It's My Screen Time Too

We review Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank, the somewhat improbable animated adaptation of Mel Brooks’ Blazing Saddles. We discuss the place of sanitized remakes in our family screen time canons, whether and when we’ll feel comfortable sharing Mel Brooks movies with our kids, and the timeless hilarity of cat jokes. In Screen Time in the News, we revisit the current state of Pixar, and Katie shares her recent forays into PG-13 movies with her kids by way of Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.Contact us and subscribe to our newsletter at www.myscreentimetoo.comConnect with us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter or by email at myscreentimetoo@gmail.com

We review Pixar’s latest blockbuster: Elemental. Are we ready for animated rom coms? We also get into our feelings on the throwback short before the feature, Carl’s Date. Katie is not interested in an Up story without Russell and Kevin, but we are both interested in a lot of the trailers we saw before the movie. We talk about the upcoming Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles installment, the newest Paw Patrol movie, and Disney’s upcoming musical Wish. In Screen Time in the News, we discuss a Hollywood Reporter interview with one of our favorite creators for the preschool set, Chris Nee.Contact us and subscribe to our newsletter at www.myscreentimetoo.comConnect with us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter or by email at myscreentimetoo@gmail.com

This week’s lightning round episode is jam packed with our reviews of The Little Mermaid; Spiderman: Across the Spider-verse; and Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai as well as some follow-up about American Born Chinese. In Screen Time in the News, we speculate about the strategy for kids’ content at Max (formerly HBOMax) and where it will fit in the hierarchy of streamers with family-friendly fare.Contact us and subscribe to our newsletter at www.myscreentimetoo.comConnect with us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter or by email at myscreentimetoo@gmail.com

We review Disney’s star studded adaptation of the graphic novel American Born Chinese and discuss how the writer’s strike might affect kids’ movies and television.Contact us and subscribe to our newsletter at www.myscreentimetoo.comConnect with us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter or by email at myscreentimetoo@gmail.com

In our latest episode, we discuss whether Disney’s Peter Pan and Wendy is just another in their long line of largely disappointing live action remakes and if we really needed yet another retelling of the Peter Pan story. Is the idea that boys never really want to grow up all that charming anymore? In Screen Time in the News, we talk about frame rates and whether they should really be of concern to toddler parents.Contact us and subscribe to our newsletter at www.myscreentimetoo.comConnect with us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter or by email at myscreentimetoo@gmail.com

We review the conservation-minded Apple TV series Jane. Are an adorable 9 year old’s efforts to save endangered species enough to make a dent in Deborah’s climate pessimism? In Screen Time in the News, we discuss The Super Mario Bros. Movie’s box office dominance and whether it means we’ll see greater investment in family films.Contact us and subscribe to our newsletter at www.myscreentimetoo.comConnect with us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter or by email at myscreentimetoo@gmail.com

This week, we review The Super Mario Bros. Movie - a box office smash we saw in actual theaters and not on our couches. Find out whether it was as big a hit with us as it was with our kids. In Screen Time in the News, we speak with author Phillip Maciak about his upcoming book and how having kids has changed our attitudes toward and relationships with the screens in our lives.Contact us and subscribe to our newsletter at www.myscreentimetoo.comConnect with us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter or by email at myscreentimetoo@gmail.com

We review the animated adaptation of Kate DiCamillo’s The Magician’s Elephant and get into what makes a good book-to-screen adaptation in general. In Screen Time in the News, we add our two cents to Matt Singer’s complaint in ScreenCrush that there are no movies for kids in theaters.Contact us and subscribe to our newsletter at www.myscreentimetoo.comConnect with us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter or by email at myscreentimetoo@gmail.com

We return to our first love - preschool television - to review the Paw Patrol spin-off, Rubble & Crew. Can the charm of Rubble’s construction-loving family match that of the original heroes of Adventure Bay? In Screen Time in the News, we talk over an interview with Paw Patrol’s creators celebrating the show’s ten year anniversary and its seismic impact with the under-five set.Contact us and subscribe to our newsletter at www.myscreentimetoo.comConnect with us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter or by email at myscreentimetoo@gmail.com

For our 150th episode, we take a moment to look back at how our approaches to screen time have changed and how the landscape of children’s movies and shows has changed. We talk about the things we thought would be major hits that never panned out, the things we’re surprised have caught on, and the things we wish would go away already. To celebrate the upcoming Oscars, we look back on past episodes and give out our awards for best movie, best show, best voice talent, and more.Contact us and subscribe to our newsletter at www.myscreentimetoo.comConnect with us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter or by email at myscreentimetoo@gmail.com

We get back into the baby game thanks to a listener’s suggestion that we check out Ms. Rachel’s Songs for Littles YouTube channel. How does this educational baby content stack up against the ones we’ve covered in the past (like Cosmic Kids Yoga or our old nemesis, Blippi) or the ones that were popular when our kids were younger (like Cocomelon)? And do we detect shades of the idealism embodied by Danny Joe’s Treehouse (check out our interview with Danny LaBrecque way back in episode 91)? In Screen Time in the News, we discuss an article about the perils of YouTube for its young reality stars.Contact us and subscribe to our newsletter at www.myscreentimetoo.comConnect with us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter or by email at myscreentimetoo@gmail.com

