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Posts Tagged ‘Adventures’

Disney's Learning Adventures - Mickey's Reading Math and Fun - Mickey and the Beanstalk

Prepare for school with Mickey and friends. Developed by Disney and leading educators, the animated classic MICKEY AND THE BEANSTALK now has learning breaks that will prepare your child for the academic and social challenges of school. Learning is woven throughout this classic adventure packed with storytelling magic that captures young imaginations. Pop-up visuals encourage children to learn about counting, matching, measuring, and putting a story in order. Watch your child’s face light up each time a correct answer helps Mickey. Learning’s more fun with friends to share the adventure!

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Walt Disney Legacy Collection - True Life Adventures, Vol. 4 (1956)

posted by Everything Kids 9:00 AM
Saturday, April 18, 2009

Walt Disney Legacy Collection - True Life Adventures,  Vol. 4

In the 1950s, Disney produced a host of short nature films that were groundbreaking both for their innovative perspective, combining fantasy with real-life nature photography, and their development and reliance on huge technological advances in cameras and filmmaking. Secrets of Life and Perri, digitally restored 16-mm films retrieved from the Disney archives, are two of the first live-action shorts to offer an up-close and in-depth look at the life cycles of animals, insects, and plants. Listen to our interviewwith director emeritusRoy E. Disney. The photography of Secrets of Life is stunning to this day, offering an incredible time-lapse look at flowers opening, close-up shots of honeybees pollinating flowers and reproducing within the hive, and even footage of a volcano erupting. Even more amazing is the scientific understanding gained through that photography: knowledge of the secrets of adaptation and self preservation of plants, the disparate functions of bees within a colony, and the restorative function of an erupting volcano. While Perri is based on a fictional story about a precocious young squirrel, the depiction of the life and death struggle of squirrel, marten, beaver, and a host of other critters that live in Wildwood Heart is absolutely real and faithfully photographed. Academy Award-winning Nature’s Half Acre portrays the delicate balance of nature and the timeless cycle of seasons complete with birds building their nests, voracious caterpillars eating everything in sight, and a look at the carnivorous Venus Flytrap. Almost as noteworthy as the photography in all of these shorts is the carefully composed music that mirrors the onscreen actions of everything from the tapping of a woodpecker to the jerky jumps of pond frogs. A huge assortment of bonus tracks feature Roy Disney and others discussing everything from the scientist photographers involved in the sometimes yearslong filming of these nature films, to the major technological advances in photographic equipment that these films necessitated, the incredible logistics involved in filming, and a look back at the life of writer, director, and narrator Winston Hibler. Both important pieces of filmmaking history and a great selection of nature programming, the Disney True Life Adventures series DVDs come in unique collectors tins reminiscent of the stored reels of film in Disney’s archives. –Tami Horiuchi

Experience the wonder of Walt Disney’s groundbreaking nature series for the first time on DVD! These acclaimed stories, fully restored to their original beauty, offer previously unseen looks into the magical world of our animal friends. Enjoy NATURE’S MYSTERIES, the fourth volume of Disney’s award-winning TRUE-LIFE ADVENTURES. Explore some of the world’s most fascinating natural phenomena in the amazing films “Secrets of Life,” “Perri” and many more. It’s classic Disney live-action shorts at their finest!

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Walt Disney Treasures - The Adventures of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit (1927)

posted by Everything Kids 8:59 AM
Saturday, April 18, 2009

Walt Disney Treasures - The Adventures of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit

