Family Entertainment

Update: We've just been given another 10 family packs (4 tickets each) for this screening! The last 10 went really fast, so if you want them, make sure you redeem the RSVP code below as soon as possible.

We're giving away more movie stuff! Ten lucky winners will win a family four pack of passes to attend an advance screening of the family action movie The Spy Next Door in San Francisco on Tuesday, December 29 at 7 pm. Simply visit www.gofobo.com and enter the RSVP code 4HF0N6 to win. The first ten people to enter the code will get a set of passes. Easy, right? If you win, please note that the screening is overbooked to ensure full attendance, so please arrive early.

Disney's newest animated feature, The Princess and the Frog, opened this past Friday to rave reviews. Featuring elegant old-school hand-drawn animation and Disney's first-ever African American princess herione, this take on the classic fairy tale is set in Jazz-age New Orleans, and was created by the team responsible for The Little Mermaid and Aladdin. The Princess and the Frog also boasts music by award-winning composer Randy Newman.

We're giving away a cool The Princess and the Frog prize pack filled with goodies related to the movie as well as a pass for two to see it. (The pass is good in San Francisco only, so unless you live there you'll have to make a trip into the city to see it, but that's part of the fun, isn't it?) To enter, send an email to contests@marinmommies.com with "Princess and the Frog" in the subject line. Enter by 11:59 pm (PST) on Friday, December 18. We'll choose a random winner on Saturday, December 19. Good luck!

Take a trip back to the 18th century and learn about music with eight-year old Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart via the children's TV show Wunderkind Little Amadeus. This animated series is designed for children ages 4 and up, and not only keeps them entertained, but educates them about music through the adventures of young Mozart and his friends. Wunderkind Little Amadeus can be seen on KQED Kids daily at 8:30 am, or on a new four-DVD set of the entire first season (which we're giving away here to one lucky reader; keep reading for details).

Each episode features a colorful mix of real historical and imagined characters, including the precocious boy Mozart, his sister Nannerl, his parents Leopold and Anna Maria, his best friend and neighbor Kajetan Hagenauer, and Mozart's dog Pumperl. Also prominently featured, of course, are the musical works of Mozart. There's also a villain, Lorenzo Devilius, an official at the court of Salzburg's Prince-Archbishop Sigismund von Schrattenbach, who, along with his talking rat sidekick Monti, plots against the young Mozart and his family (but thankfully never succeeds). Obviously not all of the characters in this German-produced series are historical people. I'm pretty sure Devilius is made up, for instance, and I can't find any evidence that Mozart ever had a dog named Pumperl, but it's all in good fun.

When I was in grade school, my favorite book was Roald Dahl's Fantastic Mr. Fox. I checked it out from the school library and read in numerous times, and I even committed to memory the little limerick about the story's antagonists, farmers Boggis, Bunce, and Bean.

Boggis, Bunce, and Bean
One fat, one short, one lean
Those horrible crooks
So different in looks
Were nonetheless equally mean

So I was really excited to learn about the upcoming animated movie version of the Fantastic Mr. Fox, which opens everywhere on November 25, 2009. You can also imagine how excited I was when Fox Searchlight generously agreed to sponsor a Fantastic Mr. Fox contest on Marin Mommies! We're offering one lucky winner a family pack of four tickets to see this fantastic new movie, which Salon.com audaciously declares to be "Better than Pixar." But wait, that's not all! The winner will also receive four movie posters and four furry fox tail ties to wear.

All you have to do is send an email to contests@marinmommies.com with "Fantastic Mr. Fox" in the subject line. You'll have until 11:59 pm on Wednesday, November 25, to submit your entry, and we'll select a winner at random and announce the results on Friday, November 27. (As always, we promise not to use your email in any way other than to notify you if you've won.)