Half the fun of summer blockbusters is going to see them. The other half is getting to own pieces of them. With many fan favorites in circulation and still more to come, you better start divvying up your resources and figuring out which summer movie toys are the must-haves. You don’t want your kid stuck with the EpicRonin glider while his or her buddy next door has an Iron Man 3 disc blaster, right?
Iron Man 3
As the biggest opener of summer 2013, Iron Man 3 toys are an absolute must. As someone with a soft spot for hurling harmless foam discs at friends and family, the Iron Man 3 Gauntlet Disc Blaster is a winner. Then, to ramp up your innocent assault, slip on the Iron Man 3 Mission Mask, which not only packs the power to fire four missiles, but let’s you aim them using a targeting light beam, too.
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As someone who has willingly spent a chunk of the summer inside a movie theater, there’s no denying the appeal of indoor activities, but what if you could get the best of both worlds? We’ve pinpointed an assortment of movies that’ll ensure your kids feel the need to get up and go outside after enjoying some couch time– like Disney’s Planes in theaters this week!
FernGully 2.0? Perhaps a little, but director Chris Wedge’s Epic is really much more than that. After kicking off the Ice Age franchise, directing the 2005 release, Robots, and voicing Ice Age’s Scrat in between, Wedge moved on to Epic, a film inspired by William Joyce and his book The Leaf Men and the Brave Good Bugs. Epic features the voice of Amanda Seyfried as Mary Katherine, a human non-believer who shrinks down to the forest floor and is shocked to find herself face-to-face with a brigade of Leaf Men soldiers, a snail, a slug, and more creatures that should be a fraction of her size.
For the record, Chris O’Dowd and Aziz Ansari, I was totally onto you. Appropriately, the comedy duo serves as Epic’s comedic relief, Grub (O’Dowd) the snail and Mub (Ansari) the slug. When Grub isn’t dreaming of joining the ranks of the Leaf Men and Mub isn’t hitting on Mary Katherine (voice byAmanda Seyfried), the pair is in charge of keeping a very special little pod moist. It sounds like a silly job, but if that pod doesn’t bloom in the moonlight, the entire forest could wilt at the hands of the leader of the Boggans, Mandrake (voiced by Christoph Waltz).
The moment you’re famous enough that your voice becomes recognizable, the animated movie offers must come pouring in, but even after years of being in the spotlight, Epic only marks Amanda Seyfried’s very first foray into the world of voice work. She plays Mary Katherine, the daughter of Professor Bomba (voiced by Jason Sudeikis) who’s essentially given up everything for an obsessive pursuit to prove that there are tiny warriors living in the forest. Like everyone else, MK isn’t buying it, but when Queen Tara (voiced by Beyonce Knowles) has no choice but to shrink MK down to Leaf Man size so she can help save the forest, MK realizes her father’s been right all along.
After all these years, it’s surprising Colin Farrell has yet to lend his voice to an animated character, but turns out, waiting served him well because his character, Ronan, is featured in the “achingly beautiful” world that drew Farrell to Epic to begin with. Ronan is the leader of the Leaf Men and when Mandrake (voiced by Christoph Waltz) and the Boggans threaten to destroy the forest, he joins forces with the formerly human-sized Mary Katherine (voice by Amanda Seyfried), a renegade young Leaf Man, Nod (voiced by Josh Hutcherson), and a slug and a snail, Mub and Grub (voiced by Aziz Ansari and Chris O’Dowd), to ensure a very special little pod stays safe, giving them a chance to keep the terrain lush with greenery and life.
In preparation for the box office spike that’s sure to accompany the holiday weekend, we’ve got a ton of new trailers for a number of big upcoming films to note (click on the links to watch).