blu-ray — MomStart

The Original Christmas Classics On Blu-Ray, Rudolph, Frosty and More #Giveaway

December 5, 2010 By Momstart 264 Comments

Growing up we had lots of Christmas traditions. We would decorate the tree, sing Christmas songs, listen to Holiday music, drink eggnog and have cookies. Christmas was so much fun and I hope to continue all of the traditions with my kids. It snowed a few weeks ago and we built a snowman. So we’ve been teaching Zoe how to sing Frosty the snowman ever since then. She loves the song, and is quite fond of our little snowman. We received The Original Christmas Classics on blu-ray and Frosty the snowman was the first requested classic to be watched, as I’m sure you can see why.

Having all of the Original Christmas Classics on blu-ray makes it so easy to share the delight of characters like Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town and Frosty the Snowman. All of these cherished films are now available in a boxed DVD set and the new digitally remastered Blu-ray version. We just pop them in and play them whenever we want. Helps a lot since we don’t have cable and I don’t plan on buying it anytime soon. Yes I’m crazy!

The Original Christmas Classics is available wherever Blu-rays are sold for $44.99. The iconic special, which first debuted in 1970, tells the story of how Santa Claus and several honored Christmastime traditions came to be. The consistently highly-rated special remains an enduring part of American culture, and each year, millions of viewers look forward to watching it with their families and friends. In honor of the occasion, Classic Media is inviting Entertainment Tonight hosts and naughty and nice celebrities everywhere to watch this special and much more as part of the ultimate holiday Blu-ray gift set: The Original Christmas Classics.

Enter to Win:

The Original Christmas Classics Blu-Ray

To Enter:

Leave a comment on this post telling me what your favorite Christmas Original Classic is.

Extra Entries:

Tweet: RT @MomStart: The Original Christmas Classics On Blu-Ray, Rudolph, Frosty and More #Giveaway http://bit.ly/gKjFGD

Subscribe to my blog

Follow me on twitter
Follow me on Google Friend Connect
List this giveaway on any giveaway site, dig or stumble or use any of the share methods below
Blog About this Giveaway (linking to the giveaway)
Add my blog button to your sidebar.

This giveaway ends December 13th, I received a sample as compensation. All rules can be found under giveaway rules.

Filed Under: 2010 Gift Guide, giveaway Tagged With: blu-ray, Frosty the snowman, giveaway, Rudolph, The Original Christmas Classics

The Search for Santa Paws

November 19, 2010 By Momstart 3 Comments

So if you read us regularly then you know we have a new dog. And if you don’t read us regularly now you know we have a new dog. Her name is Abby and she’s an adorable chocolate lab with a lot of energy. Now Disney sent us a copy of Disney’s The Search for Santa Paws and I was really excited to watch it. Well, apparently the whole family including Abby was so excited to watch The Search for Santa Paws that they couldn’t wait for mommy to get home to rip open the DVD and watch it.

The Guilty Party:

I brought up Abby because both Zoe and Miles said that Abby likes this movie and gives it four paws up. So from one dog to another she recommends this movie. Now, I did finally get to watch it and it has some of the best DVD features of any DVD. It is quite easy to pause it and mark where you are at for later viewing. Santa Paws is a great mash up of movies into one and you don’t even realize it. There are orphans, scrooges, and a toy store in crisis. Santa Claus is walking around New York with Paws and someone attacks him. He then loses his memory and ends up working at the toy store in trouble. Because of him and his genuine Santa look he works there as Santa until his magic runs out and he gets very sick. What really surprised me is that the heroine of the movie was not the dog but the orphans. Santa Paws makes an excellent Holiday Movie with all of the singing and Holiday cheer that it brings to your heart!

“Someone once told me that the spirit of Christmas is embodied in the hearts of children, untouched as of yet by the doubts, fears and disappointments of the adult world.”

–Santa Claus in “The Search for Santa Paws”

Whether you’re nine or ninety-nine, Santa Claus likely still holds a special place in your heart. Maybe you remember sitting on his knee at your local mall as a child or writing—and re-writing—him a letter asking for a dollhouse or red wagon. Many of us remember staying up past midnight in hopes of catching a glimpse of him as he came down your chimney.

As parents, we pass down the stories and traditions of Santa Claus. Even if we can’t think of a logical explanation as to how he visits every home on one night or why there are so many Santa look-alikes all around town each December, it is important that we support the true meaning of Christmas and the Santa Cause. Kids ask us tough questions all the time, and this one, like many others, is onethat doesn’t come with a clear-cut answer. The simplest thing is to tell your children to have faith and to just believe. Children love magic, so if you just explain that Santa is magical, that should hopefully help them understand the underlying spirit of Christmas.

