Monthly Archives: March 2016

Television

Five Alarm Blaze on Nick Jr Today

Blaze - Five Alarm Blaze

When I was at Dad 2.0 Nickelodeon was a sponsor and they provided us with screeners of the Blaze and the Monster Machines special “Five Alarm Blaze”. I watched it with the kids and they really enjoyed it. In this special Blaze is called upon to help fight fires with Axle City’s fire department. This show is consistently a winner in our house and this particular special was one of the best. Andrew asked me when we could buy Blaze as a fire truck. You can check out a clip from Blaze and the Monster Machines “Five Alarm Blaze” And you can read more about the special below.

It’s Blaze to the rescue in Nickelodeon’s Blaze and the Monster Machines “Five Alarm Blaze” featuring guest Joe Manganiello (True Blood) as the voice of the Fire Chief, premiering Friday, March 4, at 12 p.m. (ET/PT). The Fire Chief of Axle City’s firefighting brigade calls Blaze for help with an emergency when the Chief and his team cannot take out a huge fire. Blaze and the Monster Machines follows the adventures of the amazing monster truck Blaze and his eight-year-old driver AJ, and it’s the first preschool show on TV to comprehensively cover all areas of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) in every episode. The series currently ranks #1 in its timeslot and airs regularly weekdays at 8:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. (ET/PT) on Nickelodeon, which is the top network for preschoolers and kids 2-11.

In “Five Alarm Blaze,” there’s a fire on the bridge and it’s too much for the Fire Chief and his team to handle. With time running out, Blaze races across town to make it to the fire on time. When the team runs out of water, it’s up to Blaze to determine the amount of water needed to put out the flames.

Leading up to the premiere, NickJr.com and the Nick Jr. App will feature exclusive content, including a first-look at the episode starting Feb. 26, as well as two original pieces of short-form content featuring Blaze completing challenges using unique STEM concepts temperature and potential energy.

About Blaze and the Monster Machines
In Blaze and the Monster Machines, the amazing monster truck Blaze and his eight-year-old driver AJ have adventures that explore the physics of how things move; tackle problems through scientific inquiry and mathematics; and discover the parts needed to make everyday technologies work. Each action-packed episode is filled with monster trucks, physical humor and upbeat original songs with lyrics that highlight a STEM concept such as adhesion, friction, force, trajectory and magnetism. The series is created by Jeff Borkin (Team Umizoomi head writer) and Ellen Martin (Bubble Guppies supervising producer).

Disney, Movie, Review

Review: Zootopia – In Theaters Today

Zootopia is 100 percent certified fresh on Rotten Tomatoes

Two weeks ago the family went into Boston for a preview screening of Zootopia. I’ve been holding in this review since that time. What a wonderful movie. The whole family loved seeing this movie. There were some interesting themes on heroism, racism and stereotypes. It was also a buddy cop movie. While Nick Wilde, the fox, was not a cop he was very much a partner to Judy Hopps, the first bunny cop of the Zootopia Police Department. It felt a little like the movie 48 hours with Nick Nolte and Eddie Murphy. Two unlikely people forced to work together who eventually find a mutual respect for each other. That and Judy Hopps has 48 hours to solve her case. The casting of Ginnifer Goodwin and Jason Bateman was excellent, they both brought those characters to life in a very real way. There is a lot of heart in this movie. I know I got a bit choked up at least once or twice.

Our kids has a great time with the movie and they picked out some of the most important themes of the movie. I am always impressed by how tuned in these kids are to the themes of kindness and the importance of being a good person. I can’t tell you their favorite parts of the movie since they would be spoilers. But let’s just say that these kids nailed the importance of loyalty and honesty and believing in yourself. There are so many great themes in this movie that were explored. It is a perfect movie for families.

There may be a few moments of intense action that may scare younger children. Andrew and Eva did manage to weather it pretty well, though.

The addition of Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde to Disney Infinity is also hilarious. We got those early this week and made a special video about the figures here. I do point out a spoiler before I reveal one of the power discs so you can watch safely.

I also have some fun activities below that I know that my kids will really enjoy especially how to draw Judy Hopps and Flash. And below that is more information, including the trailer, on Zootopia to make your own decision for your family. But I would say, go see this fun family movie.

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