I’ve been watching some of my favorite childhood movies lately–with and without my children–and have come to the sad realization that some of them have not withstood the test of time.  Mary Poppins, happily, is not one of them.  I popped it in the DVD player and felt some surprise that I had not already introduced my children to the movie.

I’d never watched the movie in Spanish before, though I remember my friends and I trying to say “supercalifragilísticoespialidoso” as fast as we could when I was little.  My boys and I watched it in Spanish and though I kept wanting to sing along in English, I was surprised at how much I liked the Spanish version of the songs and appreciated the creative lyrics, like “Al compás” for “Step in Time.”

I loved experiencing the Blu-Ray version on my huge TV–I definitely never watched it that way as a child.  That was a huge treat, as was watching my children finally get to experience “una de las películas favoritas de Mamá cuando era niña”.

The Giveaway!

We’re giving away one copy of Disney’s Mary Poppins 50th Anniversary Edition DVD to one lucky winner. All you have to do is leave us a comment telling us your favorite Marry Poppins song to sing along to. Then, enter the Rafflecopter below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Walt Disney Animated Studios’ newest blockbuster princess movie, FROZEN, opens today in theatres everywhere, just in time for the Thanksgiving weekend!

We got the chance to see it a few weeks ago and all I can say is that it lives up to all the fabulousness you can already imagine and expect it is coming from the team that created “Tangled” and “Wreck-It Ralph.”

Inspired on Hans Christian Andersen’s fairytale The Snow Queen, Disney created a spectacular and epic animated musical that’s full of comedy, magical moments, and morals. Anna and Elsa are no ordinary princesses as their sisterhood and inner values are put to the test and they both find out that the best way to live is without fear and from the heart.

But what really matters is what my daughter Camila (6) thought of her now favorite movie of all times!

And as a special Thanksgiving treat, click here to download a folder full of “Frozen” coloring and activity sheets featuring Anna, Elsa, Olaf, Kristoff, Sven and Hans. Have fun!

We felt fortunate to have the pleasure of chatting a bit during a roundtable with the talented and funny actress, comedian, voice artist, producer writer and now mom of 2 young boys, Amy Poehler. Amy is the starring voice of Jenny, a strong female turkey character and natural leader who falls in love with Reggie (the main character turkey), in the movie “FREE BIRDS.”

During the interview we got to know a little more about Amy and a side of her that we don’t usually get to see, being a mom. Free Birds centers on Thanksgiving and the holiday season, so we asked her about her plans for the holiday season, and also asked if she or her family have any traditions they keep or new traditions they have recently started. Amy’s response, “I like to cook. I don’t get to do it as much as I’d like, but I like it. I feel like holidays in general–correct me if I’m wrong, are becoming really loose in a good way. I feel like everybody’s deciding how they want it to be. Especially when you have your own family, you kind of get to decide how you want to spend your holiday, like what suddenly is important. I like watching movies with my kids on Thanksgiving night. That’s always a really fun thing, especially showing them a movie they’ve never seen is always really fun.”

When asked about her career and motherhood and how she feels is the best way to “juggle” between each. Amy replied by saying, “Just kind of figuring out what is good for you. What works for you is what works. Everybody’s thing is different. And especially as you go on, you learn what things are important to you, what things fall away, and that you shouldn’t listen to anybody’s advice, and don’t worry about what anybody says. Do your thing. Whatever works for you and your family is the right thing.”

Amy then opened up and honestly told us about her most embarrassing “mom fail.” “Oh, Gosh. Sometimes, I forget where I’m driving them to. That happens, right?”

Our last question focused on reading to her kids. We asked, “Are there things that you like to read to your kids, or is reading something you like to do for yourself?” Amy replied, “We read all the time. They love books. It’s fun to read to them. Especially when you’re a working mother, it feels like a really good day to connect at the end of the night, to talk to them without forcing them to talk to you.”