Santa Claus is a wonderful tradition, and establishing traditions in your family that get passed down from generation to generation—such as baking cookies for Santa and his elves each Christmas Eve or leaving carrots out for his reindeer—helps create a bond between you and your children. It also makes the holiday more meaningful, memorable and fun for kids, who otherwise might complain about wearing a coat and tie to Christmas Eve dinner at grandma’s. So despite the fact that logic may tell you otherwise, make a point of teaching your children about Santa Claus, his 8 tiny reindeer, his sleigh, his workshop and of course, his best friend, Paws.

THE SEARCH FOR SANTA PAWS is Available on Blu-ray & DVD November 23rd!

Santa Paws Activities:

Santa Paws DVD extras:

Deck the Halls by Debby Ryan (Bonus)

Huckle Buckle Hero Intro (Bonus)

DISNEY’S THE SEARCH FOR SANTA PAWS is an exciting and uplifting movie from director Robert Vince about the power of giving and the true meaning of Christmas in the tradition of Disney’s classic holiday tales. This big city adventure for the whole family reveals the how the legendary friendship of Santa Claus and Santa Paws began.
DISNEY’S THE SEARCH FOR SANTA PAWS comes with a stocking full of fantastic bonus features, including:
· An interactive Animated Pop-Up Book – ‘Buddies’ puppy star Rosebud reads a holiday story featuring new canine friends from The Search For Santa Paws
· Sing-Along Mode – colorful lyrics added to the film’s song sequences, so audiences can sing along to the film’s fantastic new songs.
· Music Video – tween favorite Debby Ryan (Disney Channel’s Suite Life on Deck) performs a great new arrangement of ‘Deck The Halls.’
· Deleted scenes
The film follows in the tradition of Disney’s classic holiday tales with a heartwarming story about the power of giving and the true meaning of Christmas. An exciting prequel, the movie allows kids of all ages to discover how the legendary friendship of Santa Claus and Santa Paws began – as it is the inspiring original film (in a timeline it precedes 2009’s Santa Buddies: The Legend of Santa Paws).
In the movie, when Santa and his new best friend, Paws, discover that the boys and girls of the world have lost the spirit of the season, they take a trip to New York City. But after Santa loses his memory, it’s up to Paws, a faithful orphan named Quinn (America’s Got Talent’s Kaitlyn Maher), her new friend Will (The Game Plan’s Madison Pettis) and a wonderful group of magical talking dogs to save St. Nick and show the world what Christmas is really all about. Do you believe in Santa Paws? Experiencing this sure-to-be holiday classic, full of fun, adventure and a carrying the timeless messages of the holidays, with surely delight the entire family!

Filed Under: review Tagged With: blu-ray, Disney, DVD features, Movie review, Santa Paws, The Search for Santa Paws

Discovering Beauty & The Beast Diamond Edition with Paige O’Hara

October 7, 2010 By Momstart 11 Comments

Thanks to Click Communications I had the opportunity to discover Beauty and The Beast with Belle herself, Paige O’Hara. Paige is just as spunky as Belle and listening to her sing in real life just amazes me. In fact, I would say she’s improved her singing skills since making the movie Beauty and The Beast. She was quite easy going and down to earth. As we all had dinner and enjoyed great conversation, we explored the Beauty and the Beast Diamond Edition Blu-Ray special features! And Let me tell you Beauty and the Beast Diamond Edition is all about the Blu-Ray features.

You know the story of Beauty and the Beast right? Belle is a beautiful young lady stuck in a small provincial town and practically bored to tears. The most adventure she has at any given time comes from her unpredictable inventor of a father. She is coveted by Gaston, and disguts him in return. Her father goes off to the fair and gets lost on his way. He looks for shelter in the castle that he finds but the Beast is not happy at all to have company. He locks him in the dungeon and when Belle comes looking for her father, her adventure begins.

Paige was interviewed and here are a few questions and answers:

How excited were you to be part of such a legendary Disney title?

You know, Mary Poppins is my favorite film and I loved Bambi and all the other Disney animated films. I was always an artist as well so I appreciated the animation too. Playing Belle was a dream come true.

What else do you remember about the experience?

It was fun being a part of the parties. Honestly, the worst part about the Oscars was that I didn’t like my dress—the one I performed in. They told the designer to put me in blue and it was this blue and white dress that looked more like Bo Peep or Dorothy. It was way too frilly and not very “Belle-y.” It was a checkerboard pattern. I had to perform in that dress, but afterwards I got to change into a beautiful Bob Mackie teal green gown. I even made one magazine’s Top 3 Best Dressed list!

You won a Grammy for a song from “Beauty and the Beast’s Children Singalong” too. What was that like?

