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Disney has announced two new Valentine’s themed episodes which will premiere this February:

In Doc McStuffins: “My Huggy Valentine,” Doc receives a stuffed Valentine’s Day heart named Val as a gift and Lambie gets jealous because she thinks Doc likes her new toy better. Doc diagnoses poor little Lambie with “splitheartitis” and reassures her that no one could ever take her place. “My Huggy Valentine” premieres Friday, February 1 at 10:00 a.m. (ET/PT) on Disney Channel and 4:00 p.m., ET/PT on Disney Junior.

The other new Valentine’s episode is from Handy Manny! Now moms, you know you have always wanted Manny to ask out the hardware store owner Kelly. Well….in the new episode “Valentine’s Day Party,” the trusty tools help Manny work up the courage to ask Kelly to attend Mrs. Portillo’s party with him. The episode premieres Thursday, February 14 at 10:30 a.m., ET/PT on Disney Channel and 6:00 p.m., ET/PT on Disney Junior.

And while we’re on the subject of shows for preschoolers… Will either of these shows get your vote for “Best Show for Preschoolers?” Nominate one (or both) of them along with your other favorite shows for preschoolers in the About.com Reader’s Choice Awards.

• Best TV Show for Preschoolers Nomination Form

Based on your nominations, we’ll select the nominees for each category, and from February 19 through March 19, you’ll vote to determine the winners. Winners will be announced on March 27, 2013. For more information about the Readers’ Choice Awards on About.com, read the Readers’ Choice Awards FAQ.

(Photo © Disney)

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Disney has announced two new Valentine’s themed episodes which will premiere this February:

In Doc McStuffins: “My Huggy Valentine,” Doc receives a stuffed Valentine’s Day heart named Val as a gift and Lambie gets jealous because she thinks Doc likes her new toy better. Doc diagnoses poor little Lambie with “splitheartitis” and reassures her that no one could ever take her place. “My Huggy Valentine” premieres Friday, February 1 at 10:00 a.m. (ET/PT) on Disney Channel and 4:00 p.m., ET/PT on Disney Junior.

The other new Valentine’s episode is from Handy Manny! Now moms, you know you have always wanted Manny to ask out the hardware store owner Kelly. Well….in the new episode “Valentine’s Day Party,” the trusty tools help Manny work up the courage to ask Kelly to attend Mrs. Portillo’s party with him. The episode premieres Thursday, February 14 at 10:30 a.m., ET/PT on Disney Channel and 6:00 p.m., ET/PT on Disney Junior.

And while we’re on the subject of shows for preschoolers… Will either of these shows get your vote for “Best Show for Preschoolers?” Nominate one (or both) of them along with your other favorite shows for preschoolers in the About.com Reader’s Choice Awards.

• Best TV Show for Preschoolers Nomination Form

Based on your nominations, we’ll select the nominees for each category, and from February 19 through March 19, you’ll vote to determine the winners. Winners will be announced on March 27, 2013. For more information about the Readers’ Choice Awards on About.com, read the Readers’ Choice Awards FAQ.

(Photo © Disney)

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The 2013 Readers’ Choice Awards are now officially underway! Today we begin the nomination phase, which will be open until February 11th. Take a moment to nominate your family’s favorite movies and TV shows for kids. Here are the nomination categories for the Kids Movies & TV topic:

• Best Kids/Family Movie of 2012
• Best TV Show for Preschoolers
• Best Cartoon for School-Age Kids
• Best Live-Action Show for Kids
• Best Kids’ TV/Movie Related Website

Based on your nominations, we’ll select the nominees for each category, and from February 19 through March 19, you’ll vote to determine the winners. Winners will be announced on March 27, 2013. For more information about the Readers’ Choice Awards on About.com, read the Readers’ Choice Awards FAQ.

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Kids’ movies aren’t generally the stars at the Oscars, but family fare does have a presence. The main relevant category for kids’ movies is, of course, Best Animated Feature. I’m often intrigued by the winner, and by that I mean the turn-up-you-nose kind of intrigued. But while the Oscar judges and I don’t always see eye to eye (no surprise there), it’s always interesting to see which movies are crowned the winners.

