaps in the asylum, the girls were truly pushed into sexual favors with bigwigs for financial benefit of Blue) but we're never given a glimpse into the full reality of the asylum and thus her fantasy prison is very confusing.

Further confusing are that in the action sequences, she carries over the sexy/slutty dress of the girls into Japanese/WW2/medieval/futuristic/etc action scenes…where a more stylized costuming would've been more effective (and could have been done with better sex appeal than cat suits and stockings).

While some of the scenes had very cool effects and were visually enticing, I was largely left confused at the oversexualization of these girls for (apparently) no other reason than to flaunt their sexuality and draw in a male audience to the film. This especially seemed contradictory to some of the movie's underlying theme of the atrocities and abuses towards women (note - this should have been a PRIMARY theme, but it was so muddled that it fell into the background).

The plot/story had a lot of potential but instead was totally muddled and lost amid big explosions and scantily clad women. I would have liked to have seen more exploration of the "reality" of things…or at least, a more realistic fantasy for a girl in her situation. Don't get me wrong, I think the crazy/outrageous/video-game adventures were great, but aspects of the presentation didn't jive with Baby Doll's state of mind as otherwise presented.

Unfortunately, this movie didn't live up to my expectations. The story meandered without really doing anything. The messages were muddled and confused. The potential for thought provoking segments was lost on the desire to flash big explosions and scantily clad women around the screen. Frankly, the trailer was more entertaining than the movie.

The one redeeming factor was the music…the music was engaging. From the opening rendition of "Sweet Dreams" to the wide variety of melodic tracks counterposed against blaring rock beats, the music was pretty fun.

My advice…check out the soundtrack, watch the trailer and then go find something better to do with your time and money.


1.5 out of 5 stars

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Review - The Lost Hero

The Lost Hero is a new series set in the same 'world' as Riordan's Percy Jackson series. While we're still in the realm of modern day demigod children of Greek gods and goddesses, we're given a strange new twists, most notable of which is (*small spoiler*) the introduction of a demigod with ties to Roman mythology/deity.

The main hero in this book is Jason, a boy who wakes up on a school field trip with no memory of how he got there or who he is…only to almost immediately be thrown into conflict with violent venti (storm spirits), protected by a satyr and learn that he and his two friends (who he has no memory of) are all demigods.

Taken to Camp Half Blood, we're quickly introduced to a bevy of familiar characters including Chiron, Annabeth, Rachel Dare and others. Notably missing is Percy Jackson who vanished somewhat before the beginning of the story and is being searched for by another group of heroes. The new Oracle reveals a new Great Prophecy and our three newly discovered demigods are set off to save the world from utter destruction.

I had a lot of fun with the Percy Jackson series and I was stoked for another book/series following in the same realm. Similar to the Percy books, Lost Hero involves a standalone adventure but is obviously part of a larger story arc. In fact, Lost Hero more explicitly suggests the greater story and especially as this book winds to a close, we get ominous foreshadowing of bigger stuff to come.

In many regards, I actually enjoyed Lost Hero more than the Percy books. I think part of it was the introduction of three new demigods all at the same time and all learning to deal with their new identity and powers. In the Percy series, most of the characters were already "in the know" and only Percy was ignorant…however, to keep the readers "in the dark" while Percy came to new realizations, the result was that some of the older characters (Annabeth, Grover, etc) ended up seeming more ignorant and oblivious than they should have been. By having the adventure in Lost Hero include all novice heroes, it made the gradual revelations more realistic.

The quest itself was fun and had some cool interactions with more obscure characters and monsters from ancient mythology/history. I loved the twist that brought in some of the old "mortal" characters as well.

I really loved the mystery and tension between the Greek and Roman mythos and I look forward to seeing how this plays out.

If you enjoyed the Percy series, you should definitely enjoy this book and the new Heroes series. If you haven't read Percy, you can probably start out with the Lost Hero and dive right in without much of a learning curve…although since you'll be waiting on the release of book 2 this fall, you may as well go back and read the Percy series while you wait…just to get the backstory and have fun. This series isn't just a rehash of the Percy series but rather it's a great continuation and revitalization of an already great series.

So hop on board with Riordan's latest Greco-Roman adventure. It's good fun for kids and adults alike.



4 out of 5 stars

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Review - The Mysterious Affair at Styles

I'd read some Agatha Christie before but this was my first foray into the adventures of Hercule Poirot. In many ways this novel felt like a very typical murder mystery book. But as I stepped back to think about it, I was pleased by the elegance and the way the book was put together.

In this particular book, Poirot is retired and living in England...I'm not sure how typical this is as compared with the later Poirot novels but I suspect they continue in the same vein. Whatever the case, I enjoyed having this book set in England as it provided familiar settings and customs for the mystery.

The story (and the murder) was presented through the narrative of Hastings, a guest at the stately home where the murder took place. In this regards, our narrator existed in familiar relation to Poirot...it reminded me of the Holmes/Watson setup. However, in this case, I felt like Hastings was a little less helpful to Poirot than Watson is to Holmes. Perhaps this is just because it's Poirot's first novel and later on his assistants are more competent in deduction...or perhaps it's a conscious choice and done to make Poirot seem all the more brilliant.

I only have vague memories of the other books I read by Christie and those memories were mostly that her style and structure sometimes felt repetitive. That said, I really enjoyed this book. Perhaps it's because I haven't read anything by her for a while and thus didn't notice the repetition. Or perhaps the Poirot series is a fresher experience. Whatever the case, it was a fun read.

I had very few qualms about the book. The largest problem I had was the amazing leaps of deduction that felt a little more far fetched than in other books, but were still believable enough. Overall I felt that the mystery, the plot, the writing and the structure of this book was very elegant and engaging.

Mystery fans should give Poirot a try if they haven't already. And if you're just embarking into the world of Poirot, you may as well start with his first adventure here in Styles.


4 out of 5 stars

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