Munchkin Mozart Magic Cube

Music stimulates the brain and encourages early learning skills. This interactive cube lets children choose from any combination of five different instruments--harp, French horn, piano, flute, and violin--to collaborate on eight Mozart tunes. A solo flute might play an excerpt from "Ah! Vous Dirai-je, Maman (Twinkle, Twinkle)," or a French horn intone a theme from The Marriage of Figaro. Other choices include "Country Dance #5," "Come Sweet May," "Der Vogelfanger" (from The Magic Flute), "March in D," "Landler," and "Là Ci Darem la Mano" (from Don Giovanni). Press the "orchestra" button and hear all the instruments play together. As the songs play, each selected instrument button flashes to the beat. The sound is not orchestral quality, but you get a fair electronic approximation of each instrument. Operates on three AA batteries (not included). --Tami Horiuchi

Spinmaster Air Hogs Havoc Heli

With the world's record for the smallest remote-controlled helicopter, the Air Hogs Havoc Heli goes where no other flying object can. Recommended for ages eight and up, this incredible little R/C heli from Spinmaster is easy and fun for kids of all ages -- even grown up ones

The 24 Movie

Such a simple idea--yet so fiendishly complex in the execution. 24, as surely everyone knows by now, is a thriller that takes places over 24 hours, midnight to midnight, in 24 one-hour episodes (well, 45-minute episodes if you subtract the commercials). Everything takes place in real time, which means no flashbacks, no flash-forwards, no handy time-dissolves. Every strand of the plot has to be dovetailed and interlocked so things happen just when they should, in the right amount of time. Not that easy.
Creator Robert Cochran and his team of writers and directors have done an impressive job of putting the jigsaw together and keeping the tension ratcheted up high, as federal agent Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) runs around L.A. trying to stall an assassination attempt on an African American presidential candidate and rescue his wife and daughter from the clutches of the Balkan baddies. Twists, turns, revelations, and cliffhangers are tossed at us with satisfying regularity. It's not perfect: we get some hokey plot devices (instant amnesia, anybody?); the final twist makes no sense whatsoever; there are altogether too many huggy family moments; and as for Dennis Hopper's "Serbian" accent....