In our latest episode, we review the big screen adaptation of the stage musical based on Roald Dahl’s Matilda. In Screen Time in the News, we discuss a Michigan State University study of teen self esteem in rural communities with limited internet access and tightly controlled screen time. We also catch one another up on two Asian imports we stumbled upon via Netflix: Gudetama and Brown and Friends.Contact us and subscribe to our newsletter at www.myscreentimetoo.comConnect with us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter or by email at myscreentimetoo@gmail.com

We’ve got so much to cover after our holiday break. We catch up on what we watched with our families (Strange World, Avatar The Way of Water, National Treasure: Edge of History, and Trivia Quest). We’re pretty nervous to watch Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio, so we have friend of the pod Amy Padden on to discuss how to introduce scary content to our kids before we jump into our main review. Our gritty recastings include Awkwafina, Aubrey Plaza, and Jennifer Coolidge, and we somehow manage to compare this dark, twisty take on Pinocchio to Dirty Dancing. Happy New Year!Contact us and subscribe to our newsletter at www.myscreentimetoo.comConnect with us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter or by email at myscreentimetoo@gmail.com

It’s a super-sized episode to get you through the holiday season! In our main segment, we review Disenchanted, the long awaited sequel to the 2007 musical Enchanted. Was this story of after “happily ever after” worth the wait? In Screen Time in the News, we discuss a roundtable conversation between directors of some of the year’s best and most anticipated animated films like Pinocchio, Strange World, Turning Red, and My Father’s Dragon. We wonder whether the complex stories they’d like to tell are a good fit for their audience and whether it’s fair to expect kids and families to always be ready to tackle weighty topics. In a bonus interview, Katie talks to her favorite boomers (her parents) about A Christmas Story Christmas, and in her gritty reimagining Deborah casts Katie’s nightmare - a mumblecore princess movie.Contact us and subscribe to our newsletter at www.myscreentimetoo.comConnect with us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter or by email at myscreentimetoo@gmail.com

The holidays have brought us tremendous screen time riches, so we’re sharing quick reviews of four new holiday releases: A Christmas Story Christmas; The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special; The Santa Clauses; and Spirited. As a bonus, Katie gives a mini-review of the latest Disney animated release: Strange World. In Screen Time in the News, we chat about the Canadian Pediatric Society’s decision to ditch strict time-based recommendations for toddler screen time.Contact us and subscribe to our newsletter at www.myscreentimetoo.comConnect with us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter or by email at myscreentimetoo@gmail.com

For the second episode in a row, we review content inspired by a children’s book from the 1940s. Come to hear us talk about how beautiful Netflix’s My Father’s Dragon is; stay to hear Deborah dunk on the Despicable Me franchise and Katie wonder what the appropriate term is for a group of tigers. We take issue with extreme poverty as a plot device in children’s programming and delve once more into the “animation for adults” vs “animation for kids” debate. In Screen Time in the News, we wonder what it means that Disney’s latest live action remake - Hercules - is being made to appeal to TikTok users.Contact us and subscribe to our newsletter at www.myscreentimetoo.comConnect with us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter or by email at myscreentimetoo@gmail.com

We tie ourselves in knots trying to find good things to say about the bland Pretzel and the Puppies on Apple TV+. Gritty reboot casting throws a bone to Conan O’Brien and the cast of the dear, departed Togetherness. In Screen Time in the News, we wonder whether the inclusion of ads will make us want to banish streaming services to the doghouse.Contact us and subscribe to our newsletter at www.myscreentimetoo.comConnect with us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter or by email at myscreentimetoo@gmail.com

It’s been awhile since we reviewed a total stinker, so we were probably overdue for a show like Netflix’s Phantom Pups. The latest entry in the Air Bud franchise inspires us to mention 1995’s Casper a whopping 3 times, question Netflix’s PR machine, and wonder why this couldn’t have been just a scary movie about the perils of DIY home renovation. In Screen Time in the News, we discuss the lack of family friendly live action movies being released in theaters and streaming’s efforts to fill the gaps.Contact us and subscribe to our newsletter at www.myscreentimetoo.comConnect with us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter or by email at myscreentimetoo@gmail.com

Like every mom of our generation, we were super excited for the return of the Sanderson sisters in Hocus Pocus 2. They’re back, looking as good as ever, but does the new movie live up to the 1993 original? In Screen Time in the News, we discuss Romper essay that argues for the upsides to eating in front of the TV.Contact us and subscribe to our newsletter at www.myscreentimetoo.comConnect with us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter or by email at myscreentimetoo@gmail.com

In our review of Secret Headquarters on Paramount+, find out whether Katie’s superhero fatigue extends beyond the MCU to Owen Wilson’s new family flick. We lament the underuse of Michael Pena and finally reintroduce John Cho into our imaginary reboot casting. In Screen Time in the News, we address the disappearance of animated titles from HBOMax. RIP Esme and Roy.Contact us and subscribe to our newsletter at www.myscreentimetoo.comConnect with us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter or by email at myscreentimetoo@gmail.com