The nominees for Best Animated Feature 2012 are:

• Brave
• ParaNorman
• Wreck-It Ralph
• Frankenweenie
• The Pirates! Band of Misfits

Which means, the big animated films that didn’t make the cut were: Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax, Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted, Ice Age: Continental Drift, Hotel Transylvania, and Rise of the Guardians.  Notice that three of the five nominees are Disney or Disney/Pixar movies. And, it’s also interesting to note that three of the five are stop-motion animated.

If I were going to pick the best animated movie for kids and families, ParaNorman and The Pirates! Band of Misfits would be out, but that’s not what the Oscar judges are looking at, nor should it be, really. I think Paranorman has a strong chance of winning based on the unique storyline, bold storytelling and flavorful animation. For clever comedy and broad appeal, I like Wreck-It Ralph’s chances. And, Frankenweenie has it’s share of clever storytelling and unique animation as well. I love Brave, and it is one of our family favorites and will be for years to come, but I don’t see it standing up against the edgier and more unique nominees. And, The Pirates! Band of Misfits has a few things going for it, but I predict it’s not going to sail away with the Oscar win.

Which of the nominees is your family’s favorite?

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(Photo © Disney)

Now available on Blu-ray and DVD, Tim Burton and Disney present the stop-motion animated film Frankenweenie. This black and white movie is comical throwback to old-school horror films, and an expansion of Tim Burton’s 1984 live-action short film of the same name.

In the movie, a young boy named Victor has a brilliant plan to bring his dog Sparky back to life. But as his scientific secret spreads, chaos ensues all over town. The focus on science is a fun bonus, and Disney has released a 19-page science activity guide to go along with the movie.

More About Frankenweenie:

• Frankenweenie Movie Review for Parents
• Frankenweenie – Family Activities
• Frankenweenie Character Gallery

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(Photo © Disney)

Because Wreck-It Ralph will be one of the most highly anticipated home entertainment releases of the new year, it will be interesting to see how Disney’s experiment with release formats goes. Wreck-It Ralph will be the first Disney title available early through HD Digital and HD Digital 3D on February 12, 2013, followed by the 4-Disc Blu-ray Combo Pack, 2-Disc Blu-ray Combo Pack, DVD, SD Digital and On-Demand release on March 5, 2013.

I don’t know about your family, but the way we decide between streaming a movie and purchasing a movie is how much we like the movie. We would certainly make sure to own a copy of Wreck-It Ralph, as the kids loved it and I’m sure will watch it over and over. Therefore, we won’t be paying money to stream the movie early. We can wait a month. Digital download is still something we generally don’t pay for anyway, except for our subscription to Netflix. We like to have the bonus features available to watch with some movies, and the because we own devices from several different companies, we don’t want to be limited as to what device we can watch something on based on which store we used to purchase the download.

If all studios and providers would settle on a consistent streaming and content management provider, like UltraViolet say, we would likely make more digital purchases. Novel idea, right? Sadly, the digital content world is still, by and large, consumer unfriendly and confusing for many  (unless you are a totally iFamily). Hopefully, we can make some progress with that in 2013. We’ll be watching to see if any relevant announcements are made at CES (Jan. 6-Jan.11).

More About Wreck-It Ralph:

• Wreck-It Ralph Movie Review
• Find out about Fix It Felix, Jr.
• Travel Through Game Central Station
• Explore Hero’s Duty
• And my personal favorite (along with my girls), Get Your Sugar Rush On! (and find out how this game was inspired by artistic elements from both Japan and Spain)

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(Photo © Disney)

In celebration of the new year and in anticipation of the upcoming movie Oz the Great and Powerful, Disney is holding a sweepstakes and instant win game on Twitter and Facebook.

So here’s the first way to win: Tweet your New Year’s resolutions, using #DisneyOz, for a chance to win the Grand Prize–a 4-day/3-night trip to Seattle, Washington (the “Emerald City”), for two.

And the second way to win: Visit the official Oz The Great and Powerful Facebook page to watch the Tweets pave the way to the Emerald City and click on select bricks to instantly win prizes, including $100 gift cards for HSN (Home Shopping Network), $50 Visa cards, $10 Starbucks gift cards, copies of the L. Frank Baum Book, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, signed movie posters, and other Oz The Great and Powerful products.

Visit the Road to the Emerald City experience, play the Instant Win game, and view Official Rules: https://www.facebook.com/OzTheGreatAndPowerful

This is one of the upcoming 2013 movies our family is most excited about. The kids are especially excited, because for Christmas they got tickets to the musical Wicked, so seeing the back story of the Wizard and the musical version of the Wicked Witch’s back story will be a lot of fun for them. Between the Oz movies, the books and the musical, we are going to be immersed in the Oz experience in 2013!

