The Thanksgiving break is winding down and it's time to get serious about watching Christmas stuff.
The TV Column will be on vacation Tuesday, so I wanted to be sure to alert you to a swell family special from Disney/Pixar.
Toy Story That Time Forgot is a spankin' new holiday offering featuring all our favorite characters from the Toy Story universe. The half hour animated special airs at 7 p.m. Tuesday and stars the voices of Tom Hanks as Woody, Tim Allen as Buzz Lightyear and Kristen Schaal as Trixie the triceratops.
The adventure begins at a post-Christmas play date between Bonnie and Mason. When Bonnie arrives with Woody and the gang in tow, Mason is deeply involved with his new present, the latest super interactive video game system.
That means all his other new toys are being ignored, including a complete set of Battlesaurs, "the ultimate dinosaurs." Ultimate? Yeah, ultimately delusional.
Since they've never been played with, the armored Battlesaurs have no idea they are mere toys. Instead, they believe they are a hierarchical society inhabiting a hostile planet.
When Bonnie joins Mason to play video games, Trixie sees an opportunity to finally get to be a dinosaur as she and the others greet the Battlesaurs. While Trixie is falling for the hunky Battlesaur leader Reptillus Maximus (Kevin McKidd) and Rex (Wallace Shawn) is finally getting the opposable thumbs he deserves, the rest of the team is sent to the Arena of Woe to await death in gladiatorial combat at the hands of the Battlesaur Cleric.
Oh, the tension. It's all up to Trixie to rescue her friends from the Battlesaurs. Can she do it?
Other voices include Timothy Dalton as Mr. Pricklepants, Don Rickles as Mr. Potato Head and Joan Cusack as cowgirl Jessie.
• On tonight. Meanwhile, there's still time tonight, in the waning hours of this Thanksgiving break, to catch a couple of outstanding animated movies if you missed them when they first came out.
I usually miss every film when it first comes out. I can't recall the last movie for which I shelled out the big bucks to sit in a theater. Some enjoy the big screen "theater experience" and will watch movies only there. I prefer the comfort of my den.
Both films air on ABC Family and are suitable for the entire family. Correction: Both should be suitable for most families. I got a vitriolic scolding once when I had the temerity to assume my family's tastes were the same as all families. The show I recommended contained the casually tossed off phrase "damn it" and that's a deal breaker for some.
First up at 5 p.m. is Brave. The 2012 Disney film tells the tale of the feisty red-headed Merida (voice of Kelly Macdonald), a skilled archer and daughter of King Fergus (Billy Connolly) and Queen Elinor (Emma Thompson) of the kingdom of DunBroch in Scotland.
The impulsive and headstrong Merida is determined to make her own way in life, so she defies the age-old marriage customs of the land, inadvertently unleashing chaos in the kingdom.
Merida must then call upon all of her skills and resources (including her mischievous triplet brothers) to undo a bear of a curse before it's too late. And, of course, she discovers the meaning of true bravery along the way.
The film is rated PG "for some scary action and crude humor."
Despicable Me follows Brave at 7 p.m. It's also rated PG "for crude humor and mild action."
The 2010 film comes from Universal Pictures and Illumination Entertainment and stars the voice of Steve Carell as megalomaniac supervillain Gru. Gru has an army of "ruthless, menacing" (wink, wink) little yellow minions. They steal the show.
The drama ensues when rival villain Vector (Jason Segal) steals the Great Pyramid of Giza, causing Gru to try to top that by shrinking and stealing the moon. But his plans are foiled by three orphaned girls (Miranda Cosgrove, Dana Gaier and Elsie Fisher) who Gru adopts (under false pretenses) with plans to use them in his scheme.
Other voices in the film belong to Julie Andrews, Russell Brand, Danny McBride, Will Arnett, Kristen Wiig, Mindy Kaling, Jemaine Clement and Jack McBrayer.
The music is by Pharrell Williams.
• Gone, returning. Well, there's bad news and there's good news. Or good and gooder news if you didn't like The Millers.
CBS has axed the Will Arnett/Margo Martindale sitcom after only four episodes of Season 2. Nov. 17 was the last episode. The ratings had plunged from a season premiere of 8.93 million to 6.48 million, proving that airing behind (the since moved) Big Bang Theory was all that was propping the comedy up.
However, fresh episodes from Season 5 of Mike & Molly are being sent to the 7:30 Monday void starting Dec. 8. Meanwhile, four reruns from last season will air Dec. 1 just to kill time.
Mike & Molly stars Melissa McCarthy and Billy Gardell.
• Longmire lives. A&E canceled Longmire after Season 3, but Netflix has saved the day, inking a deal to stream a 10-episode Season 4 sometime next year.
The TV Column appears Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. Email:
mstorey@arkansasonline.com
Style on 11/30/2014