Before Mickey, there was Oswald: By 1926, Walt Disney’s first series, the live-action/animation “Alice” comedies, had run its course. Under pressure from distributor Charles Mintz and Carl Laemmle of Universal, Disney and his artists created Oswald the Lucky Rabbit in 1927. Within months, Moving Picture World praised the cartoons’ “astounding feat of jumping into first-run favor overnight.” During the “Oswald” series, Disney’s talents as an organizer and story man began to emerge; his friend and head animator Ub Iwerks designed Oswald’s appearance and imbued him with a jaunty style of movement. But in 1928, Mintz took the character away from Disney. To replace Oswald, Walt created Mickey Mouse. This important collection includes the 13 surviving silent “Oswald” shorts (of 26). Many of them feel like rough drafts for later Mickey cartoons. When Oswald enters a trans-Atlantic race in “The Ocean Hop,” the antics he performs in his airplane prefigure the ones in “Plane Crazy.” In “Sky Scrappers,” Oswald takes a job on a construction site where his girlfriend (an unnamed cat) sells box lunches, anticipating the Mickey and Minnie cartoon “Building a Building” (1933)–down to the opening shot of a dinosaur-like steam shovel at work. The silent “Oswald” shorts have rarely been seen since they were first released 80 years ago: Some viewers may grow impatient with these relatively crude cartoons, but they remain intriguing examples into Walt Disney’s early work. Leslie Iwerks’ informative documentary The Hand Behind the Mouse: The Ub Iwerks Story (1999) traces the life of her grandfather. One of the greatest talents of the silent cartoon era, Ub Iwerks animated the first Mickey shorts and “Silly Symphonies” almost single-handedly. Iwerks left Disney to start his own studio in 1930. Although it attracted an impressive array of talent, it closed in 1938. Two years later, Iwerks returned to Disney, where he won two Oscars for innovations in visual effects technology. Hand suggests that the Iwerks cartoons were too sophisticated for the era of the Hays Code. But for all his talent as an animator and technical innovator, Iwerks was not an effective director: His studio’s cartoons simply weren’t very good. Included on this disc are three “Alice” comedies, “Plane Crazy,” “Steamboat Willie,” and “The Skeleton Dance,” which showcase Iwerks’ endearingly bouncy animation. (Unrated: suitable for all ages: cartoon violence) –Charles Solomon

Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 12/11/2007 Run time: 234 minutes

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Walt Disney Legacy Collection - True Life Adventures, Vol. 3 (1955)

posted by Everything Kids 8:49 AM
Saturday, April 18, 2009

Walt Disney Legacy Collection - True Life Adventures,  Vol. 3

Long before Animal Planet existed, Walt Disney’s True-Life Adventures awakened viewers to the wonders of the natural world. Disney began the series in 1946 with Seal Island, and the six features and seven featurettes won eight Academy Awards. Listen to our interviewwith director emeritusRoy E. Disney. One winner was Bear Country (1953), which is included in Creatures of the Wild, along with The African Lion (1955), Jungle Cat (1959) and The Olympic Elk (1952). Each film traces the course of one year in the life of its subject. Lionesses hunt to feed their cubs (and their glorious but idle mates) on Serengeti Plains. A pair of jaguars in the Amazon and a mother bear in Yellowstone Park raise their cubs, teaching them to find food and avoid predators. Magnificent bull elk fight for mates in the high meadows of the Olympic Mountains. Except for the narration occasionally seeming a little forced or obvious, these documentaries wear their age lightly. The prints have been lovingly restored: scratches and dirt have been removed; the color looks pristine. Artists and scientists will find useful reference material here, and children will enjoy the pageant of nature. Sadly, many of the ecological communities that seemed as inexhaustible as they were beautiful in the 1950’s have been severely damaged during the intervening decades by human encroachment, poaching, and climate change. The two-disc set is loaded with extras, including two black-and-white Disneyland shows from the 1950’s. (Rated G, suitable for ages 6 and older: some hunting sequences may be too intense for very small children)–Charles Solomon

Experience the wonder of Walt Disney’s groundbreaking nature series for the first time on DVD! These acclaimed stories, fully restored to their original beauty, offer previously unseen looks into the magical world of our animal friends. Enjoy CREATURES OF THE WILD, the third volume of Disney’s award-winning TRUE-LIFE ADVENTURES. Journey inside the worlds of some of nature’s most magnificent creatures with “The African Lion,” “Jungle Cat,” “Bear Country” and much more. It’s an unforgettable collection of animal stories that the entire family will love.

