Hi and welcome to Episode Fourteen of Forecast Stormy. If you'd like to hear this information as a podcast, you may do so by visiting http://forecaststormy.libsyn.com. If you do listen to the podcast, you'll also hear DID YOU THINK by ADRINA THORPE courtesy of the Pod Safe Music Network at music.podshow.com. The song is played in its entirety at the end of the podcast.

There are a lot of new family movies out on DVD, and I was able to review two of them last week. HOODWINKED got pretty bad reviews, so I'm happy to report that it was much better than I'd expected. Starring the voices of Anne Hathaway, Glenn Close, Patrick Warburton and Andy Dick, the movie recounts the story of "Little Red Riding Hood" from the participants' various perspectives. The movie's back story and ultimate impetus for the story of Little Red Riding Hood is that a bandit has been stealing all of the recipes in the forest, including those of the Muffin Man. Red's granny is a major player in the goody business and as such becomes a major suspect as the bandit. Granted, there are things that are implausible: if you've made a certain dessert for years, do you still need the recipe? Why would all these places go out of business without their recipes? Still, one must keep in mind that this is a CARTOON. A humorous, cleverly adapted piece of animation. One criticism I read about HOODWINKED was that the animation was story-bookish. I think that was intentional given the material the animators were working with--the story was derived from a story book, and I think the animation worked well. Have you seen Tex Avery's version of LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD? That animation might be a bit dated--though, again, that was a totally cute cartoon. Back to HOODWINKED: don't write it off based on some of the reviews you might've read. This is a clever movie that even my husband enjoyed.

I wasn't expecting a lot from DR. DOOLITTLE 3, this latest sequel starring Kyla Pratt (who, by the way, does the voice of Disney's Penny Proud on THE PROUD FAMILY). The direct-to-video release is a cute movie; and if you're a fan of the former Doolittle movies, you'll probably like this one. Kyla Pratt plays Dr. Doolittle's daughter Maya. Like her dad, Maya can also hear and speak to animals. The ability is beginning to cause her a lot of problems, so her mother sends her to the Durango Dude Ranch Camp. Here the movie becomes predictable in that Maya has a conflict with another girl, the two clash over the camp owner's cute son, and the cast of characters are a bit stereotypical: fat kid, geeky kid, rich snobby kids from the neighboring camp.... The movie is also predictable in that everyone realizes his or her strengths and the group winds up working together for the greater good. Still, it's a cute movie that lends itself to the lesson of be yourself and everything will work out all right in the end.

So, on to books: In GONE by LISA GARDNER, Raine Connors' car is found...engine running, driver's side door open, purse on the passenger seat. Raine herself is gone. But where is she? Raine's husband, former FBI profiler Pierce Quincy, doesn't have to wait long for a clue. The first thing the next morning, he's confronted with a kidnapper's demand for ransom. But Quincy doesn't think money is really what the kidnapper wants. Now he and a task force is racing against the clock to meet the demands of a mind-game playing madman.

GONE is an exciting thrill-ride right up to its conclusion. I don't want to give anything away, but a minor character who was killed in the book won Gardner's "Kill a Friend, Maim a Buddy" contest and elected to have someone with her name slain in the novel. Cool concept, huh? If you'd like to enter the sweepstakes and have yourself or someone you know killed or maimed in an upcoming novel, visit http://www.lisagardner.com/.

I also read YOU’RE WEARING THAT?: UNDERSTANDING MOTHERS AND DAUGHTERS IN CONVERSATION by DEBORAH TANNEN. In this book, Dr. Tannen, a linguist at Georgetown University, examines why conversations between mothers and daughters can be such powder kegs. She explains that since these conversations have gone on for all of the daughter’s life, each conversation is filled with metamessages—whether intended or unintended—in addition to what is actually said. For instance, if a mom asks her daughter, “Is that what you’re wearing?” it would imply the mom disapproved of her daughter’s clothes, especially if she has consistently been critical of her daughter’s clothing choices in the past. This book is meant to aid mothers and daughters in their relationships—it would work better, of course, if both read the book. However, I’m reluctant to share the book with my mother because it would imply to her that I think she needs to change in order to improve our relationship. Still, I can take what I’ve learned from Dr. Tannen and try to control my reactions to those metamessages and avoid sending my own. If you’d like more information on YOU’RE WEARING THAT?, check out Dr. Tannen’s Web site at http://www.deborahtannen.com/. There you can read articles and hear interviews on the topic.

As always, if you have any ideas for me, or any movies, books or TV shows to recommend, please e-mail me at [email protected]. Thanks for joining me!