The Lorax Review

I don’t normally write reviews and this is not a sponsored post but when I heard that The Lorax was going to be released as a film I have to admit to being a tad excited. I love the book and have read it to both my children, they both love the story too and I thought it would be a great trip to the cinema for all of us. I was right.




We went to see it at the cinema and the kids LOVED it. Me and the hubby thought it was great too, so much so that we eagerly awaited the DVD release. Normally, with something like this, we would wait until Christmas to give it to the kids but we couldn’t wait that long, I think we were more excited to get it than the kids were! So, yesterday the hubby took our eldest to Tesco and returned with the Blu-ray version of The Lorax. We proceeded to sit down, turn the lights off and spent the next hour and a half watching this magical movie. 

I have to say that this movie has the best opening sequence I have seen in a long time and it will have all you adults out there laughing within two minutes. I promise that. It grabs your attention right from the start and delivers entertainment the whole way through. No mean feat, especially where children are concerned.

A classic
The makers of this movie have managed to bring the Dr. Seuss world of The Lorax to life. The Truffula Trees look fantastic, the Humming-Fish are very entertaining and the Brown Bar-ba-loots are really cute! They’ve captured the magic of Dr. Seuss while adding to the story and creating new characters. Some of whom are very funny!

The soundtrack is very good too. I found myself humming along with some of the songs and made a point of telling the hubby that I want to buy it. Little snippets of recognisable music will have you giggling throughout.

My eldest sat for the entire time without speaking, he was glued. My youngest however, did not do too well. Being 3 and a half I guess is just a little too young to sit and watch a whole movie at home, he’s quite the fidget at times. Aside from the fidgeting both kids loved this movie, so much that the first thing they wanted to do on waking up this morning was watch it again. Now that’s got to be a good sign! 

I think this is a great family movie and I recommend you go out and buy it, whether it’s for a Christmas present or just to watch right now, it would be a brilliant addition to anyone’s movie library.

The Beginning of the End?

When you have children you know the day will come. You dream about it, scare yourself silly about it and just plain fret about it. While they’re growing you kid yourself that it won’t happen. For me, it happened yesterday; My 8 year old son, after receiving pocket money, asked to go to Tesco - alone

Image courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net

OMG!! Alone?

My baby out on his own - why would I let him do that?

Well he thought it was a fantastic idea. He wanted to walk more than two miles, in the dark, across busy roads, to go and spend his money. I forced a smile and pretended I wasn’t bothered by his request but inside I felt sick. The thought of him walking all that way alone, nope. Not gonna happen!

It came as such a shock! He’s never really been bothered about being on his own before and I guess I’ve been kidding myself that he would grow up without the need to do it. I’m terrified of letting him out of the door, not knowing where he is or what he’s up to. It makes my stomach flip, my heart pound and my legs turn to jelly. I hate it. But, of course, I don’t have much of a choice in the matter, I know I’m going to have to let him go at some point and I will have to face the fact that I can’t keep my eye on him all of the time. 

So, what to do? 

After my son went to bed the hubby and I talked about it. There are so many scenarios you have to consider and, it being our first time, we didn’t really know where to start. Our initial instinct is to give him a phone, make sure he knows how to use it and keep track of him that way. This has it’s own drawbacks, the most significant being what if he loses it?

Next we had the idea that he could walk home from school one day, it’s just one long road and he would be heading home, we know how long it should take and when he would be leaving school, so if he was late we’d know it. There’s also the possibility of involving one of his school friends, with their parents permission, of course. They could walk home together and then, on arrival, I would text the other parent or they would text me to let me know they’d arrived home. 

With so many possibilities how do you choose just one? This is probably the hardest thing I’ve had to face as a parent so far and I think I need help. I’m not sure what the first step should be so I’m asking all of you. If you’re a parent who has done it, how did you? How did you deal with doing it that first time? What steps did you take to minimise risk? If you’re a parent who hasn’t done it yet but have some great ideas, please let me know what they are. This is one of those things that all parents have to deal with and I’d love to hear your views on the issue.