Don’t miss Amy’s animated performance in FREE BIRDS from Relativity Media and Reel FX Animation Studios in Theaters on November 1, 2013. And check out our interview with Woody Harrelson and Owen Wilson!

You can also visit the official website Like FREE BIRDS on Facebook. Subscribe on YouTube and Follow @FreeBirdsMovie on Twitter and Instagram #FreeBirds

Carla Gutierrez was born in Lima, Peru. She is the founder of Notas De Mama a Spanish blog created for Hispanic moms living in the United States. At Notas de Mamá Carla shares her daily life, family outings, recipes, product reviews and DIY projects. She enjoys crafting and decorating her home, while challenging herself to do it on a budget. Carla loves being a wife and a mom, and raising her 3 year old son in sunny California. She loves teaching her son about the Peruvian and American cultures, and is proud that at age 3 he is fully bilingual. Connect with Carla @notasdemama .

Disney Home Entertainment is at it again with their adorable team of superhero dogs. Disney’s Super Buddies is sure to be a hit with your small kids. Packed with adventure, these furry friends band together to fight crime and learn some valuable lessons along the way.

My three year old daughter is obsessed with animals, so this family film was perfect for her. Being her first exposure to the Buddies franchise, she was equally enthralled by their speaking abilities and out-of-this-world cuteness. With a fun mix of suspense and positive messaging, I enjoyed watching Super Buddies with her too. Each dog has a personality that is personified from their owner, five friends who are fighting an alien invasion that threatens to take over Earth. An ordinary day at Fernfield Farms turns extraordinary when the talking puppies discover mysterious rings that grant them each a unique super power. The rings each grant them super powers that help the pups save the day, but not before learning a valuable – “You don’t need super powers to be a super hero!”.

Super Buddies is released August 27 and is voiced by some veteran talents. The ‘Buddies’ voices include Cooper Roth Grader”)  who voices B-Dawg; Tenzing Trainor (TV’s “Stevie TV” ) who voices Buddha; Jeremy Shinder (TV’s “Louie,” “Newlyweeds”) who voices Budderball; Ty Panitz (“Because I Said So,” “How To Eat Fried Worms”) who voices Mudbud; and G. Hannelius (TV’s “Good Luck Charlie,” TV’s “Sonny With A Chance”) who voices Rosebud.

“Disney’s beloved and adorable ‘Buddies’ are back in a hilarious all-new movie for the whole family — ‘SUPER BUDDIES’ debuts August 27, 2013, on Bluray Combo Pack and DVD.  An action-packed canine adventure, ‘Super Buddies’ stars the world’s most adorable talking puppies – Rosebud, B-Dawg, Budderball, Buddha and Mudbud, as caped crusaders em’barking’ on their biggest adventure ever.”

The Giveaway!

We are giving away one copy of Disney’s Super Buddies to FIVE lucky winners! All you have to do is leave us a comment letting us know who you’d like to share this movie with. The, enter the Rafflecopter below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

One the endearing characters of the film is Dottie the mechanic, voiced by Teri Hatcher. Unfortunately, Teri was not feeling well (she was really sick!) and was not able to attend with us in person. However, she graciously phoned in for a conference call to answer all our questions on her experience voicing Dottie, her thoughts on “Planes” and even a little but about motherhood. Here are some of my favorite parts of this hour long conversation with Teri Hatcher, voice of Dottie the mechanic…

How is it playing an animated character versus an actress in a movie or on TV?

Teri: Having done a few of them now, and then a little bit of a range of voice characters in different projects, you know, I think initially, when you sort of imagine or fantasize about getting to be a part of a big Disney movie- at least as I did in, in my acting career before I had the opportunity- you kinda think you’re gonna end up doing some sort of cartoony, you know, squirrel voice or something, and which is really fun and would be fun to do. I think, for this character- for Dottie, you know, I’m being as authentic and trying to be as persuasive, and as empathetic, and listening, and just feeling from the emotions all the same sorts of traits in a character that I would have if you were filming my face and my body. The sort of divergence, I guess, is that I get to show up not in hair and makeup; not worrying about any physicality, and really just, you know, relaxing into my voice, and and just trying to tell the story through my voice.

