REVIEWS: Dad's Entertainment - April/May

“Daaaddy, I’m bored!” You can’t always be around to keep the kids entertained, so here’s our pick of the best Book, Cinema, DVD and Videogame releases in April/May. 

What Does Daddy Do?
Author: Rachel Bright
ISBN-13: 978-0141502649
Release date: 7 May
Plot: Dexter's daddy is a fireman, Rosie's daddy is a doctor, but Daisy's just not sure what her daddy does all day while she is at nursery…

Review: A beautifully illustrated look into the questioning mind of a toddler, ‘What Does Daddy Do?’ is a lovely book to read to your little ones. Some moments are even quite moving, especially, when Daisy sadly waves goodbye to her dad’s car for a little bit longer than necessary – if only they knew how bad we feel leaving!

The Kiss of Death
Author: Marcus Sedgwick
ISBN-13: 978-1842551851
Price: £9.99
Release date: Out Now

Plot:: The sequel to ‘My Swordhand is Singing’, The Kiss of Death continues to foolow Peter as he prepares for the final battle with the Shadow Queen…

Review: Gore blimey. Marcus Sedgwick was been specialising in gothic fiction for older kids for some time now. My Sword is Singing was a great, bloodthirsty romp through the Vampire genre, and the sequel is just as gripping (and nasty). Teenagers will love this, but if they haven’t read ‘My Swordhand...’ they should probably start there. Great stuff.

Hannah Montana: The Movie
Run time: 102 minutes
Rating: U (What does this rating mean?)
Release date: 1st May

Plot: As Hannah Montana's popularity begins to take over her life, Miley Stewart, on the urging from her father takes a trip to her hometown of Crowley Corners, Tennessee to get some perspective on what matters in life the most

Review: A spin-off from the hugely popular Disney TV show, if your daughter’s into Hannah Montana, chances are you’ll already know about it. Interestingly, the plot focuses on Father/Daughter bonding, and you’ll certainly get a few brownie points yourself if you take your girls. Be warned though, there will be plenty of singing, dancing and, *shudder* country music cheeseball Billy Ray Cyrus (who’s Hannah Montana actress Miley Cyrus’ dad in real-life), so you may want to sneak some earplugs in.

Star Trek
Runtime: 126 minutes
Rating: 12A (What does this rating mean?)
Release date: 8th May
Plot: A new direction for the Star Trek franchise, as we go back to the beginning to see how it all began for Kirk and crew.
Review: The last few Star Trek movies were a little bit ropey, so we were initially not too bothered about this. But once we found out that JJ Abrahams (the man behind hit TV shows like Lost and Alias) was the man in the directors chair, we got considerably more excited. Full of explosions, humour and, yes amazing space battles, this is well worth teleporting yourself to the cinema for.

Foster’s Home For Imaginary Friends
Runtime: 108 minutes
Rating: U (What does this rating mean?)
Price: £5.99 (RRP)
Release date: Out Now

Plot: When Mum says 8-year-old Mac is too old for Bloo, his invisible friend, Mac takes him to Madam Foster's - a vast Victorian mansion with endless rooms and hundreds of imaginary friends.

Review: If you ever wondered what happened to your childhood imaginary friend, this bonkers kids show from Cartoon Network will tell you the answer. With a toe-tapping (and award-winning) theme tune, this is one of those cartoons you’ll probably enjoy watching almost as much as your kids. There’s only 5 episodes, but it’s available at a pocket-money price point.

Ben 10 – Series 1, Vol. 3
Runtime: 115 minutes
Rating: PG (What does this rating mean?)
Price: £9.99 (RRP)
Release date: Out Now

Plot: Why choose to be one superhero when you can be 10? Ben Tennyson is living every kid's fantasy when he stumbles upon a strange, watch-like gadget that possesses supernatural powers.

Review: An energetic kids show aimed mainly at boys, Ben 10 is hugely popular. Thanks to his magic watch, Ben can transform himself into a variety of aliens, each with unique powers, and kids will be on the edge of their seats as they follow his adventures. It’s not really necessary to start with the first volume, as these adventures are mostly stand-alone, although you’ll probably eventually end up getting the other volumes too – it’s that good.

Frost/Nixon
Runtime: 121 minutes
Rating: 15 (What does this rating mean?)
Price: £19.99 (RRP)
Release date: May 18th

Plot: Oscar-winning director Ron Howard brings to the screen writer Peter Morgan's (The Queen, Last King of Scotland) electrifying battle between Richard Nixon, the disgraced president with a legacy to save, and ambitious TV presenter David Frost.

Review: Absolute acting master class this one, as a young preppy David Frost (played superbly by man-of-the-moment Michael Sheen) takes on Richard Nixon (Frank Langella) in a series of televised debates that focus on the Watergate scandal. While it perhaps doesn’t sound that great on paper, Ron Howard shoots this like a thriller, and certain moments are so tense, you could hear a pin drop another, slightly smaller, pin. Unexpectedly terrific.

Henry Hatsworth In The Puzzling Adventure
Rating: 7+ (What does this rating mean?)
Price: £19.99 (RRP)
Format: Nintendo DS
Release date: Out Now
Description: Henry Hatsworth combines platforming and puzzling in one, as you travel through a variety of weird and wonderful worlds!

Review: The gaming equivalent of patting your head and rubbing your tummy, Henry Hatsworth uses the dual-screens of the Nintendo DS to enable you to play two games simultaneously – a run and jump platforming game on the top screen and a Tetris-style puzzling game on the bottom. It should be a logistical nightmare, but it actually works surprisingly well. As the 7+ PEGI age rating suggests, younger kids will struggle with this a bit, but if they’re older, they’ll get a lot of play out of this one. Colourful, imaginative and good for the brain, we hope there’ll be many more adventures from this tea-obsessed explorer in the future!

Princess On Ice
Rating: 3+ (What does this rating mean?)
Price: £19.99 (RRP)
Format: Nintendo Wii
Release date: Out Now

Description: Kelly, Gabrielle, Alyssa and Madison are four young girls skating for glory in the Miracle Ice Festival. Dress your favourite Diva Girl in thousands of combinations of customisable outfits then woo the crowd, impress the judges and be crowned Princess on Ice.

Review: One for the girls this one. If the popularity of shows like “Dancing On Ice” is anything to go by, this’ll be skating off the shelves like nobody’s business. It lets your kids select their favourite skater, choose her outfits and then lead her to (hopeful) victory in the championship. If you’ve got a Wii Balance Board from Wii Fit, you can use that to skate along, but otherwise you’ll be waggling the Wii controller to Bolero your way to fame and fortune.

The Godfather II
Rating: 18 (What does this rating mean?)
Price: £49.99 (RRP)
Format: Xbox 360/PS3
Release date: Out Now

Description: Inspired by the classic film series, the second Godfather game sees you attempting to re-establish your New York operation and expand into Miami.

Review: Brutal and sweary, this is definitely NOT suitable for the kids. But if they’re tucked up safely in bed you might get quite a bit of fun out of this Mafia-‘em-up. A classy cross between a Grand Theft Auto game and a business simulation, Godfather II lets you create chaos in person, or send others to do your dirty work for you. The graphics are a little crude in places, but building your empire is involving, and there’s plenty of variety. A vast improvement on the first game, this Godfather’s the daddy.