CLICK & DOUBLE CLICK: GET READY: INTERNET GIVES FRONT-ROW SEAT TO HOLIDAY BLOCKBUSTERS (COLUMNS 115)

Movie makers, like retail merchants, look forward to the holidays as one of the peak seasons of the year. As a result, a number of blockbuster, or wannabe-blockbusters are released around Thanksgiving and in the coming weeks.

Joni: Not that we would know. We are always eagerly awaiting video releases. It's tough for families with kids, especially because a growing number of supposed kid movies with PG-13 ratings. But this is a big time of year for kid movies.

Peggy: You can review this year's holiday lineup online before plunking down your ticket money. Whenever thoughts turn to movies, I turn to Hollywood.com for news and reviews.

www.hollywood.com

Joni: This is also a good place to find Web addresses for the movies.

Peggy: The site also tells you the new releases for the week.

Joni: Two animal movies are big releases this weekend, including "A Bug's Life" from Pixar and Disney, the creators of "A Toy Story." It opens tomorrow. You can go directly to the bug site at

www.abugslife.com

Peggy: You can download a desktop circus theme, coloring pages, a fly vision page, wallpaper, or play a digital adventure and "a burn 'm again" game on. Gonna burn 'm, Joni?

Joni: You know how well I play these games. Let's try the sweepstakes. Bugs are hiding throughout the Disney Web site. You must collect the bugs and put them in your bug garden.

Peggy: They give you hints to find the nine bugs, but they really are everywhere. If you find five, you can enter to win an iMac computer.

Joni: You can also read Bug's Life classic storybook online. Move over bugs or you will be trampled by Babe.

www.babeinthecity.com

Peggy: You win, Joni. We play a game trying to guess the URL without looking it up. Joni got it right on the first try.

Joni: This is great. As you move the mouse over parts of the site, it turns into little Babe heads. Babe is a pig on a mission.

Peggy: I love Babe, and the site is great fun. On the journey page, you can follow Babe's trip to the city.

Joni: You can learn about the characters and Babe's new friends. You can watch previews and listen to a whole bunch of audio clips.

Peggy: Under fun and games, you can do dot-to-dots, mazes, word puzzles, crosswords, coloring book pages. You can just print them out and do them.

Joni: Babe also offers vegetarian alternatives to your Thanksgiving feast. Or you can send Babe postcards.

Peggy: I will warn you that the site has a little trouble with deadends. It's hard to get back.

Joni: Another big movie being releases is "Elizabeth," about Queen Elizabeth I.

www.elizabeth-themovie.com

Peggy: You can see a movie preview or play the Traitor in Our Midst game. You must have the Flash plug in for either to work.

Joni: To play, you must correctly identify the traitor by the time you are called to the House of Parliament. You must interview five of nine characters and ask 15 questions.

Peggy: This might take a while. It also sounds a lot like those mystery sites we visited. If you win, you can download an exclusive Elizabeth screensaver.

Joni: If you guess wrong, the on-screen punishment is very bad -- death by unpleasant means.

Peggy: We guessed wrong on the first try, but got it right the second time. It looks like a good movie.

Joni: My kids want to see the movie "Rugrats" that opened last week.

Peggy: My children would like to see it, too, but I can't bare it. I hate those ugly little 'Rats.

www.rugratsmovie.com

Joni: You can meet the cast and creators. You can play a game to build the Rugrats family tree. You won't do too well at this game, will you.

Peggy: Nope. In fact, I'm not even going to try. I am worried that you seem to know an inordinate amount about these 'Rats.

Joni: I guess I'm ready to advance to the movie. You can get screen savers, desktop images or a printable coloring book with seven pages. You can also preview bits of five songs.

Peggy: Rugrat songs...uugh. Oh no. It's a rap. Well, you can play three different online games, which if you can ignore the Rugrats, aren't too bad.

Joni: Here's Hiccupping Dil. You have to distract the baby with a bottle, rattle or bear in an attempt to get rid of the hiccups.

Peggy: For something more serious, you might want to visit the "Enemy of the State" Web site. That movie opened last Friday and was just edged out by "Rugrats" as the top moneymaker of the week.

www.movies.com/eos

Joni: This movie stars Will Smith and Gene Hackman. The site warns: "It's not paranoia if they're really after you." That should fuel a lot of fires.

Peggy: You can learn more about the movie or play the game. There are a series of photographs to look at to familiarize yourself with the mission. You can also learn more about the cast, the sets and the story. Let's play the game.

Joni: It takes a few minutes to load on our fast connection, so prepare for a bit of a wait at home. They give you some background and ask if you want to accept the mission. Sure, we have a few minutes to save the free world.

Peggy: Wow, we have lots of surveillance tools and encryption devices at hand. This is pretty slick. You go through a very complex scenario looking for clues.

Joni: If you like a good puzzler, this is for you. I got arrested once and had to start over a couple of times. It takes some thinking without distraction.

Peggy: A lot of movies set up Web sites months in advance to build excitement for new releases. For example, Star Wars has a new movie coming out next spring.

www.starwars.com

Joni: Episode I is called "The Phantom Menace." Just the release of the trailer is building all kinds of excitement. Imagine what will happen when the movie comes out.

Peggy: What's your favorite movie site? E-mail us at click@semissourian.com

See you in Cyberspace.

~Peggy Scott and Joni Adams are members of the Southeast Missourian online staff.