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(Photo © Disney)

In celebration of the new year and in anticipation of the upcoming movie Oz the Great and Powerful, Disney is holding a sweepstakes and instant win game on Twitter and Facebook.

So here’s the first way to win: Tweet your New Year’s resolutions, using #DisneyOz, for a chance to win the Grand Prize–a 4-day/3-night trip to Seattle, Washington (the “Emerald City”), for two.

And the second way to win: Visit the official Oz The Great and Powerful Facebook page to watch the Tweets pave the way to the Emerald City and click on select bricks to instantly win prizes, including $100 gift cards for HSN (Home Shopping Network), $50 Visa cards, $10 Starbucks gift cards, copies of the L. Frank Baum Book, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, signed movie posters, and other Oz The Great and Powerful products.

Visit the Road to the Emerald City experience, play the Instant Win game, and view Official Rules: https://www.facebook.com/OzTheGreatAndPowerful

This is one of the upcoming 2013 movies our family is most excited about. The kids are especially excited, because for Christmas they got tickets to the musical Wicked, so seeing the back story of the Wizard and the musical version of the Wicked Witch’s back story will be a lot of fun for them. Between the Oz movies, the books and the musical, we are going to be immersed in the Oz experience in 2013!

Follow Kids TV & Movies – Twitter | Facebook | StumbleUpon

(Photo © Disney)

As always, this holiday season has had us bustling from place to place, visiting family, and taking the kids various activities with their cousins and friends. Amidst all of this busyness, there have been a few times when both kids and parents needed some down time. Even though the Christmas classics were a hit before school got out, there are two non-Christmas movies that won out for making the kids happy over the break.

First, the kids and their cousins were thrilled by Brave. Our cousins hadn’t seen the movie yet, and they loved it. My girls would watch it over and over again if we let them. If you have some Brave fans in your home, continue the fun (and education!) by adding a little Scottish to your New Year’s Eve celebration. Click on the graphic below to find out about some fun Scottish New Year’s traditions.

The other movie our kids have begged to watch is Adventures in Lalaloopsy Land: Search for Pillow. This movie came out earlier in 2012, and is one of the top new DVDs for preschoolers. The reason my kids have wanted to watch the movie so bad, is because Lalaloopsy dolls have taken over our house. Did this happen to anyone else this year? I think the dolls are adorable, and I absolutely love that my girls play with them, using their imaginations to create all kinds of stories, for hours (and I mean literally, for hours). I will say, however, that having watched Coraline, I will never be able to look at one of those adorable Lalaloopsy dolls without getting just the tiniest bit creeped out.

Which movies have been your family’s favorites this holiday season?

Follow Kids TV & Movies – Twitter | Facebook | StumbleUpon

(Photo © Disney)

As always, this holiday season has had us bustling from place to place, visiting family, and taking the kids various activities with their cousins and friends. Amidst all of this busyness, there have been a few times when both kids and parents needed some down time. Even though the Christmas classics were a hit before school got out, there are two non-Christmas movies that won out for making the kids happy over the break.

First, the kids and their cousins were thrilled by Brave. Our cousins hadn’t seen the movie yet, and they loved it. My girls would watch it over and over again if we let them. If you have some Brave fans in your home, continue the fun (and education!) by adding a little Scottish to your New Year’s Eve celebration. Click on the graphic below to find out about some fun Scottish New Year’s traditions.

The other movie our kids have begged to watch is Adventures in Lalaloopsy Land: Search for Pillow. This movie came out earlier in 2012, and is one of the top new DVDs for preschoolers. The reason my kids have wanted to watch the movie so bad, is because Lalaloopsy dolls have taken over our house. Did this happen to anyone else this year? I think the dolls are adorable, and I absolutely love that my girls play with them, using their imaginations to create all kinds of stories, for hours (and I mean literally, for hours). I will say, however, that having watched Coraline, I will never be able to look at one of those adorable Lalaloopsy dolls without getting just the tiniest bit creeped out.

Which movies have been your family’s favorites this holiday season?

Follow Kids TV & Movies – Twitter | Facebook | StumbleUpon

(Photo © Disney)