It was incredible. Of course it won Best Children’s Album, which is the Grammy I have on my wall. The whole ride has been phenomenal. I am still recording as Belle all the time…CD ROMs and toys. I was just in the studio recording Belle the other day. 99% of the time I record in a studio here in Vegas. They patch me in over the phone.

Zoe has quite a hard time deciding between watching this new Princess and Tinker Bell and The Great Fairy Rescue. She likes Belle, Belle was the very first Princess dress that we found on sale and that was her first Halloween costume. Zoe said she likes Beauty and The Beast more than The Princess and The Frog because it wasn’t scary. She likes the Beast as a Beast and not when he turns into a Prince. Even though she enjoys watching Belle in Beauty in the Beast, her favorite princess is still Sleeping Beauty and we don’t even have a copy of that movie.

To me, Beauty and The Beast Diamond Edition blows my mind away. The color looks like it was pumped up and the details are quite amazing. It seems that cartoons were meant for Blu-Ray. The special features are quite amazing too, even though all of the insert disc one, insert disc two is a little frustrating. The way our system is set up whenever I try to go back it exits the DVD all together, but that’s just our system. I think if you have a normal DVD player it’s probably not as bad. Most of the special features are on disc 2.

The Special Features are hours and hours of content. One of the features, I think it was Beyond Beauty was the story of the making of Beauty and the Beast. The story included the evolution of the story and one of the previous story lines was pretty bad. We’re very glad Disney went the direction they went. Wow, I just can’t imagine a better story line.

3-Disc BD Bonus Features as listed on Amazon:

• Restored film
• Three versions of the film
• Original theatrical release
• Special extended edition
• Original storyboard version (BD-exclusive)
• Original theatrical version with a PIP of the storyboard
• Disney sing along mode
• Audio commentary
• Beyond Beauty: The Untold Stories Behind Making Beauty And The Beast (interactive)
• Broadway Beginnings – Up close and personal celebrity interviews with Nick Jonas, Donny Osmond, Toni Braxton, and others who have starred in the Broadway production
• Composing a Classic: A Musical Conversation With Alan Menken, Don Hahn, and Richard Kraft
• Deleted scenes
o Alternate opening (boards)
o Belle in the library – never-before-seen moment where Belle meets three new characters in the library
• Art galleries – Only available inside the “Beyond Beauty Experience”
• Family play games
o Enchanted Challenge: help Belle and the Beast fall in love in order to break the spell before the last petal falls (Disney Quest)
o Bon Jour, Who Is This? A Disney TelePlay Game – Powered by BD-Live. Using your cell phone, guess the identity of the other players before they guess yours
• Music & more
o All-new music video featuring Disney Channel star TBD
• Classic DVD bonus features

As I said, hours and hours of entertainment!

Save 10.00 on Beauty And the Beast Diamond Edition.

I received a copy of the movie in exchange for my honest review and met Paige on the Disney Blogger Day Event.

Filed Under: Movie review, review Tagged With: Beauty and the Beast, Beauty and the Beast Diamond Edition, blu-ray, Click Communications, Diamond Edition, Disney, DVD Review, Movie review, Paige O'Hara

Judy Garland A Star is Born Blu-ray and Digital Demand Giveaway

July 3, 2010 By Momstart 55 Comments

You know Judy Garland from The Wizard of Oz, but have you seen her in anything else? A Star is Born was her first movie back after a 4 year hiatus from movies. She had quite a talented voice had an excellent stage presence. I’ve watched a lot of older movies with my mom and I think it’s a little bit funny, how they used to make so many movies about stage productions. A Star is Born Deluxe Edition Blue-Ray came out June 22, and it includes a 40 page booklet with rare photos from when the movie originally came out.

Judy Garland plays an aspiring young singer that is on the way up in her career and she falls in love with a former star, James Mason that is on his way down. Finding their love changes both of them as their paths become intertwined in emotion. Judy performs in this musical as if she is singing with all the emotion that exists. This is supposed to be a fan favorite, watch as Judy sings In a Trunk:

Warner Brothers just re-released A Star is Born to Blu-Ray, DVD and on digital demand. Check out the digital demand of Star Is Born, A (1954) on Amazon.

Enter to Win:

The Blu-ray copy of A Star is Born Deluxe Edition

To Enter:

Tell me what your favorite Warner Brother Classic is. If you need to visit the site I gave you the link

Extra Entries:

Tweet or hit the RT button up top:

A Star is Born Blu-ray Deluxe Edition Giveaway http://bit.ly/a8nmgy

Follow me on twitter tell me your twitter ID
Follow me on Google Friend Connect
Subscribe to my blog
Comment on any other non-giveaway post
Advertise this giveaway on any giveaway site, your blog, and tell me where you advertised it Use any of the share options below.

