Movie » Mixed Animation Videos

With OSMOSIS JONES triple threat writer-director-producer brothers Bobby and Peter Farrelly THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY successfully move into the live-actionanimation genre. Frank Bill Murray a scruffy overweight zoo keeper revels in his unhealthy habits much to the chagrin of his young daughter Shane Elena Franklin. When Frank eats a dirty hard-boiled egg the contagion-filled food enters The City of Frank under the jurisdiction of germ-fighting white blood cell Osmosis Jones voiced by Chris Rock. A renegade cop in desperate need of a good case Jones teams up with Drix voiced by David Hyde Pierce a superhero cold pill sent in to fight Frank's sore throat. The duo soon discovers that the troublesome egg carried a particularly evil germ Thrax voiced by Laurence Fishburne who makes dastardly plans while hiding behind seemingly harmless cold symptoms. Jones and Drix struggle to convince Mayor Phlegmming voiced by William Shatner and his pretty aide Leah voiced by Brandy Norwood of the danger and to find the sil

Studies over the last 20 years have shown that music can have a dramatic positive influence on a baby's developmental process. As a result, there have been many products available that encourage the intellectual development of infants and toddlers. "The Praise Baby Collection: Music for Baby's Spirit and Mind" and the collection's first release, "Praises and Smiles," provides parents with the first developmentally appropriate CD, DVD and video series that creates a nurturing environment for an infant's spiritual and intellectual development. Combining popular praise and worship songs with colorful real world objects, "Praises and Smiles" will actively engage the baby's spirit and mind, stimulating early learning in the areas of tactile, cognitive, social, emotional, and spiritual development.

Designed for infants and toddlers (1 to 36 months), Baby Bach is a nicely produced video that features recognizable, familiar toys and colorful objects, moving to the complexly beautiful music of Johann Sebastian Bach. According to the video producers, "Bach's music has shown to enhance creativity, improve academic achievement, reduce anxiety and heighten mental awareness." Any parent will embrace this theory. Not only did this video completely captivate a 22-month-old for its entire 30-minute run-time, but it's easy on the parents, too. The images are lively, clean, and sharp, and producers The Baby Einstein Company have a firm handle on what interests babies and toddlers. The extraneous segments with two pretty little blonde girls is silly, but forgivable. Given that most children elect to watch a video repeatedly, this is one that parents won't mind in the slightest. The music, available on CD, is simply lovely. --N.F. Mendoza

Created by mother and teacher Julie Aigner-Clark BABY BEETHOVEN is an introduction to Beethoven's beautiful music and operates on the same premise as BABY MOZART: that great classical music has positive effects on people of all ages especially babies. Images of brightly colored toys and known objects aid in the audio presentation of child-friendly arrangements and sound effects. Designed for infants between the ages of approximately one and 36 months.

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Eleven-year old Lily Mara Wilson sets off to see her grandpa Peter Fonda but she ends up on the wrong train. Lily meets Mr. Conductor Alec Baldwin who lives in the town of Shining Time. Mr. Conductor uses magic gold dust to visit the Island of Sodor and Thomas the Tank Engine and the Magic Railroad. When Lily arrives Thomas is having problems with Diesel 10 a renegade diesel engine and Mr. Conductor is running out of the magic dust. But all will be well if Lady a missing golden engine can be found. In the meantime Grandpa has an engine hidden away in the mountain. Could it be Lady? Will Mr. Conductor find more magic gold dust? And will Thomas again be the number one hero of the Magic Railroad? In the early 1980s Britt Allcroft found Thomas the Tank Engine and his friends in the Reverend W. Awdry's THE RAILWAY SERIES and brought them to television. Now--aiming at an audience of children between 3 and 7 years old--Allcroft transfers Thomas and his friends to the big screen and she uses all manner of special eff

Accident-prone Lizzie McGuire Hillary Duff gets the adventure of a lifetime when she takes a two-week school trip to Rome following her junior high school graduation. On her first day in the Eternal City Lizzie meets Paolo Yani Gellman half of a famous Italian pop duo. Paolo and his partner Isabella have recently split up due to creative differences. With the exception of her blonde tresses all-American Lizzie is a dead ringer for the dark-haired Isabella and charming Paolo persuades her to pretend she's Isabella at an important awards show. Posing as the diva Lizzie is waited on hand and foot and admired by millions--and she gets to hang out with a cute Italian boy who seems to like her. Of course sneaking away from her school tour is no easy feat especially with group leader Miss Ungermeyer Alex Borstein on watch. But with the help of her lifelong pal Gordo Adam Lamberg who also harbors a secret crush on his best friend Lizzie gets to live out her fantasies. Robert Carradine Hallie Todd Ashlie Brillault and

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Joe Dante directs this fast-paced inventive combination of animation and live action with irreverent comic flair. In Hollywood Daffy Duck is jealous of Bugs Bunny's success and demands a pay increase. Instead of giving him a raise Kate Jenna Elfman a fed-up studio executive fires Daffy and has him escorted off the lot by security guard D.J. Drake Brendan Fraser. Drake is a wannabe stunt man who is heading to Las Vegas to find his missing father Damian Drake Timothy Dalton a famous actorsecret agent in search of the elusive Blue Monkey Diamond a diamond that turns humans to monkeys. Out of work Daffy joins D.J. while Kate and Bugs Bunny follow desperate to rehire Daffy. Meanwhile Damian Drake is being held captive by the evil Mr. Chairman Steve Martin a mad scientist who wants the Blue Monkey Diamond for his own nefarious plot to rule the world. Their quest for Damian and the Diamond sends Daffy D.J. Kate and Bugs on a global adventure full of hilarious Hollywood spoofs and pop culture trivia. References to IN

In this live action rethink of the classic Hanna-Barbera cartoon series director Raja Gosnell puts Fred Freddie Prinze Jr. Daphne Sarah Michelle Gellar Velma FREAKS GEEKS' Linda Cardellini and Shaggy Matthew Lillard back into the Mystery Machine with a CGI version of the canine title character. After parting ways to protest Fred's self-centered treatment of the Mystery Inc. gang they are brought back together by Emile Mondavarious Rowan Atkinson to help solve a ghoulish mystery at his teen resort and fun park Spooky Island. Although SCOOBY-DOO is primarily a live action movie Gosnell keeps the characters and visuals cartoonish at all times. For fans of the series all of the expected trappings are present from Fred's ascot to the inevitable "meddling kids" line from the bad guy but the film also pokes fun at these elements throughout managing to balance kiddie fun with a more grown-up self-mocking. The CGI Scooby is both convincingly lifelike and clearly make-believe with action that is more silly than scary