Steven Helmer Publications

Synopsis: When 13-year-old Toronto overachiever Meilin develops a crush on a 17-year-old store clerk, she learns of her family's "inconvenience," an ancient spell that turns the women into red pandas if they get too emotional. Her mother tells her she can be cured via a ritual performed on the night of the blood moon but only if she can control her emotions and keep the panda caged until then. However, when Meilin discovers her favorite boy band is coming to Toronto, she uses her panda form to earn money to buy tickets for her and her friends. Who's in it? The animated movie uses voices from Rosalie Chiang , Sandra Oh , Ava Morse , Hyein Park and Orion Lee . Review: I sometimes forget I pay for Disney Plus because it's not a streaming service that normally carries films I want to watch. However, we postponed this week's family movie night from Tuesday to Friday and this was a film my daughter wanted to see. Overall, I have to admit it was better than expecte...

Synopsis: Mirabel, a Columbian teenager, is the only person in her family that doesn't possess a magical gift, making her somewhat of an outcast. When their magical family home begins showing cracks and some of her family members begin losing their powers, Mirabel is blamed. However, she might be the only person who can save the day. Who's in it? The animated movie uses voices from Stephanie Beatriz , Maria Cecilia Botero , John Leguizamo , Jessica Darrow and Wilmer Valderrama . Review: My oldest daughter saw this at the movie theater with a friend and liked it so much, she insisted on watching it with us when it came to Disney Plus. After seeing it, I don't know if I would say it was my favorite Disney movie but will admit the film was better than I was expecting. I think the thing I liked most about this film is it wasn't as predictable as many other animated movies are. Part of this was the mystery about why Mirabel (Beatriz) was the one person who didn't hav...

Synopsis : Artemis Fowl always believed the stories his dad told him about faeries and other mystical creatures were just fiction. However, when his dad is taken hostage over a mysterious magical object, Artemis finds himself facing a fairy army in an attempt to locate the treasure and rescue his father. Who's in it? The movie stars Ferdia Shaw , Josh Gad , Colin Farrell , Nonso Anozie and Lara McDonnell. Lara McDonnell. Review: It had been a while since we watched a movie together as a family and, since the various trailers we've seen about this film looked interesting, this wound up being my pick. As it turns out, this was a mistake. To put this bluntly - WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT, DISNEY? I think the best way to describe this film is it was as though whoever wrote the script glanced at the books, picked out bits and pieces that sounded interesting and slapped those parts together without putting them in the proper context. The end result was a movie that looked like it might...

Synopsis: An aspiring young chef in jazz era New Orleans dreams of fulfilling her deceased father's dream of owning a restaurant despite having an economic disadvantage. Her efforts are put on hold when a visiting prince is turned into a frog and her attempts to break the spell with a kiss result in her being changed into a frog as well. Who's in it? The animated movie uses voices from Anika Noni Rose , Bruno Campos , Keith David , Jennifer Cody and John Goodman . Review:  My youngest daughter insisted on having some family movie time on Sunday so, after searching several options on Netflix, I wound up settling on this Disney film, mostly because it was a movie she hadn't seen yet. I remember watching this movie not long after it first came out and not enjoying it all that much. However, for my daughter's sake, I was willing to give it the benefit of the doubt and watch it a second time. Unfortunately, as it turns out, I still found I didn't enjoy this f...

Synopsis: The daughter of a Polynesian chieftain travels the ocean in search of the demigod Maui to force him to return the mystical stone he stole from the goddess Te Fiti and stop the darkness that is starting to invade her island. Who's in it? The animated movie uses voices from Auli'i Cravalho , Dwayne Johnson , Alan Tudyk , Rachel House and Temuera Morrison . Review: I took off from work yesterday afternoon so I could get the lawn mowed. Since I had some extra time in the evening as a result, we ended up having a family movie night and picked this film because it was on Netflix. I've seen previews of this movie but, other than some of the music (we heard one of the songs during my daughters' recent ice shows), didn't know much about it and, as a result of that, wasn't really sure what to expect when we started watching it. As it turns out, it was a pretty awesome movie. One thing I found I really loved about this movie was the uniqueness it o...