a coastal christmas

Moody Gardens makes holidays bright with dazzling shows, lights, cruises, and more

Houstonians looking to celebrate the holidays and toast the new year have a one-stop shop at Moody Gardens in Galveston.

Winter holiday fun starts with A Christmas Wish: Holiday Spectacular. Created in partnership with Mirage Entertainment, this one-hour extravaganza is a rich tapestry of live musical theater-style songs, dynamic dance performances, daring stunts, and acrobatics, interlaced with comedic moments and a heartwarming holiday narrative.

A blend of Broadway and Cirque du Soleil, the show aims to enrapture audiences of all ages with its captivating visual and special effects. Guests can indulge in light snacks, explore all of Moody Gardens' attractions, and take in a dinner show performance

Admission to the show includes admission to the popular Festival of Lights, an illuminated walking trail illuminated with 2 million lights themed to holiday music.

Moody Gardens holiday Moody Gardens decks out for the holidays. Photo courtesy of Moody Gardens

Families will delight in the Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer in 4D film, along with other holiday flicks in 3D. Swoosh down the Arctic Slide, catch a train ride, and enjoy that most popular of campfire cuisine, s'mores.

New Year’s fun, cruises, and more

One of the island's top attractions has multiple options, including the New Year's Palooza, NYE Silver Celebration celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Moody Gardens Hotel, a New Year's Eve Cruise, or a fine five-star dinner at Shearn’s.

Taking place all weekend long, New Year's Palooza is a multi-day party with games, tasty food, and activities for all ages.

Check out the entertainment in the Convention Center. No celebration would be complete without fireworks, which illuminate the sky over Offatts Bayou. The celebration concludes with a kids' New Year's Countdown and Beach Ball Drop, while adults can raise a toast with sparkling cider and bubbly. When the calendar flips to January 1, there's breakfast, games, activities, and a Mimosa and Bloody Mary Bar.

Colonel Paddlewheel boat on the water. Moody Garden's New Year's Palooza includes a series of events, including performances, dinners and more. Enjoy a performance of A Christmas Wish: Holiday Spectacular stroll through the Festival of Lights, set sail on the Colonel Paddlewheel, and enjoy an elegant dinner at Shearn's. Moody Gardens

Photo courtesy of Moody Gardens

Moody Gardens Festival of Lights blends holiday with coastal charm.

Moody Garden's NYE Silver Celebration is a sophisticated, adults-only soiree. The Mambo Jazz Kings headline the show, where guests can ring in the New Year with dancing. The celebration also includes appetizers and an iconic champagne toastat midnight.

Guests who reserve their table at Shearn’s on New Year’s Eve can feel like VIPS. They'll indulge in a five-star meal and take in the fireworks display from the restaurant's panoramic 9th floor. The dinner package also includes tickets to the NYE Silver Celebration.

Those looking for something that feels like a trip back in time will enjoy the Colonel Paddlewheel boat's New Year's Eve Cruise, where guest will have a waterfront view of the Festival of Lights displays complemented by music, dance, gourmet hors d'oeuvres, and two complimentary drink vouchers. A midnight Champagne toast completes the evening.

Those spending the New Year's holiday at the hotel, or those wishing to drop by for a day or two, can also take part in the rest of the attraction's festivities.

Reservations and more information can be found on the Moody Gardens website.

Movie Review

Despicable Me sequel Minions & Monsters keeps franchise's goofy vibe

Photo courtesy of Illumination & Universal Pictures

Henry and James in Minions & Monsters.

The Despicable Me franchise is one of the most enduring of the 21st century, now reaching its seventh film in the past 16 years with the release of Minions & Monsters. The Minions, which were originally mere sidekicks to the supervillain Gru, have now arguably become the face of the franchise, even more so when they get their own movie.

Minions & Monsters purports to give even more history for the little yellow pill-shaped beings who want nothing more than to serve bad guys. Instead of fan favorites like Kevin, Stuart, and Bob leading the way, this film features James, a Minion who can’t stop causing chaos, and his best friend, Henry (all Minions are voiced by series creator Pierre Coffin).

After a prologue showing the Minions teaming up with various baddies over centuries, the group shows up in early 20th century Hollywood, gaining attention from filmmakers like Max (Christoph Waltz) and producer brothers Frank and Edward (both voiced by Jeff Bridges). They quickly rise up the ranks, with adventures coming to involve actress Debbie (Zoey Deutch), robot Dort (Jesse Eisenberg), and a Cthulhu named Goomi (Trey Parker).

Co-directed by Coffin and Patrick Delage and co-written by Coffin and Brian Lynch, the film is the loosest one of the franchise to date, using a barely-there story as an excuse to have the Minions engage in as much mayhem as possible. The prologue is the most successful part of the film, as they meet a cyclops, wizard, bank robber, and more, with each sequence getting wilder and funnier.

The 90-minute film is just as interested in entertaining kids with its craziness as it is in giving adults references to early film history. Among the films and actors that get shout-outs are the first-ever movie, The Horse in Motion, Georges Méliès’ A Trip to the Moon, Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, and more. Whether including those historical relics will have kids wanting to seek out the real deals is questionable, but at least it shows the filmmakers know they owe a debt to the greats of the past.

The second half of the film becomes less coherent as the Minions split into different factions. James, Henry, and a hard-of-hearing Minion named Ed go in one direction to make a monster movie, while a larger group led by their antagonist named Dick goes in another. There’s no real purpose to either side’s journey other than to serve up laughs through the Minionese language (which seems to lean toward Spanish, as one scene acknowledges) and their antics.

Anyone purposefully going to a Minions movie likely enjoys Coffin’s performance of each character, each of which is subtly different. The rest of the cast, while star-laden, never truly sounds like the actors portraying them, which is strange when you have distinctive voices like Waltz, Bridges, and Eisenberg. The only people who stand out are Allison Janney as the narrator, Bobby Moynihan, and a cameo by George Lucas.

While Minions & Monsters doesn’t offer up an overly compelling reason for existing, it’s also harmless fun that has the side benefit of exposing kids to bits of film history that they might not have known existed. It also tries something different from the tried-and-true format of previous films, and experimentation should be appreciated even if it’s not fully successful.

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Minions & Monsters opens in theaters on July 1.

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Movie Review

Despicable Me sequel Minions & Monsters keeps franchise's goofy vibe