Can you share with us your favorite part of “Planes”?

Teri: So I love [it] all, everything in it, but I think, my favorite scene for me of, for my character and what just makes me makes me laugh remembering the journey of filming it was the scene where Dottie is first telling him that he can’t he can’t fly, and then she just sort of does this demonstration of what’s gonna happen to him if he doesn’t fly. You know, he’s gonna go to the ground and smash all the kids in the orphanage.  It just, it makes me laugh and when I watch it with a group of people, everybody laughs, and so I guess that’s one of my favorites.

What was your daughter’s reaction to hearing that you were doing this role?

Teri: Oh, her first reaction is, I wanna be a voice animator! It’s a pretty fun job, I’ve gotta say. I also did all the mom voices in Coraline, and so I guess that was really my daughter’s first exposure to seeing her mom, or hearing her mom put a personality behind the image of a character. She’s just proud of everything I do.

What was it like being offered a Disney film?

Teri: Getting offered a Disney movie, one of your first thoughts is thinking, my child is going to love this, or my grandchild is going to love this. Or even my great grandchild when I am long gone is going to love this.  That is the quality that Disney offers.  I feel like kids even 50 years from now will still be entertained by Planes with their families.  That is pretty fun!  Voicing Dottie is a great way to be a little part of a movie that is going to bring joy to families all over the world.

The world of “Planes” is soaring above us and is scheduled to land on August 9th. During my Behind the Scenes visit at DisneyToon Studios, I got to catch up with two people that helped bring it all together: Director Klay Hall and Producer Traci Balthazor-Flynn. While I sincerely enjoyed screening the film and am excited to take my daughter to see it again, meeting these two film makers was definitely the highlight of #DisneyPlanesEvent. Little did I know that, as they welcomed our group to the pre-screening of the film, we were the first viewing of the final cut of Planes. How crazy is that! Later, Planes Director admitted that having “fresh eyes” on the finished film was kind of “nauseating”. That vulnerability is what, I think, makes this Disney movie extra special.

Meeting Disney Planes Director and Producer

The making of Planes took Disney a whopping four years, but Director Klay Hall has had a lifetime of appreciating the mechanics and beauty of them. Although he prefers trains best, being the son of a Navy pilot and having spent hours at airshows as a child, Klay Hall knows his way around a plane. To fully appreciate the experience that main character Dusty encounters in the film, Director Klay Harris and Producer Traci Balthazor-Flynn were flown out to the USS Carl Vinson where they were able to spend a couple of days with the men and women onboard. These filmmakers made every effort to ensure the movie retained authenticity to the experiences portrayed. It was a joy chatting with these two, as their enthusiasm and love for the project was evident.

Disney Planes Embraces Global Perspectives

With her soft spoken nature and henna covered wings, Indian plane Ishani was an instant favorite of mine. Planes’ main character, Dusty, was also quite smitten with her. Of course, I can’t wait to introduce SpanglishBaby readers to the wildly hilarious and equally charming, El Chupacabra – Dusty’s friend from Acapulco, Mexico. I have to admit, hearing his familiar accent with glimpses of Spanglish in a Disney film brought up many emotions. Hopefully characters like El Chu will continue to pop up on mainstream Disney films in the future!

However, what impressed me the most in our conversation with Planes filmmakers was their effort to “localize” Rochelle, the French- Canadian Plane (and El Chu’s romantic pursuit). This effort is the first of its kind for Disney studios, and one that I am excited to see done more of in future movies. Director Klay Harris explained the character of Rochelle was chosen because, although she is important to the storyline, her impact isn’t crucial to the outcome of movie. Filmmakers thought her character was perfect to “localize”, by changing her appearance and voice according to which country the film was being shown in. The concept of changing Rochelle’s colors is called “reskin” and well-known, local actresses were casted to voice her part. Rochelle will be “localized” in 8 different countries and I can’t wait to see the many versions of her!

