101 Dalmations

What would any normal person do on a normal school night with lots of stuff to do and lots of guilt-trips to suffer? Play a childhood game after midnight of course. And not just any childhood game, but a game that brings back hours of delight, stupidity, general lack of sense and direction, but also a sort of charm that kind of escapes you after you hit puberty.
I'm talking about 101 Dalmatians:The Game, of course.
The game is based on the beloved Disney story about a psychotic lady who only wants fur and believes kidnapping 101 dalmatians and slaughtering them in order to make the perfect to-die-for outfit will render her happy. Such a lovable story about fantasy and dreams, isn't it? But really now, having puppies as main characters can be a lot more entertaining than having to watch a thirteen or fourteen year-old Snow White sing into a fountain about how she wants a boyfriend. Don't get me wrong, I love Disney princesses and all the buckets plastered with their faces that are marketed off as Disney products (yes, buckets!), but it's nice to have another species on screen that can prevent one from thinking one is fatter or uglier than one really is.
That being said, this game basically takes you on a journey where you play a dalmatian and you have to save all your brothers from Cruella and also defeat the wicked Glenn Close (because you can't tell the difference anymore), all the while trying to fend off toys that will explode in your face and avoid the annoying hitmen that work for Cruella who I swear look more like printouts of those burglars from Home Alone.
There are many levels you have to go through and they're very whimsical and wacky, like one time you have to go through a logging factory, another time you have to find your way through Big Ben tower (yeah...plausible) and I also recall this magical forest done in the Alice in Wonderland style. There's actually a very peculiar chamber in that forest that allows you to go to different parts of the forest and while that does not seem strange initially, you have to see the room for yourself to get really creeped out. There's also a memorable level where you start off in a subway by the looks of it and then you end up in these sewers with a bunch of alligators and very queer Harry Potter-like chambers filled with keys and other interesting objects.
Some could argue the game tends to take on a surreal note at times, but I guess it was marketed for a certain age group so I suppose the more you grow up, the more you realize it really was created for the inner child in you who can still come up with mind-boggling scenarios like the ones in 101 Dalmations.
The graphic is pretty neat, I mean I've had this game since I was about nine or ten which was some time ago so for that period this game could be labeled as cool and maybe innovating, but since I'm not a gamer and don't know so many games from that period I might be ridiculously wrong. However, to me, this did seem like a break in the mould, if we're talking about children's games, because it wasn't geered up with too much violence, but it wasn't overly-friendly like those educational games that tried to have a moral at the end. It was just a fun-packed adventure that relied mostly on your reflexes and partly on thinking, because it wasn't and will never be a really smart game.
As a sort of conclusion, I really can't estimate if this game can still be appealing to children these days because they're really hard to please. I remember being nine and having no other wish in the world than to play this cutsy skateboarding game with Goofy as main character. But that's because expectations were lower back then. Now, I probably wouldn't be satisfied either. And yet, if 101 Dalmations can't really please kids out there anymore, it's still fun to try out, if only to enjoy those ridiculous and over-the-top scenarios that I've mentioned.
Plus, it gives you this feel-good vibe that not many childhood games can provide.
All in all, I don't regret having spent many, many hours of my childhood playing it (even though I could've, let's say, gone out to play with friends or take some exercise).

Nellie

The only thing you'll listen to all day. This woman is my future goddess.

Amreeka

A kind, gentle, hardworking Palestinian woman and her son travel to America, seeking a better future, on the backdrop of the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Even though their country has nothing to do with Al-Qeada or the events of 9/11, they are still shut out, discriminated and even bullied by some xenophobes who believe they should go home. This is a quick outline of what the movie Amreeka is portraying, but it is a vague summary that does not do justice to this little gem that I've had the fortune to watch.
Amreeka is not a political movie and does not have religious messages. It deals with problems that probably all people from the Middle East have to face once they immigrate to America. Even though most Americans no longer have this narrow-minded view on immigrants, some still harbour some very prejudiced ideas about foreigners from the Middle East.

But Amreeka is all about hope, because Muna, the struggling mother, smiles sweetly and kindly to everyone, even if they insult or laugh at her or even pity her. She suffers but she has hope and she always finds a reason to be happy, if only a little. Her excitement and passion are shown in her love for her son. She tries to do everything for him, that is why she takes this chance of going to the US so she can offer him a higher education and a better life. So when he strays from the right path because of some bullying at school and bad entourage, she tells him that he should never be ashamed of who he really is and he should stand up proud, because no one has the right to tell him he doesn't belong in America or any other place. And I think the message of the movie is just that: we are all humans, we are all the same, no matter our country and we must learn to accept and live with each other, otherwise there will always be wars. Muna is the woman who accepts everyone even if she is not always accepted and I believe that is what makes her so likeable. She is a breath of fresh air for everyone.
Cherien Dabis, the writer and director, grew up in America during the Golf War as the daughter of Jordanians and she also suffered some discrimination in her childhood so this movie is a statement of her beliefs and experiences.
The movie is an experience, a journey that one takes with Muna from Palestine, where her country is under siege, to America where she is not accepted. And still, after many obstacles, at the end Muna smiles and looks triumphant.