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The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (Disney Gold Classic Collection) (1949)

posted by Everything Kids 8:46 AM
Saturday, April 18, 2009

The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (Disney Gold Classic Collection)

This 1949 Disney feature has never been available on video in its original form until now. The 68-minute film contains two shorts: The Wind in the Willows and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. The former is a lively version of Kenneth Grahame’s book of animal adventures, including Mr. Toad, a rambunctious sort with a passion for motorcars. Basil Rathbone narrates the story. Sleepy Hollow is the Washington Irving story of a stuffy schoolmaster and his ability to win the love of the fair Katrina from the brutish Brom Van Brunt. Many fans will see a resemblance to Disney’s masterpiece created some 40 years later, Beauty and the Beast, in style and story. The end is still scary enough to send youngsters under the table. Bing Crosby supplies the narration, character voices, and songs. The opening number in a library including two stories has been included in this good-looking restoration. The shorts were made in Disney’s prime, a year before Cinderella, and the look is wondrous. The exaggeration of Ichabod’s skinny frame and his slumping horse is a glorious example. –Doug Thomas

In the great tradition of SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS and CINDERELLA, Disney’s 11th animated masterpiece, THE ADVENTURES OF ICHABOD AND MR. TOAD, introduced two literary classics to the screen. Through award-winning Disney-animated wizardry, these unforgettable children’s stories come together as one fabulous adventure. THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS follows the wild ride of J. Thaddeus Toad, squire of Toad Hall. Smitten with motorcars, the wealthy and reckless sportsman soon drives his close friends Mole, Rat, and Angus MacBadger into a worried frenzy! Then meet Ichabod Crane, the spindly schoolteacher who dreams of sweeping the lovely Katrina off her feet — until Brom Bones, the town bully, gets involved. Their comic rivalry introduces Ichabod to THE LEGEND OF SLEEPY HOLLOW, the fabled Headless Horseman, and a hair-raising, heart-thumping climax. Narrated by legendary stars Basil Rathbone and Bing Crosby, THE ADVENTURES OF ICHABOD AND MR. TOAD is brimming with high-spirited adventure, brilliant animation, and captivating music — now available for the first time in keeping with Walt’s original theatrical vision.

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Star Wars Galaxies: The Complete Online Adventures

posted by Everything Kids 1:27 PM
Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Star Wars Galaxies: The Complete Online Adventures

Be the hero of your own Star Wars adventures in a galaxy far, far away. Star Wars Galaxies: The Complete Online Adventures includes Star Wars Galaxies and all of the game’s expansions, including An Empire Divided, Jump to Lightspeed, Rage of the Wookiees, and Trials of Obi-Wan, along with all of the regularly updated “Chapter” adventures that are downloaded regularly to your PC. The Complete Online Adventures is the most inclusive and immersive Star Wars Galaxies experienc (more…)

Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures

posted by Everything Kids 1:08 PM
Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures

