Who's The Boss? Reviews

Brother's All Natural Crisps

When I was contacted to try and review some flavors of the Brother's All Natural Fruit Crisps and try their new Potato Crisps, I jumped at the chance.  We've been big fans of the Pear Crisps for a while now.

The crisps come in self contained snack bags making it easy for this working mom on the go to dole out a healthy snack.  With zero fat and barely any calories, I never have to worry about spoiling dinner when I had these out to my family.  My son loves them - but so do the rest of us.

We were sent four bags of snacks - Apple Crisps, Peach Crisps, and two flavors of Potato Crisps.  My son did not like the potato crisps and I was thrilled.  It meant more for me.  The potato crisps have a similar texture to baked Lays - but with a ton more flavor and zero fat.  I loved them to satisfy my "salty" craving.

Apple Crisps were a hit with the whole fam - we polished off the bag in about zero point two three seconds.  Unfortunately, the Peach Crisps didn't pack enough flavor for us.  The crisps were very bland tasting, unlike other crisps we have tried.  It is a new flavor for Brother's All Natural and I hope they go back to the drawing board to get more peachy-ness in those peaches. 

Overall, the snacks are wonderful.  The are no fat, low calories, freeze dried, real fruit (or potato) snacks.  The only thing better would be eating the real deal - a piece of fresh fruit.  But for any working mother driving to and fro all over town, these snack bags have a lot less mess.  And I don't have to worry about an apple going rotten in the heat of a summer day.

I hope they start coming out with Organic options too!

Movie Review: Nim's Island

  Nim's Island is children's movie slash adventure movie slash attempt at romantic comedy all rolled into one.  The premise of the movie is a tad bit difficult for a child to wrap their head around as it often feels like two separate story lines that attempt to come together in the last 10 minutes of the movie.

It starts with meeting Nim, an 11 year old girl, who lives on a secret island with her widowed father.  Her father spends most of his time away studying plankton while Nim "learns" about life through her animal friends and her love of reading Indiana Jones-esque adventure novels.  When her father decides to take a 2-day trip to study plankton, Nim insists on staying behind at the island to help her sea turtle friend hatch eggs.  The first night away, there is a terrible storm and her father is lost to sea.  Leaving Nim all alone on her private island. 

Cut to meeting Alexandra Rover, the agoraphobic author of the book's Nim loves, who is having writer's block on her latest "Alex Rover" novel.  She comes across an article written by Nim's father and decides to email him about the volcano on her island in order to develop her plot line.  Nim responds to the email and the two strike up a email conversation. 

After another night of her father not returning and a cruise ship finding the island to use as a tourist destination, Nim desperately emails Alex Rover to come save her and her island.  Alexandra then has to conquer her fears to get half way across the world to save Nim. 

There is a lot of slapstick comedy that keep my son entertained.  The storm scene did mildly frighten him but it was over quickly.  The shots from the island often felt like they were stolen from a moder-day Swiss Family Robinson set.  I doubt that my son realized the message of conquering your fears. 

At times, it does try to tell too many stories (the relationship between a tween girl and her father, the recluse writer's struggle to come out, Nim’s quest to save her island from exploitation), but I found all of this forgivable.   Afterall, it's the farting sea lion and flying lizards that will leave a lasting impact on my son.

Nim’s Island isn’t the perfect movie by far, and there are some moments that might annoy anyone over the age of ten.  All in all, I say it is a great family film.