Angelina Ballerina Teaches
Little Ones
to Follow Their Dreams
and Their Hearts
My three kids (5 ½ year old girl, 4 year old boy, and 20 month old boy) know Angelina Ballerina through books. Lorelei, my daughter, has read most of them, and my older son has listened to a few.
They have seen a few of the shorter, 25-ish minute shows before, and liked them, though we are a one-show-per-day family, so any TV is good TV to them. To say that they were excited to watch a full-length (56 whole minutes!) movie featuring Angelina is an understatement. My youngest little guy sat through the whole thing but…I think the popcorn, plus tossing said popcorn to the dog, helped stretch his maintain his attention span.
Bottom line up front: “Dreams Come True” was a whole lot better than I expected.
Angelina’s little sister and biggest fan Polly enters Angelina into the biggest contest that the town’s newspaper, The Mouseland Gazette, has ever had—the “Big Dreams Do Come True” contest. She wants to win in order to realize her dream: to be the youngest member in the Metroquefort Ballet Junior Dance Company.
She wins! With this win and the spot in the company comes the consequence of her decision: she must move away to a boarding school in just one week.
“There’s a price for every choice,” Angelina’s mother says to her as Angelina realizes what a tough choice she faces. She really struggles; should she go and focus on ballet and becoming a star, or stay and remain close to her sister, parents and friends? “You make good decisions, and I know you’ll make the right choice.” I love how Angelina’s mother trusts and puts her faith in Angelina’s own judgment.
After an appropriate amount of hemming and hawing and singing and dancing, Angelina decides that she can’t leave her home; she would be too sad to miss out on special and everyday things with her family, friends and especially her sister Polly. For now, being a star among these special mice is enough.
I loved that my kids watched as Angelina and her friends sang songs with themes such as: love your sibling, find what you’re good at, express yourself through dance and song, work hard, listen to your heart, sisters are special, and, of course, dreams come true.
Sure, parts of it were a bit hokey to me as I watched it with my kids, but my kids really ate it up, and they were chatting about dreams all night long. Hopefully the bond between them remains strong for many more years.
After the movie there is an interactive dance game called “Sing and dance with Angelina!” You perform a bunch of dance routines that were cute to watch my kids stumble through—coordination for the younger two is still a few years away.
The movie did leave me with one question: does Angelina ever change out of her tutu?
Angelina Ballerina: Dreams Do Come True! The Movie
Lionsgate: www.lionsgatedvd.com
Price: $14.95
| Appealed to my child(ren) | 5 |
| Appealed to adults | 3 |
| Would listen to/watch more than once* | 3 |
| Child appropriate content | 5 |
| I would purchase this product for my family | yes |
| I would purchase this product as a gift | yes |
| Overall rating | 4 |
All ratings on a scale of 1-5 with 5 being highest.
Meet the Reviewer!
Kate Schwarz is a full-time mom
and wife living in Great Falls, VA.
In addition to reading to her three
small hildren, Kate runs marathons,
Crossfits, and blogs about raising
kids with books at
www.katesbookery.blogspot.com.