My full review of Planes will be coming soon. I can’t wait to share more about this fun new Disney film! In the meantime, to learn more about the August 9th release of Disney’s Planes by liking Disney Planes on Facebook or by following on Twitter.

Disney’s new animated film PLANES hits theaters August 9th ! To celebrate we are sharing with you 11 PLANES themed printables for our kids to enjoy. You can check out a sneak peek of the making of PLANES here.

Click here for 11 printable PLANES activity sheets.

Disney’s new animated film “PLANES” is landing into theaters on August 9th, but SpanglishBaby readers get a first look at a behind the scenes making of the world above “Cars.” Disney invited us into their DisneyToon Studios for a full day of learning and to experience how our favorite films are made. We also got to preview the movie, which will surely be a family favorite! It was definitely one of mine. Not to worry, complete review will be coming soon!

If you’ve ever had a chance to visit the DisneyToon Studios, you were likely as in awe as I was. Right now, the entire lobby is decorated to resemble a landing strip, with Dusty and his friends hanging out at the hanger. The walls are lined with artwork created by Disney artists from many years past. It was like a walk down memory lane!

After escorting us into a private movie theater to premiere the final cut of “Planes,” we were invited to learn how Disney Storyboard Artists bring the script of “Planes” to life through sketch drawings, that are eventually made into animation, but we’ll get to that later. Art Hernandez is one of the lucky guys that helps mold a Disney movies – from script to movie screen. Art explained to us how the storyboard process for Disney animated movies takes anywhere between 1 to 2 years and 40-50,000 story panels because they are essentially creating a template for all the departments to follow. The Story Artists are also responsible for pitching the sketches and “selling the scene” to directorsm, making their jobs instrumental in developing the characters we have all come to love.

While meeting with Art, I got the sense that he really loved his job and, after I asked him if he was like a kid in a candy store, he opened up to us a little bit about how he achieved all this success. Born and raised in Los Angeles, Art always knew he wanted to be an artist. He loved to draw and was grateful for the influences in his life that pushed him to succeed. When asked what his number one tip that moms can do to help their child’s passion for drawing and art? “Provide lots of encouragement, opportunity for practice and many different kinds of materials. You never know what art form you’ll love best until you try!”

After story boards have been walked through, voice overs have been recorded, it was time to begin animating the film. Ethan Hurd is the Assistant Animation Director, having worked on Disney movies since “Toy Story 2,” he was very kind and patient with all my questions. I must have asked him a dozen times how a character was created from rough drawing to the animated version we were looking at, but I still don’t understand! The amount of technical precision and art within the DisneyToon studios is mind boogling. Ethan uses a program called Autodesk MAYA 3D to fill out the movie’s animation. He explained to us how he first will go through a scene and create broad strokes of animation after which he would then concern himself with the subtle animation. As he explained, the subtle animation is crucial to emote feeling and to help viewers connect with a character. In “Planes,” he noted that this was especially difficult because, without arms or hands, Ethan only has the eyes/eyebrows of the planes to create a sentiment.

I can’t wait to share more about this fascinating experience at DisneyToon Studios and the upcoming PLANES film. As always, it was an honor to represent SpanglishBaby!

You can follow PLANES on Facebook or check them out on Twitter to recieve up to date information on the film, which will land into theatres on August 9th.

When I read the premise of Dreamwork’s new family movie, Delivery Man, I kinda rolled my eyes because it just sounded so ridiculous. Doesn’t a story starring Vince Vaughn as an unlikely father of 533 children he helped conceive through anonymous donations to a fertility clinic 20 years ago sound just a bit too far out there?