This giveaway Ends July 19th. All rules can be found under giveaway rules.

Filed Under: giveaway, Movie review Tagged With: A star is born, blu-ray, giveaway, Movie review, Warner Brothers

BBC Earth presents Life Blu-ray DVD Giveaway Bundle

May 30, 2010 By Momstart 437 Comments

Is your dad, or husband convinced that Blu-ray is the only way to go? Mine sure is, and he says that everyone needs a movie like Life on Blu-ray to fully appreciate the potential behind a blu-ray player and HD quality TV. And I have to say, WOW!

Synopsis and Review:

Life is four years in the making, having been filmed in over 3000 days, across every continent and in every habitat. Life is the latest wildlife blockbuster from the BBC’s award-winning Natural History Unit, the producers of Planet Earth and The Blue Planet. Oprah Winfrey is the narrator in this 4 disc epic.

We love movies like Earth by BBC, and Life is packed with excitement, revelation, entertainment, and stunning screen firsts. I love the scenes, and colors, they looks so good that at times it is hard to believe that all of this is actual footage. I would even go as far as saying that Life is step above Earth. This breathtaking ten-part blockbuster presents 130 incredible stories from the frontiers of the natural world and I am mesmerized, I especially like the slow motion scenes, so amazing. Through these excellent camera shots I was able to discover the glorious variety of life on Earth and the spectacular and extraordinary tactics animals and plants have developed to stay alive, individual creatures under extreme pressure to overcome challenges from adversaries and their environment, pushing the boundaries of behavior. Becoming an excellent educational video worth watching!! Own it on DVD on June 1st.

Enter to Win:

The Blu-ray edition of LIFE from the BBC, along with the spectacular coffee table book and book mark.

To Enter:

Tell me what your favorite habitat is? Or what your favorite exotic animal is?

Extra Entries:

* Become a fan of Warner Brothers on our Facebook Page

* Follow Warner Brothers on Twitter

Tweet or hit the RT button up top:

BBC Life Blu-Ray Gift Package #Giveaway #contest http://bit.ly/9TvWws

Follow me on twitter tell me your twitter ID
Follow me on Google Friend Connect
Subscribe to my blog
Comment on any other non-giveaway post
Advertise this giveaway on any giveaway site, your blog, or your facebook page and tell me where you advertised it or Use any of the share options below, digg, stumble…2 entries each

The contest will run until June 14th 11:59 pm Pacific. All rules can be found under giveaway rules.

This is a compensated post all opinions are my own.

Filed Under: giveaway, Movie review Tagged With: BBC America, BBC Earth, blu-ray, HD Media Player, Life

Date Night with my DH, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

December 20, 2009 By Momstart 3 Comments

We’ve been watching a lot of movies lately. So it’s been like a date night every night. The first movie my husband rented was Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince on Blu-Ray. I’m a big Harry Potter fan and usually get all of the movies as Christmas Presents but now that Blu-Ray has one out on the HD war, we’re going to wait to purchase the newest addition to the Harry Potter movies until they release a box set of all the movies on Blu-Ray.

In case you’re living under a rock and have not read the book or seen the movies leading up to this one here is the synopsis provided by Warner Brothers:

Voldemort is tightening his grip on both the Muggle and wizarding worlds and Hogwarts is no longer the safe haven it once was. Harry suspects that dangers may even lie within the castle, but Dumbledore is more intent upon preparing him for the final battle that he knows is fast approaching. Together they work to find the key to unlock Voldemort’s defenses and, to this end, Dumbledore recruits his old friend and colleague, Professor Horace Slughorn, whom he believes holds crucial information. Even as the decisive showdown looms, romance blossoms for Harry, Ron, Hermione and their classmates. Love is in the air, but danger lies ahead and Hogwarts may never be the same.. http://harrypotter.warnerbros.com/harrypotterandthehalf-bloodprince/dvd/index.html

My Opinion on the movie:

I felt the movie was a little long and slow compared to the book, even though so much was left out. I know that all the information in the movie is leading up to the final chapter or chapters rather. I hear they are going to split the final movie into two. Even though so much was left out it was still very true to the book. Voldemort doesn’t even make an appearance in this one. I was surprised about that but it wasn’t necessary because you could still see all the evil lurking around the streets of London.

Harry goes off to school, becomes friends with Professor Slughorn and falls in love with Jenny. Dumbledore and Harry learn the dark secrets of Tom Riddle, aka Voldemort and Harry never drops his guard around Professor Snape or Malfoy. Even without a lot of action the suspense builds right up to the end. Of course already having read the book, I was just watching to see the differences and lack of information. We end up missing quite a few side stories but maybe I’m getting a little of the final book mixed up with this one.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince available NOW Blu-ray™, DVD, & Download