Beware the Big Bad Mouse! A Film for Children of All Ages
My lucky number is 3.
And, today, I went to see 3 movies. Coincidence? I think not!
The Gruffalo’s Child, was the most adorable short film I’ve ever seen! It made me smile most of the time, and cry the other few times; just as all good stories should. The voiceover in the movie was effective and beautifully put together. I absolutely loved it! It seems they did the right thing when turning this children’s book into an animated film. It only makes me wonder where these animators were when things went wildly wrong with certain things regarding a certain children’s book I cared about that was turned into a certain movie a few years back which was absolutely horrible.
A Film For Older Children and Up
The film that followed was The Cat in Paris. This animated film was certainly meant to be a movie for young children. Yet, I loved this one too! However, there are some violent scenes with thieves kidnapping a child and threatening her as well as some strong language. Even still, I think that any child over ten would really enjoy the interesting hand-drawn animation and action.
A Film For Teens
The final movie of the day was Magic Valley. This is definitely not a movie for the kiddies. However, it’s perfect for an angsty teen like me. While, I have no idea what the director had against fish, this was incredibly well put together for a first film. (There were a LOT of dead fish in this movie–including fish being chopped up by lawn mowers and fish being blown up by firecrackers!) I loved how the movie left you guessing. This who-dunnit film was something that I enjoyed and I’d recommend it if you’re into murder mysteries.
When the movies were over, LanceAround and I had a great opportunity to speak with an intern who had helped work on Magic Valley. He told us stories about how it was around 16 degrees during the filming of one of the scenes! I feel awful for the child actors who had to go into the freezing river water during the filming!
This intern was lucky to work on such a great film. It was wonderful to get behind the scenes detail on what happened during production. It reminds me why I love to go to the FFF. You get the opportunity to meet the people who create such art.
All in all, this was probably one of the best days I’ve had at the festival so far. I hope to enjoy more days like this. Still, it was my lucky day 3. So, who knows?
Lance Around Orlando 
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