Trolls and Trolls World Tour have been the catch of the day in my house. I’ve got three kids – 11, 8 and 4 – and, to avoid the biggest tantrum, it’s my four-year-old who usually gets to choose what we watch. I’ll sit down with the missus and the kids. We’re our very own Trolls posse. They love all the songs. Trolls World Tour is an experiment in how the movie industry may work in the future. It was the first film due for a theatrical release to go straight to home entertainment because of all this. I’ve rented it twice already because the kids love it so much.
We have just got Disney+, so we’re rewatching all the Star Wars films. We’re seeing them in chronological order, so the three rubbish ones where Darth Vader is a boy, then the original three classics and on to the new ones. The kids don’t seem to notice the difference between the effects. They can tell that Yoda looks different when he turns into a kind of Muppet, but they think that’s just because he’s older. They painted themselves into a corner a bit with the whole Kylo Ren story. I can’t see how he could have come to any other fate, so I wasn’t surprised. There were a few holes, like the Palpatine thing. George Lucas is obviously a ledge, but I’d argue that the latest trilogy tops the classic three. No one will disagree that the prequels are the worst.
We’re really enjoying The Mandalorian, for even more Star Wars. A show with a protagonist who doesn’t say much can still be really engaging. He’s like Clint Eastwood in all those old westerns, wandering around, not really doing or saying anything. I’m also taking the kids through all 30 seasons of The Simpsons, which is great. We’re currently on season four. I’m getting to relive my favourite episodes while they discover them for the first time. We just watched Marge v the Monorail, with that fantastic monorail song where Homer comes in too late: “Mono … D’oh!” I don’t know if we’ll get to the end of 30 seasons before the lockdown is lifted, but we’re averaging four episodes a day, so we can try.
Bulletproof Series 2 and the 1-2 box set are available on DVD and online on 8 June.