Based on the events and characters of Robert E. Howard’s Conan the Cimmerian stories, Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures is a fantasy themed massively-multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) that immerses players in a dark, expansive universe filled with ground-breaking brutal combat, dangerously intoxicating magical abilities, and the social and cooperative game features that MMORPG players crave.The MMORPG finally maturesA troubled King Conan on his throne.View larger.Test your metal in close combat.View larger.Straddle War Mammoths & Killer Rhinos.View larger.Lead your guild in player vs. player battles.View larger.Explore the pleasures & pitfalls of the Hyborian Age.View larger.Set in the later years of Conan’s life, after he has famously become king by his own hand, the game centers around the fragile state of Conan’s rule in Aquilonia. Surrounded by enemies and hostile nations, Conan’s rule hangs by a thread and in the end, it’s up to players, either singly or backed by their guilds to turn the tide for or against the embattled king.Massively Multiplayer Gaming for the Adult Player One of the most highly anticipated MMORPGs in recent years due to the strength and familiarity of the Conan franchise across a variety of major media, Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures is the first of several releases planned for the franchise, all of which are aimed at an adult audience. Firmly rooted in the savage, bloody, violent and sexy Hyborian universe, players can expect a graphically beautiful game blended with gritty gameplay that is true to both the barbarian hero from Howard’s writings and the Schwarzenegger influenced version from books, movies and comics.Available Cultures and ClassesAlthough Age of Conan contains a wide range of peoples, its playable cultures are currently limited to Aquilonians, Cimmerians, and Stygians. Within each of these players can choose from a selection of archetypal character classes, although available classes and subsequent subclasses are not necessarily the same within each culture. For example, archetypal classes for Aquilonians and Cimmerians are Rogue, Priest and Soldier, while Stygians are represented by Rogue, Priest and Mage. Further differences exist within subclasses for each. See the basic breakdown of all three cultures below:Aquilonians: Internally divided, but united against their barbarian neighbors, the Aquilonians live lives on the edge. Their kingdom, with its prosperous cities, enlightened culture and religious freedom, is known as the “Flower of the West.” Yet for all this and despite the power of King, Conan I, it is a land where culture clashes and unrest are always a threat.Cimmerians: As the Hyborian Age comes to an end the northern barbarian clans of the Cimmerians know that the end of their time is drawing near too. King Conan I of Aquilonia is himself a Cimmerian, though not typical of his people. Although his life has been filled with wanderlust, his Kin care nothing for what occurs outside their clan territories.Stygians: Masters of the magical arts and ruled by their consuming worship of the serpent-god Set, the Stygians excel at occult and diabolic lore. They learned long ago that true power lies in knowledge and in pacts with dark powers. This single-mindedness has allowed them become the only culture to harness the secrets of the Mage class and power that comes with it.Modes Singleplayer as well as MultiplayerUnlike most MMORPGs, Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures includes a significant singleplayer experience as well as deep overarching multiplayer gameplay. This is an atypical MMORPG feature, but one that has a purpose. Players enter the game as a lowly galley slave with no memory of his/her past, and over the first five to 20 levels of singleplayer action build the skills necessary to survive in the game’s multiplayer levels. During this time you will traverse a variety of rich environments including jungles, deserts, mountains, valleys, dungeons and cities packed with NPCs, beasts and monsters, before eventually leveling up and moving back to your chosen culture’s homeland. Because the only character-related choices that players have to make at the game’s opening are their looks, clothing and culture, this singleplayer mode is important in deciding what class and subclass to pursue and thus the level of impact your character will have in greater multiplayer portions of the game.In-game levels 20 and above are strictly multiplayer. 20-40 introduce players to guilds. 40-60 deal with large scale combat. 60-80 have the player interacting with King Conan and levels 80 and up represent end-game play. Here gameplay changes as social aspects of MMORPG gameplay take over on a large scale.Real-time Combat That Takes Queues from the FPSTraditionally MMORPGs have utilized a mix of auto and turn-based functionality in their combat systems, but Age of Conan dispenses with that, instead drawing inspiration from FPS/action games. Firmly rooted in the brutality of the Hyborian universe, game developer Funcom has devised an action-based system that not only provides the sense of actually being in the fight, but also requires the player to participate in it. That means no simple targeted attacks. Players can attack and defend from nearly any position in real-time, whether on the ground or atop a mount, while standing still or on the move. It’s a recipe for carnage and one that fits right into the world of Conan.The combat system in Age of Conan comes in three forms: drunken brawling, mini games like CTF and massive Player vs. Player battles, which lets you engage in siege combat to defend or attack a city. All are easy to learn, but difficult to master, providing hours worth of play and replay value and are the core of this new cutting edge MMORPG.System Requirements:Minimum Specifications:Recommended Specifications:OS:Windows XP Service Pack 2 or Windows VistaProcessor:Intel Pentium 4 3Ghz or equivalentIntel Core 2 Duo 2.4GHz or equivalentRAM:1GB2048MB Dual Channel DDR2Video Card:NVIDIA GeForce 6600 or betterNVIDIA GeForce 7900 GTX or equivalentVideo Memory:128MB512MBDVD-ROM:Quad-speed (4x) DVD-ROM driveHard Drive Space:30GB of Free SpaceOther:Broadband connection required for online gameplay 

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