Opening this Weekend - 4/22/11

This week we have a few different genres to select from.  We have the comedy Madea's Big Happy Family, a drama with Water for Elephants, and a documentary in African Cats.  Let's take a look at their storylines.

Madea's Big Happy Family
Tyler Perry resumes his role as Madea, a grandmother and matriarch of the family, in this comedy.  Madea's niece Shirley gets bad news about her health and wants to get her children together to tell them about it as a family.  This proves troublesome because all three of her children have problems of their own.  Madea decides the only way to make this happen is to grab the reigns herself and get everyone together.  This is like the 10th Madea movie that Tyler Perry has made (does he like to dress up like a woman that much?).  I have seen none of them so I am unable to judge how this one will be.  None of them have ever appealed to me when I watched the trailers and this one is no different.  I think there is a very specific audience that would enjoy this but I am not one of them.  My Viewability Scale is reading 2 Ninja Stars out of 10.
Check out the trailer at:

http://madeasbighappyfamilymovie.com/index.html#/trailer

Water for Elephants
This movie is based on a very popular book about a veterinary student who quits his studies after his parents are killed to travel with a circus as their vet.  Robert Pattinson stars as the vet and it seems like while traveling with the circus he falls in love with one of the circus performers, Reese Witherspoon.  Christopher Waltz is also among the cast as the circus ringleader.  It looks like a love story which will have something fatally wrong befall one of the two love birds.  I think a lot of Edward fans will come to see Pattinson in this role.  The amount of tickets will then double because we all know those girls are going to drag along their boyfriends as well for a nice romantic movie.  I would say that it would get about 5 Ninja Stars out of 10 on the Viewability Scale.
Check out the trailer at:

http://www.waterforelephants.com/

African Cats
This movie is a documentary on three different cats from the land of Africa.  It follows a lion cub trying to grow up in her mother's footsteps, a mother cheetah trying to provide for her 5 cubs, and a patriarch lion as the leader of the pride defending his high place of authority.  This movie is narrated by Samuel L. Jackson so don't surprised if there are some sweet phrases being thrown out during the movie.  I wouldn't see this film in theaters but I will definitely see it when it comes out on DVD.  Even if it's not good you have to appreciate the laws of nature and the beauty of the wild.  I would give this movie4 Ninja Stars out of 10 on the Viewability Scale.
Check out the trailer at:

http://disney.go.com/disneynature/africancats/

So to recap we have:
Madea's Big Happy Family - 2 Ninja Stars
Water for Elephants - 5 Ninja Stars
African Cats - 4 Ninja Stars

Next week we have 3 movies, those being: Prom, Fast Five, and Hoodwinked: Hood vs. Evil.  If you see any of the movies above please comment in a way that doesn't ruin the movie for others.  Thank you.

-Diomedes