It definitely is. But then I gave the trailer a chance and guess what happened? I laughed…and laughed…y me reí un poco más.

Now I’m looking forward to its November 22nd premiere because few trailers can tickle my funny bone like this one that’s making its grand debut today simultaneously on 533 parenting blogs across the U.S. — including this one!

**Note that we usually don’t post about PG13 movies, but this one is and not suitable for kids.**

“Like” DELIVERY MAN on Facebook.

Despicable Me 2 hits theaters next Wednesday, July 3rd! The sequel picks up with Gru (Steve Carrel) trying to survive life as an ex-villain and new family man. Gru is now father to Margo, Edith and Agnes. But just as Gru was getting used to his new life he gets a surprise visit. Lucy Wilde (Kristen Wiig), an agent for a secret organization dedicated to fighting evil, attempts to recruit Gru to help catch a mysterious villain whose identity they dont know yet. The rest is a fun-filled journey with more minion madness than ever before and the return of an old villain turned good guy from Gru’s day, El Macho (Benjamin Bratt).

Despicable Me 2 is the perfect family movie to kick off the Fourth of July weekend. There are laughs for adults and kids alike as well as music that everyone will enjoy. Since we had the chance to ask some of the actors behind the lovable characters about their inspiration for their characters, the overall movie,  and how they’ve enjoyed the movie as viewers, we want to share some of their fun and insightful responses below.

Family

“Mi kids dig it… I think the film is in truth aimed at everyone. And as it happens I was a huge fan of that first film and I went and saw that film with my wife as a date movie — I didn’t even bring my kids. Subsequent to that they’ve become huge fans of the first one, watching it over and over again on DVD.” - Benjamin Bratt

“There are certain things that struck me about the story. One, that Gru is looking, he’s searching, for what he’s going to do and …ultimately he is looking for something that will fulfill him, which I think is a relatable thing for parents because when you do have kids, I’ve found, it becomes all about the kids and it’s very easy to lose your sense of self within that and you do kind of have to keep your career and that side of it intact. I think that ultimately makes you a better parent as well.”  - Steve Carell

“Ken has threee kids. I have three kids. … I think it’s kind of like every man is the villain until he has kids and then they soften us up. But it’s also, how am I going to rule the world with these three little monsters always around me? Always asking me for juice. I can’t do it! So absolutely we draw from [our experiences.]” - Cinco Paul & Ken Daurio (Writers of Despicable Me 2)

The Music of Despicable Me 2

On the inspiration for the Despicable Me 2 song “Happy.”

“What about the happier side of things?…. Us as a species, we needed to go to a lighter place. And I think that these guys ingeniously sort of predicted that this is where it would go, and they actually used Gru — the guy who was least likely … to ever be happy about something. They chose him to be the guy with a really good mood and attitude. I was just so happy, pun intended, to express that for him.” – Pharrell Williams

“I loved the music. I’m one of those people that really pays attention to music in films. And the first time that I saw this movie I said oh my gosh it’s so different and it’s Pharell and its modern and the music in the second one I think is so, so good … It kind of sets a different tone for the movie. How do you not like Pharell?” – Kristen Wiig

The Appearance of El Macho 

On the new character “El Macho” and the inspiration behind his creation.

“Well as you know my name is Cinco. I was born on Cinco de Mayo…. Because my name is Cinco and I grew up in Phoenix I had a lot of exposure to Latin culture ….I think that inspired this idea. This villian “El Macho” I think that the name came first and everything else came after that and we loved the idea of this villain.”

Ken: “El Macho, the scary intimidating Latino guy is basically my father-in-law… [He's] from Argentina. We did have his name ‘El Macho’ and we thought Gru just wants to be cool he wants to be mister have-it-all-going-on so what’s the exact opposite of that? The opposite of that is super macho who has it all together and so it just kind of evolved. The name ‘Macho’ took us to that place.”